Sexism In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

1320 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Gender objectification of women

When discussing issues presented in Mary Shelley’s famous Frankenstein, sexism may seem completely irrelevant. One would expect Mary Shelley, a woman herself and the daughter of feminist author Mary Wolstencraft to present her female characters in a fair way. However, Frankenstein is a surprisingly sexist work. In this paper, I will analyze how the female monster from Frankenstein is a victim of objectification, a problem which has been rampant from Shelley’s time to the modern day. First, let’s define objectification. Objectification is the act of reducing a woman to a simple object in the way she is treated and thought of. In her journal article, Objectification, Marta Nussbaum identifies several characteristics of objectification, …show more content…

Nussbaum defines ownership as treating someone as “something that is owned by another, can be bought or sold, etc.” (257). In Frankenstein, the female monster is basically seen by Victor as a bargaining piece for getting the monster to leave him be. She was a good that Victor was going to sell to the monster in exchange for the monster no longer interacting with mankind. Some may argue that this is not sexism because Victor was merely doing this to ease the monster’s murderous rage or because the monster was just trying to get what he wanted in the only way he knew how to. I agree with those statements, but they do not negate the fact that the female monster is seen as something to be sold. Regardless of the intentions behind this trade, it is still …show more content…

The problem is that it is not just this one song, but a multitude of other songs, television shows, magazines, books, and much more that imply similar things. This ends up being a really big deal because all of small sexist things we allow come together to create one big, monstrous, sexist society. It is easy to look down on the people of Mary Shelley’s time and accuse them of being ignorant misogynists, but are we really so different? We still see women as existing to please men, we still think a woman’s looks define her worth, and gender roles are enforced on our children since infancy. I am not denying that things have improved. Women legally have all the rights than men do, and there are certainly more progressive-minded individuals out there, but society as a whole still has this objectification-mindset towards women and that is not ok.
The consequences of thinking of women as objects like the monster from Frankenstein does or like real-life monster Robin Thicke does are grave. This mindset justifies actions like sexual harassment, body-shaming, and even rape by denying women autonomy and subjectivity, and seeing them as something that can be owned. Today, one in four women will be sexually assaulted, and one in six women will experience an attempted or completed rape (“Facts and Figures”). Every woman will see body shaming to some

Show More
Related

  • Frankenstein: Shelley Use of Mascuine and Feminine Roles

    2033 Words  | 5 Pages

    ‘[The] characters and plot of Frankenstein reflect . . . Shelley’s conflicted feelings about the masculine circle which surrounded her.’

    Read More

  • Women's Individual Capability In Frankenstein By Mary Shelley

    1122 Words  | 3 Pages

    During his abandonment, he wanders in the forest and learns social aspects from the DeLacey family. His request to Frankenstein is inspired by the relationship between Felix and Safie. When he saw the passion between them, the monster said that their love, “...expressed joy”(Shelley 83). Therefore, the monster learns that humans, essentially men, need women to eliminate such depressed feelings. When the monster demands a female creature, Frankenstein agrees to his request as he was threatened about the death of Elizabeth Lavenza. However, as he is working on his creation, he considers the possible consequences that this might bring because the monster, “had sworn to quit the neighbourhood…; but the female monster had not; and the female monster, who in all probability to become a thinking and reasoning animal” (Shelley 120). Frankenstein decides to discontinue the female creation which delivers a message that women can have a mind of their own. He believes that the female creature can decide whether or not to be a companion for the monster. If she were to choose not to, she would have the power to do so despite having destruction as a possible outcome.. Therefore, signifying that women have the potential to have agency and make decisions of their

    Read More

  • Gender In Tam O Shanter And Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

    1747 Words  | 4 Pages

    In both Robert Burns’s Tam O’Shanter and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein; or, A Modern Prometheus, the authors use gender as an underlying theme throughout the narrative, a common thread present in the characters’ goals and motivations. In the case of Tam O’Shanter, Tam’s midnight adventure is against the advice of his wife and nearly ends with his death due to his inability to control himself when faced with a sultry witch. Frankenstein, though less blatant in its gendered imagery, follows the monster as he searches for a woman to play the role of his mother, wife, or daughter, demonstrating his need for female companionship in the light of Victor’s failure to be a father to him. The gender role that Victor himself plays is also debated, as he

    Read More

  • Female Characters In Frankenstein Essay

    1374 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Mary Shelley's Frankenstein as a Critique of Masculinity

