Female Monstrosity In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

“A thinking and reasoning animal”: An analysis of female monstrosity in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein

The female characters in Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein, are rare and inconsequential. When they do make an appearance, it is as a doting mother, grateful wife, concerned sister, or helpless servant. In her article, “Frankenstein and the Feminine Subversion of the Novel” Devon Hodges writes,“her [Shelley’s] characters do not escape traditional female destinies -- to be mother, wife, dead, or some combination of the three” (Hodges). However, there is one female character that does not fit this model. The female creature that Victor refuses to create occupies a different space than the aforementioned archetypes. The idea that the female monster would not be bound by societal norms and the potential of her agency and freedom are so foreign and terrifying to Victor that he refuses to bring her to life. Shelley’s inclusion of the possibility of the female monster challenges the

Although it is women’s role to create life, Victor associates creation with masculinity. He cannot create life, but, according to his experience, it is only natural that he should want to. As Bette London writes in her essay “Mary Shelley, Frankenstein, and the Spectacle of Masculinity,” Victor is coping with “the fantasy of masculine creation outside the body” (London). Giving birth is the most active role females have in the novel and Victor wants to usurp that role because he believes that, as a man, it is his right to do so. However, when the monster comes to life his appearance is so grotesque and unnatural that Victor flees his creation and becomes sick with grief. That night Victor is “disturbed by the wildest dreams” where he sees Elizabeth turn into the corpse of his mother. The dream implies that he associates his botched creation with losing the women in his life and the masculine role he has in relation to