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feminist view in frankenstein
gender roles and nature in frankenstein
gender roles in present
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While reading Frankenstein many readers many approach the notion that the female’s roles and responsibilities were entirely different from men’s. One of many things I found interesting was how the roles and responsibilities of females impacted the lives of men as well. Females played a very important role even thought they were lastly to prosper. When looking for information on how female roles and responsibilities made a difference, I came across many very important articles, which show feminism, the domesticated roles of females, and how females were portrayed in Frankenstein.
In the making of Frankenstein, feminism played a big role in the female’s lives. Although created by a female author, female roles of Frankenstein can be seen as an uncertain end for future development of inequality. When creating Frankenstein, one of Shelley’s major concerns was “the exhibition of the amiableness of domestic affection”(Levy 700). Shelley wanted Frankenstein to have a “sympathetic identification both within and beyond the domestic sphere”(Levy 707). Though, Shelley applies a feminist lens to the literature and wants the readers to learn from both “feminine” and “masculine” viewpoints (Collings 68). In 19th century Geneva, men were seen as philosophers and inventors and women were seen as emotional and domesticated. Frankenstein was created while in the middle of woman’s liberation.
While reading Frankenstein one would interpret Feminist opinions, which can be seen as unfamiliar to the female characters of the story. The story of Frankenstein by Mary Shelley explores feminist matters through the characters of the story. Men like Victor Frankenstein and Walton venture on journeys in search of education and personal pleasures, while the femal...
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... And Hysteria In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein." Studies In The Novel 25.2 (1993): 152. Academic Search Complete. Web. 1 Mar. 2014.
Levy, Michelle. "Discovery and the Domestic Affections in Coleridge and Shelley." SEL Studies in English Literature 1500-1900 44.4 (2004): 693-713. Project MUSE. Web. 28 Feb. 2014.
Lunsford, Lars. "The Devaluing Of Life In Shelley's Frankenstein." Explicator 68.3 (2010): 174-176. Academic Search Complete. Web. 13 Mar. 2014.
Mellor, Anne K. “Possessing Nature: The Female in Frankenstein. “Romanticism and Feminism. A Norton Critical Edition: Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein: The 1818 Text, Contexts, Nineteenth-Century Responses, Modern Criticism. Ed. J. Paul Hunter. New York: Norton. 2012. 355-368. Print.
Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft, and J. Paul Hunter. Frankenstein: The 1818 Text, Contexts, Criticism. New York: W.W. Norton &, 2012. Print.
Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein: A Norton Critical Edition. ed. J. Paul Hunter. New York: W. W. Norton, 1996.
Works Cited Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. 1818. Ed. J. Paul Hunter. Norton Critical Edition. New York: Norton, 1996.
For example, in a play titled Frankenstein, based on a novel by Mary Shelley, Elizabeth Frankenstein is depicted as a woman of perfect and well-rounded personality in society. Taking into consideration that the novel was written in the 1817, when women were not even accepted as students in universities, as shown in the film, Mary Shelley presents Elizabeth Frankenstein both as a creative writer and a loving wife. Elizabeth has deliberately symbolized Shelley's expectations of an independent woman. She is represented as intelligent, a creative writer, just like Mary Shelley herself, and a loving, caring and supporting wife. Also, in the novel, Elizabeth is portrayed as the type of woman, who always wants to strike a balance between work and family life. That is why, in her letters to Victor Frankenstein, she always reminds him to keep in touch with his family and write back to her. Mary Shelley's plot of portraying Elizabeth as a successful writer as shown in the film, a profession, then rather unusual for a woman and almost entirely dominated by males, suggest...
Mary Shelley’s magnificent minor character Justine endures a horrendous death and maintains courage and grace when faced with a daunting trial. The powerful description of this strong young woman magnifies the gross wrongdoings of Victor Frankenstein and belittles his masculinity as he is seen as weak in comparison. Frankenstein is incapable of possessing the qualities inherent to Justine thus supporting the idea of womanly might as a formidable force.Through the representation of Justine’s intense, unwavering courage during her trial and Frankenstein’s absence of masculine bravery and justice, one can see that Shelley’s minor character is an affirmation of the undeniable strength of women.