    1775 Words  | 4 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Feminst Influence

    1380 Words  | 3 Pages

    In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray women are often portrayed as passive and weak characters. During the 19th century when these books were written, the proper domestic ideology was that women were naturally squeamish, defenseless, innocent beings, who needed protection from the male worlds of business and politics (Stepenoff). This theme is demonstrated throughout both of these novels through major and minor characters. In the case of Frankenstein, Shelley, who is a feminist herself, covers her book with submissive women who suffer calmly and eventually die. Similarly in Wilde's story, there are a few female characters that do not show much immediate importance, but they ultimately have a major impact on the story. Both authors portray their female characters as weak and passive, yet, despite their minor roles, these women strongly influence the men and greatly alter the course of events in each novel.

    Read More

  • The Role of Female Characters in "Frankenstein"

    1468 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Roles of Women in Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

    1128 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • A Feminist Reading of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

    591 Words  | 2 Pages

    When reading Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, one cannot help but notice that the women characters seem to have little substance compared to the male characters. This may have been caused by the time period in which she wrote: one in which females were considered inferior to males. This difference between the sexes can be looked at using a variety of different perspectives. Johanna M. Smith, a professor at the University of Texas at Arlington, discusses this issue using feminist eyes in her essay entitled "'Cooped up': Feminine Domesticity in Frankenstein." The main points in Professor Smith's essay are that the female characters are there only to reflect the male characters, and that the Frankenstein family has a weird style of living, which she describes as a "bookkeeping mentality" (Smith 279).

    Read More

  • The Analysis Of Women In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

    1317 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Feminism in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

    1061 Words  | 3 Pages

    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. In this novel, many female characters are considered to be possessions. In fact, they are considered to be the servants of men. “I have a pretty present for my Victor—tomorrow he shall have it.” (Mary Shelly, Pg. 70)

    Read More

  • The Effect of Hip-Hop on Female AAE Speakers

    1043 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...aching young women of all races of the objectification present and enforcing the idea that women are human and should not have to, although they can, adjust linguistically to stay humanized.

    Read More

  • Feminist Criticism In Frankenstein

    1030 Words  | 3 Pages

    The first example that comes to mind would be the illness of Elizabeth and the death of her and Victor’s mother, Caroline: “Elizabeth had caught the scarlet fever; her illness was severe, and she was in the greatest danger. […] Elizabeth was saved […] On the third day my mother sickened […] accompanied by the most alarming symptoms. […] She died calmly…” (Shelley 19) Within the first twenty pages of the novel, the reader is projected an image of how weak women are to a virus that is much smaller than them. While one survived the deadly symptoms, the one who could be argued to be more of a woman has perished. This removal of nearly two female characters this early is a portrayal of the frailty of the female sex. This is not the only time feminism is removed from the novel. In an article entitled “The Monster in a Dark Room: Frankenstein, Feminism, and Philosophy”, Nancy Yousef states that “Not surprisingly, the creature’s nonbirth, occluding an unavoidably female act, has dominated feminist interpretations of Frankenstein.” (Yousef 198) Hitting the nail on the head, Yousef makes an excellent observation. The creature was not born by any natural means as he was a creation of Victor’s. By removing the natural birth of a human through a woman’s reproductive organs, Shelley is making a statement as to the oppression of the female sex within the late 18th and early 19th century. Within an essay written by Diane Long Hoeveler, she makes a good point too expressing that “The fact that Victor constructs the [female] body and then, when contemplating the realities of sexuality, desire, and reproduction, rips that body apart, suggests that the female body is for Victor infinitely more threatening and "monstrous" than was the creature 's male body.” (Hoeveler 52) Hoeveler is essentially stating that the female body is a threat to the male sex and was more hideous

    Read More

  • The Incomparable Strength and Bravery of Women in Frankenstein

    795 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Othello And Frankenstein Comparison Essay

    957 Words  | 2 Pages

    Gender inequality will always affect the way women are portrayed in society, the weaker, unnecessary, and other sex. It is not just a subject of the past, but still holds a name in society, however in the olden eras the way women were treated and are looked at, in a much more harsh condition. In Shakespeare’s Othello and Shelley’s Frankenstein women’s roles in the books are solely based on the way they are treated in their time period. The way women are portrayed in these books, demonstrate that they can never be in the same standing as men, considered the second option, and therefore will never have the same respect as men. In both Othello and Frankenstein women are treated as property, used to better men’s social standards, and lack a voice,

    Read More

More about Sexism In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

Open Document