Essay on The Role of Female Characters in "Frankenstein"

Frankenstein; Or The Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley conveys that stories are dangerous because they impose social norms by enforcing restrictive gender roles that society makes impossible to reconcile. Gender roles dictate the life one should live and one’s value to society, and these restrictions ruin the creature’s life in Frankenstein due to his inability to find a fulfilling role to play in the world he lives. As William Shakespeare once wrote, “All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players” (3.6.80); the creature’s inability to find reconciliation between male or female normative roles he learns through stories leads to his ostracization. He recognizes that the world is a story, and yet he is not even offered

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

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

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.

Women in the 18th century were often referred to as “ weak, illogical, timid, or even emotionless” ( Radek-Hill, “ Women in Literature”). This idea of women will stick around all the way until the mid 1900s, and has played a big historical issue for decades. In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, the idea of women being inferior to men is shown in many ways and covers throughout the book. One way she shows feminism is how she constructed the book to where the women in the book play a significantly lesser role than men. Victor Frankenstein, and his monster are the two big roles in the book, leaving little light for the female characters. When you analyze the male characters, you will notice that their actions throughout the book lead to the death and suffering of a female character. Victor is the most to blame for this because he did not speak up about his monsters creation, who in

            Another character that caught my attention was that of Elizabeth. Elizabeth was not related to the Frankenstein?s, however she is taken in by them and grows up as one of their own. She is in every way described in the book as an always compassionate, always innocent, gentle soul. She is kind to all, and even when faced with times of trials and tribulations seems to lift herself above most people to be understanding and compassionate to others. When Victor wants to go away to school, even though she can?t stand the thought of him being away she accepts his decision and wished him well as she does when he decides to travel to England for some time. She accepts Victor?s dejection and despair even though she never understands the cause of it, but most remarkable of all she finds it within herself to believe Justine innocence and even speak on her behalf at the trial. These instances of true compassion and outright empathy are created by Shelley to augment the evil of the monster. Throughout the book Shelley portrays Elizabeth as nothing but perfect. In the story Victor refers to her as ?the best hope,

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).

    In Mary Shelley's novel, Victor Frankenstein suffers an extreme psychological crisis following his violation of what is considered a fundamental biological principle.  His creation of life undermines the role of women in his life and the role of sexuality, and allows existing misogynist and homosexual tendencies to surface.  Victor represses what he has uncovered about himself, and it merges into a cohesive whole in his psyche that becomes projected on the instrument of revelation, the monster.

Over the years, the monster in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein has become universally portrayed in one way: a tall, green-skinned, dumb brute with no language or reasoning abilities. Society has turned the story of Frankenstein into a mere horror story, dehumanizing the monster more than was intended in Shelley’s novel. However, the message of Frankenstein is a far cry from the freak show displayed by the media. While many people may only see Frankenstein as a grotesque story meant to thrill its audience, its purpose goes much deeper as it advocates for the equal rights of women in society.

The fight for domination amongst the sexes is a battle as old as civilization, where the ideas of gender hierarchies first began. These conflicts often manifest themselves unwittingly through literature, showing subtle signs of deeper tension that has ensued for centuries. The struggle between masculine and feminine becomes apparent through Frankenstein, a battle that results in the death of the potentially most powerful figure in the book. Frankenstein yields characters motivated by complicated thinking, specifically the title character, Victor Frankenstein. Victor is a brilliant 19th century Swiss scientist who succeeds in generating life with electricity, creating a creature that

Caroline Beaufort died from scarlet fever and Elizabeth Lavenza died at the hands of the fiend created by Victor Frankenstein. On the other hand, Safie would never forget the horror of encountering the monster, but remained alive. The influences of being a mother, woman novelist and daughter of a feminist pioneer are evident in Mary Shelley’s representation of Caroline’s self-sacrifice, Elizabeth’s submissiveness, and Safie’s simultaneously strong and passive role in Frankenstein. Furthermore, these attributes correlate to each female character’s fate.

The horror classic novel Frankenstein has gathered a great deal of critical and commercial attention since first being introduced in 1818, and naturally there has been many academics who have analyzed many of the novel’s biggest themes, symbols, and motifs. This also includes in analyzing the author herself, Mary Shelley. Marcia Aldrich, who has her Ph.D. in English from the University of Washington, is one of the academics to underline the role of being a female writer in the 19th century and what importance this plays on the novel Frankenstein. In her article, co-written by Richard Isomaki, “The Woman Writer as Frankenstein” analyzes the significance of Mary Shelley being the daughter of a writer and how this contributed to her writing Frankenstein, which they speculate as her, Mary Shelley, envisioning herself as the Monster. Aldrich and Isomaki’s “The Woman Writer as Frankenstein” makes valid and persuasive points, which effectively argues that the novel is semi-autobiographical in the sense that Mary Shelley pictured her as the Frankenstein Monster, for many of the concerns that the authors bring up in their article highlight the insecurities, doubts, and inexorable frustrations of a young woman writing in the 19th century.

Mary Shelley portrays Elizabeth as a perfect stereotypical woman of the time. She is described as 'a being heaven-sent, and bearing a celestial stamp in all her features' (page 34), so we see that she is angelic, beautiful and very feminine. Elizabeth is the backbone of the Frankenstein household, making it a beautiful place with a loving atmosphere:

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.