The Gender Battle in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein
The fight for domination amongst the sexes is a battle as old as civilization, where the ideas of gender hierarchies first began. These conflicts often manifest themselves unwittingly through literature, showing subtle signs of deeper tension that has ensued for centuries. The struggle between masculine and feminine becomes apparent through Frankenstein, a battle that results in the death of the potentially most powerful figure in the book. Frankenstein yields characters motivated by complicated thinking, specifically the title character, Victor Frankenstein. Victor is a brilliant 19th century Swiss scientist who succeeds in generating life with electricity, creating a creature that eventually turns on his master and begins a reign of terror wherever he roams. Understanding Victor in relation to feminist studies is possible through examining his actions regarding the monster’s request of Frankenstein to fashion him a partner. Unable to win the love of his maker, Frankenstein, or his makeshift step brother, man, the monster believes the only being capable of loving him would be a creature equally horrifying as himself. Frankenstein initially refuses to comply with the demand because of guilt he already feels for the evil his monster has done. Eventually moved to pity, Frankenstein agrees to design a female on the grounds that she and her mate will "quit the neighbourhood of man" and never be seen again (Shelley 144). Victor partially completes the project before he "[tears] the thing to pieces," reasoning that he cannot have any part of making another creature who, like her mate, could become a "curse upon mankind" (Shelley 144-145). His decision seems noble to the reader, as we...
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...ect mankind, but rather a wish to keep order in the masculine world. Destroying the female monster ensures that there is no feminine force created the male counterpart cannot combat, be that Victor or the monster. The female monster is a symbol in Frankenstein of an unstoppable feminine force. Only through the demise of such a character is Victor Frankenstein assured that he has not allowed that force to commandeer the control he and mankind have over femininity.
Works Cited
Kiely, Robert. The Romantic Novel in England, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Univ. Press, 1972.
Liggins, Emma 2000. 'The Medical Gaze and the Female Corpse: Looking at Bodies in Shelley's Frankenstein' Studies in the Novel, number 32: 129-146
Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft. Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. Ed. D.L. Macdonald and Kathleen Scherf. Peterborough: Broadview Press, 1994.
Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein: the original 1818 text. 2nd ed. Ed. D.L. Macdonald and Kathleen Scherf. Peterborough: Broadview, 1999.
For centauries, women have been forced to live life in the outskirts of a male dominated society. During the 1800’s, the opportunities for women were extremely limited and Mary Shelly does an excellent job in portraying this in her gothic novel, Frankenstein. Furthermore, in this novel, Mary Shelly shows how society considers women to be possessions rather than independent human beings. In addition, the female characters rely heavily on men for support and survival, thus proving their inability to do it on their own. Lastly, the female characters in this novel are in many ways victimized by the male characters. 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.
Merriam Webster’s Encyclopedia of Literature highlights Frankenstein as the work of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, published in 1818, and it brought into the Western world one of its best known monsters. Elements of gothic romance and science fiction help in telling the story of young Swiss scientist Victor Frankenstein, as he creates a horrible monster by putting together limbs and veins, leading to destruction and his later regret. The creature is left alone in the world, even by his own creator, for his hideous appearance, and through watching humans he learns their ways of living. Haunting Victor due to his loneliness, he forcefully makes Victor agree to make him a female companion, but Victor’s regret and misery enables him to tear up his
Throughout “Frankenstein,” by Mary Shelley, male ambition plays an important role. This ambition drives the story starting with Walton’s desire to reach a place that no man has ever seen. Through Victor Frankenstein, his ambitions lead to the creation of the creature, who causes the death of Victor’s family, and Victor’s mission of vengeance, which brings him to his fatal end in the arctic. The creature himself inherits some of Victor’s characteristics and has ambitions of his own, and desires to have himself a female companion. Readers can contribute these male ambitions the ruination of Victor and his family. By analyzing the male ambitions and relating factors, readers can truly determine how influential male ambition is in “Frankenstein.”
