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The role of women in Frankenstein
The role of women in Frankenstein
Gender in literature
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During the 1800’s centuries, women have been forced to live life under a male domination. Women's were described as passive and as stereotypical during that time.
Mary shelley portrays her gothic novel, Frankenstein, of how women's that period were extremely limited to opportunities. In the novel, shelley illustrates how society considers women to be weak and inferior by men. In addition to, Mary shelley shows how women’s lack of power and male domination in society. Lastly, Mary shelly’s novel Frankenstein, shows how female characters are victimized by the male characters. Also, womens depends heavily on men support and survival, thus providing that women are weak and unable to live life on their own. In similarity to Virginia woolf, “A
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Elizabeth is willing to do anything just to make victor happy. On the other side, Victor is not willing to do anything for Elizabeth to make satisfying, he sees her as property he leaves whenever he wants, and comes back also whenever he wants as if she is not there or she no feelings or emotions. Also, he expects her to be waiting for him until he comes back. In fact, elizabeth was considered to be the servants of Victor “I have a pretty present for my Victor—tomorrow he shall have it.” (Shelley, 70) For instance, Elizabeth is given to Victor as a gift without any consideration for her feelings. As a result, Victor has the power to “protect, love and cherish” (Shelley,21) Elizabeth neglect and isolate her. “A room of one's own” by Virginia Woolf, also touches upon woman's lack of power and male domination. Wolf argues that women need more money and more rooms express their emotions through fiction and writing. She argues how a man gets paid more in society since they hold an important position in society “he was the power and the money...he was a proprietor of the paper and it's editor he was the foreign secretary and the judge... he owned yachts”( Woolf 2). This explains how men are dominant in society because they get paid more than women, they also have
This quote really gets at what this paper is about. The book Frankenstein was written at a time when there was not much need for females in the workforce and they were mainly stay at home moms that cooked, cleaned, and took care of the children. Even though this book brought light onto Sci-Fi it did much more than that. Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein, was only 19 at the time she wrote this book so she had lived all her life up to that point with an experience that will later have been taken care of in the future. This experience that is also in Frankenstein is the inequality of gender in.
In conclusion, in Mary Shelly’s novel Frankenstein, the female characters always fulfill the limited and archetypical roles that are set for them by society. In this novel, many female characters are considered to be possessions. In fact, they are considered to be the servants of men. “I have a pretty present for my Victor—tomorrow he shall have it.” (Mary Shelly, Pg. 70)
The 1870s was a time when women and men were seen as unequal. Females were thought of as the weaker sex of society, and were expected to be obedient to men. According to the Women’s International Center, “Women were long considered naturally weaker than men, squeamish, and
‘[The] characters and plot of Frankenstein reflect . . . Shelley’s conflicted feelings about the masculine circle which surrounded her.’
position as a female writer... it seems that Shelley was trying to reveal the weak status of
The idea for the novel of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein came to her one night when she was staying in the company of what has been called ‘her male coterie’, including Lord Byron and her husband, Percy Shelley. Mary Shelley’s whole life seems to have been heavily influenced by men. She idolised her father, William Godwyn, and appears to have spent a good part of her life trying very hard to impress both him and her husband. There seems to have been a distinct lack of female influence, her mother, Mary Wollstonecraft, having died weeks after her birth, being replaced by a neglectful step-mother. These aspects of her life are perhaps evident in her novel. The characters and plot of Frankenstein were perhaps influenced by Shelley’s conflicting feelings about the predominately masculine circle which surrounded her, and perhaps the many masculine traits that we see in novel were based upon those of the male figures in Shelley’s own life. In this essay I will attempt to show some of these traits.
In Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein the theme of a woman being passive repeats itself throughout the novel. The author characterizes each woman as being passive, disposable and serving as a utilitarian function. The female characters within the novel provide nothing more but a channel of action for the male characters allowing for a queer standpoint of unequal gender authority within the story.
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.
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.
The novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, and the article “Of the Pernicious Effects” by Mary Wollstonecraft, both have a similar relationship when regarding the importance of feminism during their time periods. Throughout Shelley’s novel, feminism is addressed because she uses female characters to further her plot and display her viewpoints. If Wollstonecraft evaluated the female characters in Shelley’s novel, she would realize that Elizabeth, Justine, and Safie all show an important purpose to the flow of the novel, and the purpose of equality that Shelley is sending to her audience about feminism.
In the novel, Frankenstein and the play The Crucible, the weak presentation of females becomes evident as females allow the male-dominant characters to subdue them. Elizabeth Lavenza, a woman of compassion and benevolence, hides behind the male figures in her life as an act of showing gratitude to her family. Similarly in the play, Elizabeth Proctor plays a woman of self-respect and good acts as she passively gives up her value of being a female character in order to protect her husband, John Proctor. Both women, exhibit the nature of being inactive and having no voice as they patiently serve the men in their life as a righteous duty. Therefore, in Mary Shelley’s novel and Miller’s play, Elizabeth Lavenza and Elizabeth Proctor prove to be weak women through their passivity and lack of voice.
The three points that contribute greatly to the passive role of women are the lower rank women in society compared to men, women being seen as possessions for men to protect, and women admired for their superficial beauty. To begin with, Victor describes how his mother, Caroline Beaufort, meets his father, Alphonse Frankenstein, after Caroline’s father died in poverty. Victor mentions, “He came like a protecting spirit to the poor girl, who committed herself to his care; and after the interment of his friend, he conducted her to Geneva, and placed her under the protection of a relation” (Shelley 28). Even though Caroline is younger than Victor’s father, she has no choice, but to marry him. Without marrying Victor’s father, Caroline will still be in poverty, with nobody to support her.
Banerjee additionally argues against notions that Shelley isn’t solely concerned on the usurpation of woman’s creative power (Banerjee 1) because the male and female family of Frankenstein are equally destroyed by his creation. Rather than just pulling women up into man’s sphere of separation from nature, Banerjee suggests that Shelley wants to remove the dichotomy; “for the family to ensure the well-being of all members men need to commit to it as much as women.” (Banerjee 12). But I find that there are many instances when feminine does work to bring stability, even though it is divided into different spheres, instead the problem is that the entities are ill-defined in Victor’s own androgynous impulses. For example, Victor’s father and mother
The women in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, first published in 1818, are indirectly represented and are completely passive. They are only seen through the eyes of Shelley’s three male narrators; Robert Walton, Victor Frankenstein, and the monster. They are described in very little detail, which makes them a passive presence and ultimately reduces their importance and direct impact to the readers. According to Lucy Morrison, “Frankenstein depicts women firmly entrenched in the domestic sphere, their focus conventionally invested in children and household, while men are more active, more powerful, and encouraged to study and explore the world” (Morrison in Fisher, 2003: 112). As a result, the women in Frankenstein serve as tools to draw out the
The 1800’s was a time when most women were dominated by men. Women were relegated to their duties at home and raising their families. Wives were the property of their husbands; and some were subjected to horrific treatment without any reprimand from the law. Women could not make any financial decisions, they couldn’t own property and they could not vote. (Plaza, para 1)