Men Above Women Through an analysis of female and male characters in comparison, the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley outlines strict gender roles and levels of power. Shelley incorporates usages of strong literary devices such as objective correlatives, irony, and metaphors to further enunciate the gender roles throughout the novel. This novel was written during the Romanticism period, which is highly reflected in the novel as the gender roles depicted are an accurate reflection of gender roles during the 1800s. Throughout this gothic novel, “a story of terror and suspense, usually set in a gloomy old castle or monastery” (Baldwick), Mary Shelley depicts these strict gender roles and levels of power strategically through introductions, or …show more content…
“...when I reflected how dreadful the combat which I momentarily expected would be to my wife...,” (Shelley 188), Victor was aware his soon to be wife was in danger of being murdered, but failed to do anything about it and let her continue to show care and concern for his agitated state. This alone shows the irony in how women continuously show support and nurture towards men, but men will still do as they please, with no real regard to how it will affect women. “The murderous mark of the friend’s grasp was on her neck, and the breath had ceased to issue from her lips,” (Shelley 189). Even after Elizabeth was murdered by Victor’s creation, he still referred to the killer as “friend.” Irony serves a large purpose in this quote, such as it proves a man will still consider another man a friend even after killing their soon to be wife. Irony, overall, gave Elizabeth’s death a much larger meaning. From Elizabeth’s introduction, she was nothing but supportive and nurturing to Victor and his work, but was later killed by Victor’s work in which he regarded as his “friend.” Gender roles are boldly outlined by this event as it shows what a man can and will do to continue with their …show more content…
Men were also expected to be mentally tough and to not shed a tear. This is first seen during Robert Walton’s Arctic expedition. All the human characters presented throughout the novel fit in with the societal norms, such as Walton living up to the standard of his role as man- using his intelligence for research doing a “man’s job,” while his sister emotionally supports him and emphasizes a woman’s role of nurturing and being there for the men. Gender roles, though, are quickly questioned after the monster is created. The monster's creator, Victor Frankenstein, never explicitly defines the monster's gender. Mary Shelley carefully devised this and continued to use metaphors throughout the monster's existence to explain the monster's gender and societal norms around binary gender roles. Metaphor can be defined as, “the most important and widespread figure of speech, in which one thing, idea, or action is referred to by a word or expression normally denoting another thing, idea, or action, so as to suggest some common quality shared by the two,”
Shelley began writing ‘Frankenstein’ in the company of what has been called ‘her male coterie’, including her lover Percy Shelley, Lord Byron and his physician John Polidori. It has been suggested that the influence of this group, and particularly that of Shelley and Byron, affected her portrayal of male characters in the novel. As Ann Campbell writes:
Mary Shelley’s novel entitled Frankenstein demonstrates women of the Romantic Era as powerless citizens of society. Throughout the novel, the women are secondary characters and are portrayed through the men’s perspective. Therefore, many would think that these female characters are passive and dependant as they are often described as companions and nurturers. Despite the unequal rights of women, Shelley, one of the earliest feminist, has developed female characters who show agency. This trait of taking charge of one 's course of life is reflected through Justine Moritz as she is willing to die for her beliefs, in Safie who defies her father’s and religious wishes and when Victor Frankenstein decides to abort
When one considers the role that gender, sexuality, and their roles in societal expectations, the result shows how the fragile character of Victor Frankenstein who runs away from his creation and shows no social responsibility to his actions is still considered a ‘fine man’. Shelley highlights the ever obvious reality of her time that men were valued over women; moreover, it shows that men not man were seemingly meant to inherent the Earth and to become its God. Additionally, Shelley’s personal life and the male figures that shaped it offer additional evidence to the ideology of the fragile masculine identity (Gordon) and how Shelley subtly shows the lack of equilibrium that existed within literature and, by extension, reality. It is the underlying notion of the nineteenth century romantic literature that women are meant to hold only an aesthetic or pleasing purpose and value in life whereas men are capable of looking further past the ‘superficial’ and see the truth even when they’re young; Victor says, “While my companion [Elizabeth] contemplated with a serious and satisfied spirit the magnificent appearances of things, I delighted in investigating their causes,” (p. 38) suggesting that women are inherently shallow creatures unable to perceive deeper
In the book Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, the women are portrayed as inferior to men in several different ways. Of the few female characters in this book, very few of them are mentioned throughout the entire book and none of them are considered main characters. The ideals of Romanticism emphasize the secondary nature of women to men. In addition, Shelley’s portrayal of the inferiority of women parallels Romantic ideals and some of today’s values but also contrasts some values of today’s society. Shelley uses these Romantic ideals in Frankenstein because all of the female characters are clearly subordinate and secondary to the male characters throughout the story.
In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Shelley characterizes the female characters as passive, disposable and serving an utilitarian function. Women such as Safie, Elizabeth, Justine, Margaret and Agatha provide nothing more but a channel of action for the male characters throughout the novel. Meaning, the events and actions acted by them or happen to them are usually for the sake of the male character gaining new knowledge or sparking an emotion. Each of Shelley’s women serves an important role by way of plot progression are otherwise marginal characters. Yet, this almost absence of women is exactly the reason why they are important. This use of the female character introduces a concept of feminism; here, female politics exists due to the vacancy of a “role model.” Women such as Justine, Agatha, Elizabeth and Margaret in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein play a key role, whether it’s for mere plot progression or by their absence.