The theme of masculinity is strong throughout the novel, and I will finish with what may be the strongest example of masculinity of all, although it is not a favourable one. Perhaps the character of the monster represents the flaw in masculinity in the society of that day, created without the use of a woman, and is an example of the dangers of a society without woman. And I feel that Shelley was perhaps manipulating the masculine identities in the novel to show the flaws that such attitudes towards women can create, and persuade her audience that a society without women would be disastrous.
Works Cited for: Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein: A Norton Critical Edition. ed. a. a. a. a. a J. Paul Hunter. New York: W. W. Norton, 1996.
Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft, and Maurice Hindle. Frankenstein, Or, The Modern Prometheus. London: Penguin, 2003. Print.
The first example that comes to mind would be the illness of Elizabeth and the death of her and Victor’s mother, Caroline: “Elizabeth had caught the scarlet fever; her illness was severe, and she was in the greatest danger. […] Elizabeth was saved […] On the third day my mother sickened […] accompanied by the most alarming symptoms. […] She died calmly…” (Shelley 19) Within the first twenty pages of the novel, the reader is projected an image of how weak women are to a virus that is much smaller than them. While one survived the deadly symptoms, the one who could be argued to be more of a woman has perished. This removal of nearly two female characters this early is a portrayal of the frailty of the female sex. This is not the only time feminism is removed from the novel. In an article entitled “The Monster in a Dark Room: Frankenstein, Feminism, and Philosophy”, Nancy Yousef states that “Not surprisingly, the creature’s nonbirth, occluding an unavoidably female act, has dominated feminist interpretations of Frankenstein.” (Yousef 198) Hitting the nail on the head, Yousef makes an excellent observation. The creature was not born by any natural means as he was a creation of Victor’s. By removing the natural birth of a human through a woman’s reproductive organs, Shelley is making a statement as to the oppression of the female sex within the late 18th and early 19th century. Within an essay written by Diane Long Hoeveler, she makes a good point too expressing that “The fact that Victor constructs the [female] body and then, when contemplating the realities of sexuality, desire, and reproduction, rips that body apart, suggests that the female body is for Victor infinitely more threatening and "monstrous" than was the creature 's male body.” (Hoeveler 52) Hoeveler is essentially stating that the female body is a threat to the male sex and was more hideous
Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein: A Norton Critical Edition. Ed. J. Paul Hunter. New York: W. W.
Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein or the Modern Prometheus. Edited by: D.L. Macdonald & Kathleen Scherf. Broadview Editions. 3rd Edition. June 20, 2012
Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein or the Modern Prometheus. The 1818 Text. New York: Oxford UP, 1998.
Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein or the Modern Prometheus. Edited by: D.L. Macdonald & Kathleen Scherf. Broadview Editions. 3rd Edition. June 20, 2012
Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein or the Modern Prometheus. Edited with an Introduction and notes by Maurice Hindle. Penguin books, 1992
Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein or the Modern Prometheus. Edited with an Introduction and notes by Maurice Hindle. Penguin books, 1992
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley’s Frankenstein (sometimes also known as The Modern Prometheus) is the classic gothic novel of her time. In this eerie tale, Dr. Victor Frankenstein – suffering from quite an extreme superiority complex – brings to life a creature made from body parts of deceased individuals from nearby cemeteries. Rather than to embrace the Creature as his own, Frankenstein alienates him because of his unpleasant appearance. Throughout the novel, the Creature is ostracized not only by Frankenstein but by society as a whole. Initially a kind and gentle being, the Creature becomes violent and eventually seeks revenge for his creator’s betrayal. Rather than to merely focus on the exclusion of the Creature from society, Shelley depicts the progression of Dr. Frankenstein’s seclusion from other humans as well, until he and the Creature ultimately become equals – alone in the world with no one to love, and no one to love them back. Frankenstein serves as more than simply a legendary tale of horror, but also as a representation of how isolation and prejudice can result in the demise of the individual.