“Allure, Authority, and Psychoanalysis” discusses the unconscious wishes, effects, conflicts, anxieties, and fantasies within “Frankenstein.” The absence of strong female characters in “Frankenstein” suggests the idea of Victor’s desire to create life without the female. This desire possibly stems from Victor’s attempt to compensate for the lack of a penis or, similarly, from the fear of female sexuality. Victor’s strong desire for maternal love is transferred to Elizabeth, the orphan taken into the Frankenstein family. This idea is then reincarnated in the form of a monster which leads to the conclusion that Mary Shelley felt like an abandoned child who is reflected in the rage of the monster.
Works Cited Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein: A Norton Critical Edition. ed. J. Paul Hunter. New York: W. W. Norton, 1996.
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein was published in 1818 during the Romanticism era. Romanticism describes the period of time from the late 18th century to the mid 19th century. This period was seen as a response to the Enlightenment; overall there was an increase in the desire to understand the world in an objective matter (lecture). Though Romanticism is commonly viewed as a literary and artistic movement, Mary Shelley gives evidence on the development of Europe in a historical sense through her novel, Frankenstein. Through the motifs and personal experiences of her characters, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein gives insight on scientific development, emerging roles of women, and how the individual is viewed the
Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein: A Norton Critical Edition. Ed. J. Paul Hunter. New York: W. W.
The idea for the novel of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein came to her one night when she was staying in the company of what has been called ‘her male coterie’, including Lord Byron and her husband, Percy Shelley. Mary Shelley’s whole life seems to have been heavily influenced by men. She idolised her father, William Godwyn, and appears to have spent a good part of her life trying very hard to impress both him and her husband. There seems to have been a distinct lack of female influence, her mother, Mary Wollstonecraft, having died weeks after her birth, being replaced by a neglectful step-mother. These aspects of her life are perhaps evident in her novel. The characters and plot of Frankenstein were perhaps influenced by Shelley’s conflicting feelings about the predominately masculine circle which surrounded her, and perhaps the many masculine traits that we see in novel were based upon those of the male figures in Shelley’s own life. In this essay I will attempt to show some of these traits.
In feminist literary theory, it claims that Frankenstein’s act of creation is not only a sin against God and nature. It is also an act against the “female principle” which includes natural procreation as one of its central aspects. The monster, the result of male arrogance, is the enemy and destroyer of the eternal female principle.
Michelle Miller’s definitions of femininity and masculinity in her TEDx Talk entitled, ‘We need to restore Femininity’, are clearly demonstrated in Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein through the dominance of the male characters such as Victor Frankenstein and his creation and the victimization of women; Shelley agrees that society would benefit from more feminine influences as the absence of powerful women negatively impacts the male characters.
Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein or the Modern Prometheus. The 1818 Text. New York: Oxford UP, 1998.
Mary Shelley, the author of the novel Frankenstein grew up in the early 1800’s with her father, a radical philosopher that believed in the equality of the sexes, and her mother, a vindicator of women’s rights. Shelley followed the footsteps of her parents and became a strong feminist advocate, and supporter of gender equality. The development of her novel granted her with the opportunity to express her feminist ideologies in a subtle, and realistic way, unlike any other authors during her time period. Thus, in the novel Frankenstein, Mary Shelley incorporates her feminist beliefs with the purpose of portraying the realities of a woman’s life during the early 1800’s.
In “Frankenstein” penned by Mary Shelley, one cannot help but notice the role of women in the novel compared to men. Even though Mary Shelley is the daughter of Mary Wollstonecraft, a mother advocating for women’s rights in society, she displays the roles of Caroline, Elizabeth, and Justine as passive women. This may be the time period when women were considered inferior to men. Caroline, Elizabeth, and Justine are depicted as possessions by men, admired for their superficial beauty, and do not take action without the permission of men. On the other hand, Shelley illustrates Safie as a woman who speaks up for her own rights when her father forbids her to find Felix. The three points that contribute greatly to the passive role of women are the lower of rank women in society compared to men, women being seen as possessions for men to protect, and women admired for their superficial beauty.
Victor Frankenstein dedicates and determines himself to individually create life, something unnatural to the human way of life. Abandonment and the lack of a nurturing mother leads to his regret and desire to commit infanticide. Steven Marcus correctly discusses in his article how feminists (especially) believe that Frankenstein provides a cautionary tale involving the dangers that result from masculine desires to create, as well as to nurture and raise, in the absence of a woman. While proven by Victor’s eagerness in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Steven Marcus’ article, as well as modern society, analyzes the patriarchal scientific drive to usurp female procreative power, resulting in consequential struggles for the child involved in the situation.