Mary Shelley's Frankenstein Research Paper

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.

Frankenstein, a novel first published in the year 1818, stands as the most talked about work of Mary Shelley’s literary career. She was just nineteen years old when she penned this novel, and throughout her lifetime she could not produce any other work that surpasses this novel in terms of creativity and vision. In this novel, Shelley found an outlet for her own intense sense of victimization, and her desperate struggle for love. Traumatized by her failed childbirth incidents, troubled childhood, and scandalous courtship, many of Shelley’s life experiences can be seen reflected in the novel. When discussing the character and development of the monster, Shelley launches an extensive discussion on the

The Cost of Victor Frankenstein Playing God With the growth of science , there exists a growth of concern over whether or not people will attempt to play God with such harmful results. (man-made controlling of the characteristics of living things, making an exact copy of a living thing, body changes, and other fields in the science of living things related to the body function of living things technology are all examples of fields that are great in a fast manner that raises up concerns over the consequences. Progress in science causes people to question the kindness of people and what it means to be human, just as it causes people to question the effects that scientific progress may have on the common welfare. The main character of the Mary

Albert Einstein said, "Most people say that it is the intellect which makes a great scientist. They are wrong: it is character"(Einstein). Victor Frankenstein from Mary Shelley's Frankenstein lacked good character. Victor's flawed character and misdirected ambitions lead to his death because of his venture to create life with the use of the latest technology in the 1800s. The novel falsely illustrates science as detrimental when, in actuality, it serves as a tool to better understand the natural world and to progress in medical and engineering fields, so Victor's egocentric ventures causes his suffering, not scientific advancement.

Do abused children who bully other kids lack moral values? Kids who are raised with violence fail to distinguish right from wrong, causing them to have different moral values than most in society. The creature was assaulted for his looks because he was left alone by Frankenstein. The creature does not understand why hurting people is wrong because he has been hurt many times. In Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, the creature’s lack of morals causes him to kidnap and kill William.

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.

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

“Romanticism glorified nature, emotion, and imagination [and] romantics sought out all that was wild fever and disorderly” (Hunt 659). Frankenstein, seen as a work of either Gothic or scientific fiction, is a story of imaginative horror by nineteenth century author Mary Shelley. When published, there was no story like Frankenstein. Shelley’s Frankenstein is a work that parallels her own life of knowledge and personal loss: Shelley was an educated woman who produced many stories and Shelley’s mother and children died.

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein underlines and defines the repression of women, as well as criticizes the patriarchal and dominating role

The novel Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, was a piece written in 1817 during a time when women weren’t considered to be adequate authors. Shelley’s work is both intriguing as it is thought provoking. She brings to light the true nature of society and life altogether when tested. She factors in how the outside world can influence our choices in writing. George Levine from “The Ambiguous Heritage of Frankenstein” and Benjamin Truitt from “Frankenstein Critical Analysis and Literary Criticism” both share their opinions about Shelley’s piece of written work.

In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Shelley characterizes the female characters as passive, disposable and serving an utilitarian function. Women such as Safie, Elizabeth, Justine, Margaret and Agatha provide nothing more but a channel of action for the male characters throughout the novel. Meaning, the events and actions acted by them or happen to them are usually for the sake of the male character gaining new knowledge or sparking an emotion. But, at the same time, the main male character, Victor Frankenstein, only adds to the the gendered construction of Shelley’s world instead of dismantling it. Fueled by their primary use of plot progression, otherwise meaningless characters are put to good use in Shelley’s Frankenstein.

During the 18th and 19th centuries, the Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution changed the way the world saw reason and science. The Enlightenment was a period that popularized logic over superstitious beliefs. It drew people towards science and other studies of pure thought. The Industrial Revolution also promoted science and technology. The various advancements made during this time period made the study of new technology and knowledge seem beneficial to society.

In the words of literary critic Mikyung Park, Shelley “is compassionate toward the monster while criticizing as monstrous the brutal circumstances that cause the creature to be neglected and driven to violence... she describes it in a sympathetic tone”. The early 19th century was a time of great misogyny. Gender inequality was present in nearly all aspects of life on a social, political, religious, and familial level.

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

     Romantic writer Mary Shelley’s gothic novel Frankenstein does indeed do a lot more than simply tell story, and in this case, horrify and frighten the reader. Through her careful and deliberate construction of characters as representations of certain dominant beliefs, Shelley supports a value system and way of life that challenges those that prevailed in the late eighteenth century during the ‘Age of Reason’. Thus the novel can be said to be challenging prevailant ideologies, of which the dominant society was constructed, and endorsing many of the alternative views and thoughts of the society. Shelley can be said to be influenced by her mothers early feminist views, her father’s