Depiction Of Women In Frankenstein

Elizabeth Lavenza is another important character of the novel. We know the story of her life from the beginning to the end, and can notice that she changes during the narration. In the beginning, the only daughter of the deceased sister of Victor Frankenstein's father, "she [is] docile and good tempered, yet gay and playful as a summer insect" (923). She is yet a child, she does not realize the complexity of life, and does not know what suffering is. The character of Elizabeth becomes apparent when the mother of Frankenstein has died. Then "she [is] continually endeavoring to contribute to the happiness of others, entirely forgetful of herself" (927). When Frankenstein returns to Geneva after the death of Henry Clerval, he sees a new change in Elizabeth. "She [is] thinner, and [has lost] much of that heavenly vivacity that [has]

One such aspect of Shelley’s life portrayed in the novel was the role of women in society. In general, the predominant contenders in literature in the Romantic era were men. Mary Shelley, who was tutored by her father, had to publish her novel anonymously because it would not have been accepted otherwise. In Romantic literature, women were depicted as passive with a sense for nature and intuition. This can be seen in Frankenstein during Victor’s description of Elizabeth Lavenza: “While I admired...pretension” (Volume I, Chapter I, p 39). This quote can be viewed as an oppression of women due to the patriarchal structure of the language, as well as an emphasis on the nature of women. Mary Shelley also criticizes this oppression, but does not criticize overtly. This may be due to the fact that Shelley read her mother’s works as a child, and was influenced by the pro-feminist ideals that her mother advocated for. In addition, Frankenstein, at its core, is an expression of Shelley’s political viewpoints. The years 1811 to 1817 were ones of severe deprivation and hardship for the new working class created by the Industrial

Elizabeth frequently makes sacrifices for the Frankenstein family from early childhood all the way until her death. She assumes the role of womanhood at a young age after Caroline 's death. Rather than living out her days of childhood, she comes almost a mother figure to Victor and his younger brothers. While Victor is allowed to seize opportunities to travel and further his education, Elizabeth instead stays in Geneva (Shelley, 23).

137) Like Elizabeth, Victor already decides the female monster’s fate. This is a reoccurring theme or a motif in Shelly’s novel. Men repeatedly decide women’s fates and the women are left to accept these decisions without any objection. In conclusion, the female characters fulfill the object role in this novel.

The passivity that society expects women to possess is a major contributing factor in the deaths of females in both stories. Society’s silencing and oppression of the characters makes the audience feel remorse for their actions. Lastly, the authors depict female characters as more human than their male counterparts, challenging the ideal female stereotype. The female characters in Shakespeare’s Othello and Shelley’s Frankenstein reflect how society treats women. It is imperative to use literature as a means of correcting social beliefs as they truly represent society’s perspective. As a result, literature is a significant contributing factor in societal

Apart from that, women in Frankenstein are always seems to be weak and emotionally frail. For instance, readers are introduced to Caroline Beaufort in the earliest account of Victor’s history. She was at first described as some one who could survive and become the breadwinner of the family. But when her father died, she “knelt by Beaufort’s coffin, weeping bitterly” and then was taken by Alphonse to be under his care and later became his wife. After attended Elizabeth when she was sick, Caroline fell severely sick and later died. Elizabeth too, when she was told about William’s death “she fainted, and was restored with extreme difficulty. When she again lived, it was only to weep and sigh.” This shows women’s vulnerability when they are facing problems and sometimes lost their rationale, thus making them as a pitiful object. Shelley stresses how important it is for women to control their emotion. Not to throw away the sensitive values that most women naturally posses, but to learn to be sensible.

In the novel Frankenstein, all of the women characters were depicted as the submissive sex. Marry characterizes them as passive, expendable, and serving no meaningful purpose.