Many consider Shelley as an early feminist. Certainly her mother’s views on the issue cannot be doubted. In her book “A Vindication of the Rights of Women” Mary Wollstonecraft criticizes society’s treatment of women. Similarly in Frankenstein Shelly, more than simply telling a story, challenges a dominant patriarchal value system. In the novel the women are constructed as victims of male egotism and selfishness. Caroline Beaufort, Victor Frankenstein’s mother, lived in ‘poverty’ due to her father’s ‘abominable pride’ that refused to accept help or charity. Safie, daughter of the Turkish merchant is almost kept from the one she loves by her father’s ‘treachery’. Thus we can see that Shelly presents us with a s...
Frankenstein “supports a patriarchal denial of the value of women and of female sexuality” (Mellor, 356). Mellor’s point is significant here because a woman was devalued if she was not able to produce children or if she showed signs of independence. Mary Shelley’s own mother, Mary Wollstonecraft, defied gender roles and strongly advocated for the freedoms of women. This influence shines through Shelley’s novel as the deaths of the women
Can you imagine Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley's Frankenstein, the great work of literature, without, for example, such female characters as Mrs. Margaret Saville, Elizabeth Lavenza, and Justine Moritz? In this case the novel will have no meaning. All the women help to develop the plot, and without them Frankenstein will lose its spirit. Although these heroines have a lot in common in their characters: they are all strong-willed, kind, careful, and selfless, at the same time, each of them is unique, and each plays her own role in the novel. Mrs. Margaret Saville is the woman to whom the narrator tells the story. Elizabeth Lavenza is the beloved of Victor Frankenstein. Justine Moritz is the heroine who is accused by mistake of murdering William and executed instead of the fiend. There is close connection between the female and male characters, and if we break it, Frankenstein will have no sense. The author of the novel, Mary Wollstonecraft Shelly, characterizes the women in the same way as the men, and shows that they are independent players. So, the female characters in Frankenstein are as important as the male ones.
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.
Mary Shelley’s, Frankenstein, depicts a patriarchal society in which men pursue their goals against hopeless odds. Victor Frankenstein is a major male character depicted in Shelley’s work. He is “portrayed as the patriarch who creates but cannot love and who fears sexual reproduction (Griswold 87). Frankenstein is a prime example of a man who pursued their goals against hopeless odds. He reflected back on his curious childhood. During childhood, he wanted to learn the hidden laws of nature and he desired to learn the secrets of the heaven and earth (Shelley 33). From the beginning of his life, Frankenstein had the goal to discover the existence of heaven and earth. He took this in to his own hands by trying to bring a monster to life. It is hard to fathom that an individual has the ability to create another human being. It is a hopeless odd that Frankenstein would have the ability to bring different body parts, unite them with electricity, and create a new form of life. Even though this is considered a hopeless odd,
From the beginning of time in history, women have always been portrayed as and seen as the submissive sex. Women especially during the time period of the 1800s were characterized as passive, disposable, and serving an utilitarian function. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is a prime example displaying the depiction of women. The women in Frankenstein represent the treatment of women in the early 1800’s. Shelley’s incorporation of suffering and death of her female characters portrays that in the 1800’s it was acceptable. The women in the novel are treated as property and have minimal rights in comparison to the male characters. The feminist critic would find that in Frankenstein the women characters are treated like second class citizens. The three brutal murders of the innocent women are gothic elements which illustrates that women are inferior in the novel. Mary Shelley, through her novel Frankenstein, was able to give the reader a good sense of women’s role as the submissive sex, through the characters experiences of horrific events including but not limited to brutal murder and degradation, which is illuminated by her personal life experiences and time period of romanticism.
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 are set for them by society.
Many people know that Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein, was part of a family of famed Romantic era writers. Her mother, Mary Wollstonecraft, was one of the first leaders of the feminist movement, her father, William Godwin, was a famous social philosopher, and her husband, Percy Shelley, was one of the leading Romantic poets of the time ("Frankenstein: Mary Shelley Biography."). What most people do not know, however, is that Mary Shelley dealt with issues of abandonment her whole life and fear of giving birth (Duncan, Greg. "Frankenstein: The Historical Context."). When she wrote Frankenstein, she revealed her hidden fears and desires through the story of Victor Frankenstein’s creation, putting him symbolically in her place (Murfin, Ross. "Psychoanalytic Criticism and Frankenstein.”). Her purpose, though possibly unconsciously, in writing the novel was to resolve both her feelings of abandonment by her parents, and fears of her own childbirth.
Within Frankenstein, the level at which a female is portrayed is quite low. Like we have heard in class, women were not necessarily respected as much as men were when the novel was written. Published in 1818 by Mary Shelley, her story tells of the adventure of young Victor Frankenstein and the creation of his creature. Though deep within this narration of Frankenstein’s life, there seems to be an underlying theme seeping through Shelley’s writing. Shelley seems to venture into the idea of feminism and grotesquely show how men are treated much better than women. Her novel includes various concrete examples to support this hypothesis.
Beginning in the early 19th century, Frankenstein, which ironically was written by a woman, shows a somewhat unsurprising lack of revolutionary female characters. In Frankenstein, there are only four female characters who add important movement to the plot. Frankenstein’s mother, Elizabeth, and Justine are the human women in his immediate circle and each is only described in terms of their position relative to men. Caroline Frankenstein and Elizabeth Lavenza are described as his beloved mother and cousin, as if that is their own defining feature. The novel begins with Frankenstein telling Captain Walton of his mother and father: “He came like a protecting spirit to the poor girl, who committed herself to his care; and after the interment of