The novel Frankenstein touches on many controversial ideas, knowledge as threat, secrecy of Victor about monster, rejection, abortion, that captivate the readers with its fascinating narrative. One of the important concepts that is touched over and over again is the passive role of the female characters. Almost all female characters, except for Safie, have passive roles; confused, abandoned, long-waiting, lover Elizabeth, loving, sacrificial mother Caroline Beaufort, wrongly accused Justine, enslaved mother of Safie, passive-listener Margaret Saville.
Mary shelly describes women as dependent on the male characters around them. Their sole purpose is to serve, and obey the demand of their men. Elizabeth is very supportive, and concerned about Victor, and his health. When Victor decides to leave for his studies, Elizabeth does not object, and continues to support and care for him. She patiently waits and waits for Victor to marry him, and the day they get married, she gets killed since she was alone and there was nobody to protect/shelter her.
When Justine was wrongly accused, Victor makes a decision on how to act. While Elizabeth pleads with him, ultimately Victor has the final say, showing where the power lies with their relationship.
The way Victor explains his parents' relationship to Walton, also portrays a very passive, nourishing, mother who is incapable of taking care of herself so that Victor's father "came as a protecting spirit to the poor girl, who committed herself to his care." The relationship between his parents also points out the passiveness and dependence of women.
In the case of Justine, when the creature, intelligently, murders William Frankenstein, everyone accuses her. Innocent Justine just happens to be the victim of circumstantial factors. Both Justine and Elizabeth - who stands up for Justine - are completely helpless to prove her innocence; nobody believes or makes an effort to further investigate, and as a result execute her.
Sister of Robert Walton, Mrs. Saville, is significant not only because she is the addressee of the letters describing Victor's story, but she also is an illustration of another passive women. Margaret Saville passively listens to the worries, concerns of his brother without replying or indicating her own opinions.
Another example of selfless, self-scarifying woman is Agatha. She is the daughter of De Lacey, caring for her brother and her father, her father even with their poverty and her own sadness.
The only women in the novel that is depicted as independent, active, following her heart, pursuing her desires was Safie, the daughter of the Turk.
Caroline is, on surface value, a perfect parent, together with her husband, which renders Victor’s irresponsibility in abandoning the creature more unforgivable.
Mary Shelley’s novel entitled Frankenstein demonstrates women of the Romantic Era as powerless citizens of society. Throughout the novel, the women are secondary characters and are portrayed through the men’s perspective. Therefore, many would think that these female characters are passive and dependant as they are often described as companions and nurturers. Despite the unequal rights of women, Shelley, one of the earliest feminist, has developed female characters who show agency. This trait of taking charge of one 's course of life is reflected through Justine Moritz as she is willing to die for her beliefs, in Safie who defies her father’s and religious wishes and when Victor Frankenstein decides to abort
...t the monster, so there is no one who can back up his story. At the trial, Justine is found guilty and she is sentenced to death. Since Victor does not speak up at Justine’s trial, her death is the result of his silence.
After learning about the life of Mary Shelley, I have grown to appreciate the novel, Frankenstein, even more since the first time I read it. She led a life nearly, as tragic as the monster she created through her writing. Mary seems to pull some of her own life experiences in Victor’s background, as in both mothers died during or after childbirth. Learning about Mary’s personal losses, I have gained a better appreciation of her as an author and a woman of the 17th century. She had association with some the most influential minds of that
Justine was killed because Victor Frankenstein’s younger brother, William, was murdered. An item that William was wearing during the night of the murder was found on Justine leading everyone to believe that Justine is the murderer. When Victor arrives back to Geneva and hears that Justine has been accused of the murder his reaction was, “Justine Mortiz! Poor, poor girl, is she accused? But it is wrongfully; everyone knows that; no one believes it, surely…”. Victor knew the Monster killed William and probably framed Justine. He knew Justine was innocent, but no one believed him. Justine was also forced to give a false confession, and was hanged. People dislike being insecure, like having a murderer loose among them, so they punish a scapegoat, like Justine, to ease their minds.
