Femininity And Masculinity In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

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.

In Frankenstein, women invested in experience, as Miller describes, are presented with feminine qualities and victimized by possessive male characters throughout the novel. In Miller’s TEDx Talk, she describes femininity through experience as relating to such words as sensitivity, compassion, beauty,

Miller describes some of these masculine qualities such as “focus, competition, aggression, and logic” (Miller, 1:00). Victor Frankenstein is the greatest example of these attributes as he is rational, focused, and driven. He shows excessive, almost absurd, dedication to his experiment to the point that he loses all track of time: “Winter, spring, and summer passed away during my labours; but I did not watch the blossom or the expanding leaves… so deeply was I engrossed in my occupation” (57). He focuses on a single outcome - giving life to the dead. This drive for creation agrees with Miller’s definition of masculinity as “result oriented actions.” Throughout the novel, Victor expresses a preference of a male dominant society rather than one with a feminine voice. Even though his creature becomes threatening and demanding, he refuses to create a new female creature as a companion for his male creature. Frankenstein fears that the woman could become independent and uncontrollable by his original male creature: “... and she, who in all probability was to become a thinking and reasoning animal, might refuse to comply with a compact made before her creation” (170). In fear of the powerful female, Victor destroys his second creature and with that, withholds the opportunity for his

I have learned that a character who is limited to traditional, fixed sexual roles is ultimately unable to succeed or find happiness. While there is a natural predisposition to one biological sex, a sustainable society would best be reached by an accepted balance between the two. While the world may see femininity and masculinity as male or female oriented, I can now identify these traits in new ways. I hope to now recognize both the feminine and masculine qualities in myself and continue to grow with