Females in The 19th Century

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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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.