Men lead intellectually satisfying lives with little emotion while women lived the opposite. They had emotionally exciting lives with little intellectual fulfillment. Victor excelled in the public sphere but could not perform in the private sphere because according to Mellor the “sexual division of labor” does not allow women or men to have both. Mellor then points out the absence of a strong willed female character. The De Lacey family was seen as an alternative to the Frankenstein family, but even they, a family based on “justice, gender equality, and mutual affection” lack a mother figure. The monster goes to Victor longing for this strong female companion but it does not exist. Mellor also explores the idea that Victor’s most passionate relationships are with men. He saw Clerval as “his former self” and Mellor describes Walton’s responses to Victor as “homoerotic.” Finally Mellor claims that Victor “rapes” nature in the destruction of an equal companion for Frankenstein and is punished “with the very electricity he has stolen.” Also with the death of Elizabeth taking away Victors ability to reproduce Mellor claims that Marry Shelley’s novel portrays the “penalty of raping

Characters Elizabeth and Georgina support the theme that women’s only purpose is to care for others. Men are viewed as being the head of the household and supporting his family, while the women of the household are responsible to care for the children and do the household chores. Women are looked down upon by men because they are seen as not being efficient or useful to society supporting the theme that women are seen as being disposable. The the book Frankenstein, when Victor was___ years of age his family adopted a peasant girl named Elizabeth. Caroline, Victor’s mother presents Elizabeth to Victor saying “I have a

Like Caroline and Safie, Elizabeth Lavenza’s father causes her unhappiness. However this is drastically confounded by the egotism of Victor Frankenstein who seeks to take on the vitally female role of the creator. Elizabeth is constructed by Shelley as an extremely positive character, whose ‘saintly soul’ shines ‘like a shrine dedicated lamp’ in the Frankenstein’s ‘happy home’. She, like her foster mother Caroline, keeps the family together ‘veiling her grief’ for the benefit of the children. However, when victor attempts to take on the role of a woman and ‘create life’ Shelley shows us that it is an unfortunate masculine characteristic to doom idealism with egotism and the pursuit of glory. Despite his noble goals of ‘unfolding the mysteries of creation’, to confer ‘inesteemable benefit’ on all mankind, Victor’s masculine egotism endures

Elizabeth longs to understand how Victor is doing in his studies at Ingolstadt. However, since she is a woman and she is approved to become part of the Frankenstein family by “They [Victor Frankenstein’s parents] consulted their village priest, and the result was that Elizabeth Lavenza became the inmate of my parents’ house … (Shelley 30)”, she can only visit Victor Frankenstein under the approval of Victor’s father. Even though Victor cannot see his beloved Elizabeth, he realizes that through his first letter that she writes, she acts like a spirit in Victor’s mind waiting for him to come home by mentioning, “Get well – and return to us. You will find a happy, cheerful home, and friends who love you dearly” (Shelley 57).

She begins with a gender-neutral title as his cousin, and then takes a gender specific, non-sexual role as his sister.  She then replaces his mother, implying an indirect sexual relationship with Victor, since he is product of his mother's sexuality.  Finally, she enters a sexual relationship with Victor as his future wife.  Her murder then interrupts the progression by preventing the consummation of that relationship.  In the 1831 version this progression of intimacy is strengthened.  Elizabeth, while a small child, is presented to Victor by his mother as a gift.  He takes responsibility for her, and takes pride in her achievements, like a father to a daughter.  The father/daughter relationship is tied to sexual reproduction in the same way as the mother/son relationship.  The progression from daughter to mother implies Victor's exit from her vagina as an infant, and then the next change from mother to wife implies a desire to re-enter her body as part of a sexual relationship.

Upon further probing, there is perhaps a deeper terror rooted in Frankenstein, which subtly appears to stem his hesitancy at creating not just another monster, but specifically a female monster. Because Victor Frankenstein fears the existence of a female free of restrictions that he cannot impose, he destroys her, thus eliminating the female’s options of becoming either completely feminine through becoming a mother and mate, or totally unfeminine by opting to leave her partner and face the world alone.

In the novel Frankenstein, the author Mary Shelley reinforced the role of female nature in a book that is predominantly male-oriented. The female character is an underlying feature throughout the whole novel. For example, when Victor Frankenstein created his Monster from dead body parts, he disregarded the laws of female reproduction. Both Anne K. Mellor and Jonathon Bate argue that Victor defiled the feminine nature when he created his Monster from unnatural means. Mellor argued in her essay, “Possessing Nature: The Female in Frankenstein,” that Victor eliminated the necessity to have females at all (355). There will not be a need for females if new beings are created in a laboratory. The disruption of mother nature is one of the novel’s original sins (479). In Bate’s essay, “Frankenstein and the State of Nature,” he argued that Victor Frankenstein broke the balance between female principles of maternity and mother nature (477). Frankenstein broke nature and undermined the role of females. The argument of Mellor was more persuasive than the discussion of Bate because she was able to provide more evidence that Victor Frankenstein dishonored the role of female nature.