Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Gender issues in Frankenstein
Gender issues in Frankenstein
Frankenstein and feminism
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Gender issues in Frankenstein
Homosexuality and Misogyny in Frankenstein
In Mary Shelley's novel, Victor Frankenstein suffers an extreme psychological crisis following his violation of what is considered a fundamental biological principle. His creation of life undermines the role of women in his life and the role of sexuality, and allows existing misogynist and homosexual tendencies to surface. Victor represses what he has uncovered about himself, and it merges into a cohesive whole in his psyche that becomes projected on the instrument of revelation, the monster.
Victor's creation allows him to split his sexuality into independent components. There are three fundamental purposes to sexuality presented in Mary Shelley's narrative: the psychological benefits of companionship, the unique physical pleasures of sexuality, and the desire to pass on one's genes and behaviors through procreation. In social animals, the process of choosing partners for sexual intercourse and companionship is founded on reproductive goals. Victor's ability to create life independently eliminates the importance of reproduction in choosing companions and sexual partners. Each of the three elements of Victor's sexuality become separated, and then associated with his principal contemporaries, the people closest to him: Henry Clerval as companionship, Elizabeth Lavenza as reproduction, and the monster as sexual pleasure.
Elizabeth at one time or another represents all female roles to Victor. In turn, she is Victor's cousin, sister, mother, and wife. These are not figurative relationships, implied by the text; they are actual labels applied to Elizabeth, by Victor's parents while he is still a child. When she joins the family, she is his cousin, a...
... middle of paper ...
... kill his brother, and to be rid of Elizabeth and also of the conflict that his relationship with Clerval brings. The implication is that anyone who follows the split to its logical conclusion will find themselves in crisis, when they inevitably upset their mental balance, as Frankenstein did in rejecting women.
Works Cited
Lowe-Evans, Mary. Frankenstein: Mary Shelly's Wedding Guest. New York: Twayne Publishers, 1993.
Maslow. A.H: 'A theory of human motivation' (Psycol. Rev, 50, 370-396, 1943)
Oates, Joyce Carol. "Frankenstein: Creation as Catastrophe." Mary Shelly's Frankenstein. Ed. Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1987.
Shelly, Mary. Frankenstein: Or the Modern Prometheus. New York: Penguin Books, 1978.
Tropp, Martin. Mary Shelly's Monster. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1976.
She is always there for Victor as a source of comfort. In contrast, Victor leaves Elizabeth to explore his passion. For instance, after Victor goes to university, he doesn’t come back for two years. During this time, he expects Elizabeth to wait for him as if she was his property. Moreover, Elizabeth is not the only female character who is under Victor’s control....
‘[The] characters and plot of Frankenstein reflect . . . Shelley’s conflicted feelings about the masculine circle which surrounded her.’
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley and Dracula by Bram Stoker, both nineteenth century texts, present women and their roles within society at that time as one of subservience to their male counterparts. Women had no independent means of subsistence, and were obliged to follow the conventions set by men.
...his mental strength, taking its toll, leaving him incapacitated for months on end. The final compulsion to destroy his daemon takes him to the end of existence. Exhausted from his relentless pursuit, he dies without ever obtaining the closure that he was searching for. “Victor Frankenstein’s life was destroyed because of an obsession with the power to create life where none had been before” (Moring)
Frankenstein shows the oedipal complex in many ways; one of which is his union with Elizabeth. Elizabeth Lavenza is an orphan
Works Cited Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein: A Norton Critical Edition. ed. J. Paul Hunter. New York: W. W. Norton, 1996.
Within Frankenstein, the level at which a female is portrayed is quite low. Like we have heard in class, women were not necessarily respected as much as men were when the novel was written. Published in 1818 by Mary Shelley, her story tells of the adventure of young Victor Frankenstein and the creation of his creature. Though deep within this narration of Frankenstein’s life, there seems to be an underlying theme seeping through Shelley’s writing. Shelley seems to venture into the idea of feminism and grotesquely show how men are treated much better than women. Her novel includes various concrete examples to support this hypothesis.
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein explores the downfall of certain human characteristics, set to the backdrop of creation, destruction, and preservation. The subtitle denoted by Shelly herself supports this idea, by relating the fact that the title can be viewed as either Frankenstein or The Modern Prometheus. One scholar, Marilyn Butler, also maintains this by noting, "It can be a late version of the Faust Myth"(302). Shelly uses the story of the main character, Victor Frankenstein, to produce the concept of a dooming human characteristic of which Frankenstein states, "I have . . . been blasted in these hopes"(Shelley, 152). The reader finds, as a result of his thirst for knowledge and infatuation with science, Victor creates a living being by whom he has "suffered great and unparalleled misfortunes"(Shelley, 17). Eventually, Victor realizes this self-destructive trait, but he is not able to save himself stating, "I have lost everything, and cannot begin life anew"(Shelley, 16). Although everything in his life that is dear has been lost, Victor is able to convince one in his same position--Robert Walton--to not "lead [his crew] unwillingly to danger"(Shelley, 151). While addressing the concept of characteristic and self-discovery, it is possible to realize that the monster also possesses the characteristics held by both Victor and Walton; except in his learning, the monster is driven to continue to cause destruction. Most important about the thirst for knowledge is that, as a form of human characteristic or downfall, it leads to large, critical pieces of self-discovery. In obtaining these critical pieces, Frankenstein finds satisfaction in j...
