Theme Of Feminism In Frankenstein

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Feminism in Frankenstein
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 Frankenstein, Shelley introduces the character Elizabeth as a love interest for Victor. Elizabeth’s purpose lies in …show more content…

Justine is the most pivotal female character in Frankenstein, as she is basically framed and executed for a murder that she didn't commit. This drives the novel along because Victor realizes that Justine is innocent and because of this, he starts to have anger and hate towards the creature who really committed the murder. Subsequently, Justine’s execution demonstrates her role as a martyr to further the novel along. Shelley uses Justine to make a statement to her audience on how unfair her execution was because she wasn’t allowed to have a voice to defend herself. Shelley portrays Justine’s outcome as depressing and immoral, which in return helps the audience relate to Justine and feel empathy for her outcome. Thus, she uses Justine as a tool to show readers how wicked the monster has become and to further the novel …show more content…

When relating to the view that Wollstonecraft has on women, Justine’s struggle represents some of the ideas that she presents. In her article, Wollstonecraft expresses the significance of equality for both genders, saying, “There must be more equality established in society, or morality will never gain ground” (Wollstonecraft 85). This relates back to Justine because she was treated incredibly unfair when she was committed of murder. Justine was innocent but was unable of even voicing her side of the story because she was a woman. Wollstonecraft makes an excellent point when she says that “morality will never gain ground” as long as the genders are unequal. When looking through Wollstonecraft’s principles in her article, it is notable that she would evaluate Justine’s verdict and execution as immoral and

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