Frankenstein Treatment Of Women Essay

Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein primarily focuses on Victor and his monster, but women also play a part. There are three major female figures in the novel; the housekeeper for the Frankenstein family: Justine, Victor’s “adopted cousin” and later wife: Elizabeth, and the never completed female monster. To both Victor and the monster woman are desired objects that offer comfort and companionship, but as the novel goes on, women become targets for revenge. This goes to show that the women in Frankenstein prove to be both powerless and powerful when it comes to dealing with the men that surround them.

Being the daughter of Mary Wollstonecraft, a well-known feminist for her book A Vindication of the Rights of Women, it is no surprise that Mary Shelley too would become a strong advocate for equal treatment of women. Though it may be strange to think that a feminist would write a book without any strong female characters. It is the absence of women that create a feminist theme within Frankenstein. Throughout Frankenstein, Shelley showcases the importance of women in society, through the flaws and mistakes of men in the absence of women, along with criticizing the limiting role the idealized woman holds.

Mary Shelley, author of Frankenstein, lived in a time period of great inequality between men and women where women were restricted in their roles and rights. During Justine’s trial, Shelley not only strives to argue against male dominance in society but also to elucidate irony in the subjection of women through overemphasis on male power over women. Shelley uses abstract diction to show Justine’s presumed guilt and inability to defend herself against her accusers because of her class and gender and also makes a combined emotional and ethical appeal that pokes at women’s gullibility. She also juxtaposes Justine’s innocence and Victor’s guilt in order to accentuate how Victor, a man, negatively influenced the outcome of Justine’s trial. By creating

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

The novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelly was published in 1818. Her parent had undoubtedly influenced her ways of writing. Her father, William Godwin is famous with his piece “An Enquiry Concerning Political Justice while her mother, Mary Wollstonecraft wrote “A Vindication of the Rights of Woman” is two prominent radical writers who call for reform during French Revolution. Bringing both feminism and radical views from her parents, Shelley critiques women’s weak, docile and uneducated character. She also shows how women are often degraded and treated unjustly. The reason she brought the issues forward is to make women realize that they should improve their position and women should not conform to the dogma that they are always weak.

The novel “Frankenstein” by Mary Shelley, and the article “Of the Pernicious Effects” by Mary Wollstonecraft, both have relations 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 importance to the flow of the novel and the purpose of equality that Shelley is sending about feminism through these characters.

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley is a gothic novel that was wrote during the 1800s, or other known as the enlightenment era. During this era, the ideas of discovering the natural law of the universe and the thirst for scientific knowledge were being spread all across Europe. Mary Shelley incorporates these ideas with Victor Frankenstein's thirst for dangerous knowledge, and through allusions of Prometheus and the Genesis story. Shelley not only incorporates other supplementary readings into Frankenstein, but uses feminist literary theory as a way to put to life the idea of women’s inferiority to men.

Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein seems to focus on the characterization of men yet what is ironic is the fact that she is a woman. After the birth of Shelley, her mother Mary Wollstonecraft who was one of the first and most important feminist advocates had died, leaving Shelley to continue in her footsteps (“Feminism & Women in Frankenstein”). Growing up, she was exposed to the work done by her mother and this led her to become exposed to feminist ideals at a very early age (“Feminism & Women in Frankenstein”). In Shelley’s novel Frankenstein, it is controversial of why she chose to characterize both sexes in the way she did and this controversy on women’s roles held of one the central themes in the text. Some critics argue that

Women in the novel are considered as the submissive sex compared to their fellow counterpart who are men. In characterization, Shelley characterizes the different women characters in the book as disposable, passive, as well as utilitarian. The female characters being submissive serve nothing in the novel other than an active channel for their male counterparts. This kind of treatment women get in the story teaches a lesson to the male actor. The female characters in the novel are Agatha, Elizabeth, Justine, Safie, and Margaret. An example of female character mistreatment is the framing of Justine for the death of William Frankenstein. Despite being innocent, her gender betrays her and therefore framed. Perhaps the most critical emotional channel in the novel is Frankenstein’s betrothed Elizabeth. Described as a passive, gentle character from the beginning, Elizabeth has always been a soft spot for her fiancé. Frankenstein views her as a possession: “I looked upon Elizabeth as mine - mine to protect, love and cherish. All praises bestowed on her I received as made to a possession of my own”.

Ever since Eve was created out of Adam’s rib in the Garden of Eden, women have been often viewed as second to men. “She will be named ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of man” (Genesis 2.23). This idea of men being superior to women is one that has been around for awhile and is clearly shown in the popular gothic horror novel, Frankenstein. Mary Shelley juxtaposed the females of the story to the female stereotype of the 1800s, which in turn shows modern society how women should be taken seriously. In Frankenstein, the women of the novel are the unsung heroes that portray: the themes of society in the 1800s, unfair gender roles and how Shelley defied social norms as a woman. Shelley’s famous novel shines a light on women as a whole in a time that women were seen as weak and powerless bringing light to issues that needed to be resolved.

Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein, had been raised by strong women’s rights advocates, which makes her characterization of the women in her story a wildly controversial discussion topic even all these years later. Mary Shelley’s philosopher father paid for her high education, and her mother wrote several works about equality for women. She lived a substantially progressive lifestyle, considering the time period in which she lived. This has raised many questions regarding the weak female characters in her story, due to her own very contrasting beliefs.

The value of something depends entirely on each individual, as nobody can value something completely the same as somebody else. In Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, the author is able to portray how women are valued and the oppression of them through Mr. Frankenstein’s disgust to the “she monster” and treatment of other female characters throughout the novel.

None of Shelley’s female characters in Frankenstein are feminist icons; the women of the novel are written as passive, defined entirely by the men in their lives. This understanding, which informs Stephanie Haddad’s article “Women as the Submissive Sex in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein”, is partially achieved through point of view, specifically that of

In Shelley’s Frankenstein, the reader feels great sympathy for the female characters in the novel. The characters Caroline Beaufort, Elizabeth Lavenza and Justine are characterized as good hearted and upright woman, but nevertheless face an injustice death. In Frankenstein, women in the text are being destructed through an inevitable miserable fate to get the idea of the passive woman that devotes herself to the benefactor and her lack of agency across, in which is demonstrated in the passivity of Caroline, Elizabeth and Justine’s role that leads to their misery.

In the novel Frankenstein women are viewed as passive, pure and innocent. Frankenstein also focuses in the importance of beauty throughout the story and this is often relayed to the readers through describing the women in the story. Women in Frankenstein are also expected to tend to typical gender roles and aren’t seen as equal to men. Going along with the