In “Frankenstein” penned by Mary Shelley, the author depicts the roles of passive women through the roles of Caroline, Elizabeth, and Justine. Caroline marries Victor’s father, Alphonese Frankenstein, despite the huge age difference between them, and gets approval from her husband to make Elizabeth part of the Frankenstein family. Elizabeth joins the Frankenstein family after Caroline takes her from the orphanage, has superficial beauty, and constantly writes letters to Victor, waiting for his return and his hand in marriage. Justine cannot prove her innocence in court without the appearance of Victor. On the other hand, Shelley depicts Safie as a woman willing to stand up for her religion, disobeying her father’s orders of going to Constantinople, and finds Felix. Through the portrayals of Caroline, Elizabeth, and Justine, women are depicted as possessions by men, admired for their superficial beauty, and do not take direct action without the appearance of men. However, Safie’s portrayal in “Frankenstein” symbolizes a woman who longs to have her own rights and a woman who goes against the role of passive woman.
After Frankenstein discovered the source of human life, he became wholly absorbed in his experimental creation of a human being. Victor's unlimited ambition, his desire to succeed in his efforts to create life, led him to find devastation and misery. "...now that I have finished, the beauty of the dream had vanished..." (Shelley 51). Victor's ambition blinded him to see the real dangers of his project. This is because ambition is like a madness, which blinds one self to see the dangers of his actions. The monster after realizing what a horror he was demanded that victor create him a partner. "I now also began to collect the materials necessary for my new creation, and this was like torture..." (Shelley 169). Victor's raw ambition, his search for glory, has left him. His eyes have been opened to see his horrible actions, and what have and could become of his creations. As a result, Victor has realized that he is creating a monster, which could lead to the downfall of mankind. His choice is simple, save his own life or save man.
Smith begins her essay by looking at the historical factors that may have contributed to this seemingly sexist book. Shelley, writing in the first half of the 19th Century, was in a period in which a woman "was conditioned to think she needed a man's help" (Smith 275). In the novel itself, no women speak directly. The book has three basic narrators: Robert Walton, Victor Frankenstein, and Frankenstein's monster. The female characters are very weak in this novel, especially Elizabeth, Victor's cousin/fiancé (no they aren't from Arkansas). She is portrayed as the perfect woman, especially after Victor's mother, Caroline dies. She takes the place of the mother figure in the household. But just like all the female characters in the story, her character has little substance. Victor's character is described in detail, as is that of the monster, and Henry Clerval. When Henry gets killed, sympathy is really felt toward Victor, because he has just lost his lifetime friend. When Elizabeth is murdered, the reader finds it hard to connect with what Frankenstein is feeling. Elizabeth (and the other main female characters: Justine and Caroline) are there to reflect the men characters. Professor Smith states in her essay that "women function not in their own right but rather as signals of and conduits for men's relations with other men" (283). This is especially clear when the monster kills Elizabeth on their wedding night. The monster is upset with Victor, so instead of hurting him, he kills his wife. Elizabeth is used as a sort of ruler to measure the relationship between Victor and his monster.
Perhaps the most interesting event in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is the perverse dream that Victor Frankenstein experiences after he brings the creature to life. Examination of the dream through Freudian theories on sexual motivation and the Oedipal Complex provide insight to the actions and character of Mary Shelley's protagonist. Further examination also reveals the reason for Victor's actions and character and how each affects his relationship with those closest to him.
“I have love in me the likes of which you can scarcely imagine and rage the likes of which you would not believe.” Mary Shelley's Frankenstein explores the life of fictional character Victor Frankenstein and his psychological struggles of aspiration and consequence. Frankenstein, as a world renowned literary work has been dissected for interpretation by many professors and common readers alike. A popular interpretation of the work revolves around main character Victor frankenstein's deranged mind, and belief that the “monster” may in fact not exist as a tangible being but rather an alternative personality manifested from Frankenstein’s deepest desires, desires for his mother. Frankenstein’s monster is not truly brought to life but rather awoken
The play Macbeth was wrote by William Shakespeare in 1606. The play Macbeth was a myth though in the time of Shakespeare there was a king Duncan and his successor was a Scottish noble man by the name of Macbeth but people are positive that nothing else was true.
and his wife later on the play. Macbeth did not enjoy one day that he