Another characteristic of gender roles is the gothic heroine. A gothic heroine is a female character who somewhat defies the traditional ways of the people around her and fights the patriarchal culture. The heroine in this novel, the Governess, places herself in an imaginary world. She uses her imagination to escape and have her own freedom; as she does this she believes that she is not as innocent as she may appear. There are no “damsels in distress” that can be found throughout this novel. All the women know how to take care of themselves and rarely need the help of men. Although “An unknown man in a lonely place is a permitted object of fear to a young woman privately bred; and the figure that faced me was… as little anyone else I knew as it was the image I had in my mind”(James 310 - 311), this quote shows that the perspective on the relationship of men and women in this time period is that there is a threat of violence towards women at any moment. The Governess, after figuring out that there are ghosts pursuing the children, believes that she can save Miles and Flora from the destruction the spirits may cause
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.
Can you imagine Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley's Frankenstein, the great work of literature, without, for example, such female characters as Mrs. Margaret Saville, Elizabeth Lavenza, and Justine Moritz? In this case the novel will have no meaning. All the women help to develop the plot, and without them Frankenstein will lose its spirit. Although these heroines have a lot in common in their characters: they are all strong-willed, kind, careful, and selfless, at the same time, each of them is unique, and each plays her own role in the novel.
Shelley’s use of describing Safie going against the passive role of women compared to Caroline, Justine, and Elizabeth symbolizes how women should have the same rights as men, such as getting an education, working in the medical field, and having their voices heard to others. Without the appearance of women in society, the workforce would be cut in half with men working and earning money for a living, and women taking care of children. Therefore, one should not forget that women are the backbone of our society.
When reading Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, one cannot help but notice that the women characters seem to have little substance compared to the male characters. This may have been caused by the time period in which she wrote: one in which females were considered inferior to males. This difference between the sexes can be looked at using a variety of different perspectives. Johanna M. Smith, a professor at the University of Texas at Arlington, discusses this issue using feminist eyes in her essay entitled "'Cooped up': Feminine Domesticity in Frankenstein." The main points in Professor Smith's essay are that the female characters are there only to reflect the male characters, and that the Frankenstein family has a weird style of living, which she describes as a "bookkeeping mentality" (Smith 279).
From the beginning of time in history, women have always been portrayed as and seen as the submissive sex. Women especially during the time period of the 1800s were characterized as passive, disposable, and serving an utilitarian function. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is a prime example displaying the depiction of women. The women in Frankenstein represent the treatment of women in the early 1800’s. Shelley’s incorporation of suffering and death of her female characters portrays that in the 1800’s it was acceptable. The women in the novel are treated as property and have minimal rights in comparison to the male characters. The feminist critic would find that in Frankenstein the women characters are treated like second class citizens. The three brutal murders of the innocent women are gothic elements which illustrates that women are inferior in the novel. Mary Shelley, through her novel Frankenstein, was able to give the reader a good sense of women’s role as the submissive sex, through the characters experiences of horrific events including but not limited to brutal murder and degradation, which is illuminated by her personal life experiences and time period of romanticism.
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) 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” (Pg. 21) Elizabeth or neglect and isolate her. As well, Elizabeth’s main role in this novel is to comfort and alleviate Victor’s feeling of guilt and sadness. She is always there for Victor as a source of comfort. In contrast, Victor leaves Elizabeth to explore his passions. 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. In fact, Victor presents the female monster to the creature as a bargaini...
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.
Justine shows lesser relevance to the main plot, yet she does almost nothing to save her life after being condemned for the murder of William Frankenstein (Shelley, Chapter 8). Elizabeth is somewhat present, but is not seen as an independent character. The fact that she waits around after her wedding night instead of being alert made it easier for her death to occur (Shelley, Chapter 23). The passiveness of women in the novel gives us insight into the lack of roles women had during the 19th century. Another demonstration of the attitudes and roles of women during this time period is portrayed in Hoffmann’s “The Sandman”.
Women roles have changed drastically in the last 50 to 80 years, women no longer have to completely conform to society’s gender roles and now enjoy the idea of being individuals. Along with the evolution of women roles in society, women presence and acceptance have drastically grown in modern literature. In early literature it was common to see women roles as simply caretakers, wives or as background; women roles and ideas were nearly non-existent and was rather seen than heard. The belief that women were more involved in the raising of children and taking care of the household was a great theme in many early literatures; women did not get much credit for being apart of the frontier and expansion of many of the nations success until much later.