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Frankenstein, By Mary Shelley Essay

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In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein tells his story from the bright beginnings, to his boundary-crossing brilliance that led him to his ultimate downfall. Throughout the book, we follow mostly Frankenstein’s interpretation and thoughts about a variety of topics, including the women involved in his life, as well as those described to him by his Creature. There are only a handful of women who are relevant to Frankenstein’s tale: Safie, Elizabeth, and even Nature herself. These important characters represent the main themes of Mary Shelley’s depiction of women in her novel Frankenstein: beauty, love, happiness, and a force to be conquered by men. During the novel, Frankenstein and his Creature have a meeting and discuss the happenings of the Creature after Frankenstein abandoned him. The Creature felt isolated, total rejection from society, and immense loneliness. He found a safe haven in a hovel near a cottage in which a family of three stay: DeLacey, Agatha, and Felix. Their family has suffered a great deal, and the Creature notices that most days are spent with his cottagers looking depressed. Then, one day, another girl arrives which changes their entire sorrowful environment: Safie. At a first impression, the Creature describes Safie as having a “countenance of angelic beauty and expression” (Shelley 125). Her arrival sparked happiness and pleasure in the life of his cottagers. The Creature remarked “I saw that her presence diffused gladness through the

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