Feminist Stereotypes In Frankenstein

Zeynep Özbulut

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FEMINIST IDEALS IN FRANKENSTEIN

In the late 18th century, the concept of feminism was taking its first roots in England which is nowadays called under the title of classical-liberal feminism wave.The philosophical basis of liberal feminism lies in the principle of individualism, the belief that human individual is all important and therefore that all individuals are of equal moral worth. Individuals are entitled to equal treatment, regardless of their sex, race, colour, creed or religion. (Heywood, 2012, p. 238)

In 1792, in an attempt to defend these individual rights, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, the first feminist work arguing for the educational rights of women, was written

Women were seen weaker than men and they were not playing a decisive role in earning a living for the family. Society gave them roles as caring the house, giving birth and bearing children, morally supporting their husband. Single women were not respected. Only women educated were belonged to rich families. They could not own or inherit property. Conversely, men could possess their wife’s inheritance. We can simply say that it was a patriarchal society.

On the other hand, the Industrial Revolution was changing the lifestyle of English people. The increasing number of factories led people to live and work in the cities instead of rural districts. With the enhancement of science, life changing inventions were being made. But those developments and the hunger for knowledge and exploration in humans had also come up with destructive and damaging consequences which we observe a kind of example of it in Frankenstein. The monster Shelley described symbolizes the coming of industrialization to Europe, and the death and destruction that the monster wrecks symbolizes the ruin.

So the bottom line is, nearly none of those detrimental experiments which interfered the nature and life were caused by female scientists. A male-dominant, disrupting science was holding sway which is also what Shelley fairly criticized and depicted a fictional

She is very clever and gentle, and extremely pretty; as I mentioned before, her mien and her expressions continually remind me of my dear aunt.” says Elizabeth about Justine. No matter how much she loves her and trusts that Justine did not kill Victor’s brother, Elizabeth can not thwart her execution and we can say that a woman’s rejection against a sentence was not really considered.

Meanwhile the author gives us an important detail about the class distinction in the country while talking about Justine. “A servant in Geneva does not mean the same thing as a servant in France and England. Justine, thus received in our family, learned the duties of a servant, a condition which, in our fortunate country, does not include the idea of ignorance, and a sacrifice of the dignity of a human being.”(Shelley p.41) Shelley denotes that being a member of the lower classes need sacrifice of dignity in England. Also with Justine character, the author symbolizes the purity, dignity and righteousness and with her death .

Another notable detail is that the monster demanded Victor to create a woman partner for him in order to resolve his solitude. Again, woman is seen as a companion even by the monster and when Victor did not carry out his request, monster kills Victor’s beloved one, Elizabeth to