The Role Of Women In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

Knowledge has the capability to be used for both good and evil. In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, there is a consistent message throughout the novel showing the dangerous and destructive power that knowledge can have. Two key characters, Victor Frankenstein and his monster, are shaped through their obsessions with knowledge and the power and responsibility that it brings. Ultimately, Victor’s downfall is a result of his uncontrollable thirst for knowledge, and is brought about through the monster which is the embodiment of his obsession.

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein presents important social criticism. Shelly focuses, in particular, on importance of forgiveness, betrayal, acceptance in society.

In Frankenstein, through strong diction, the simile of a demon, and characterization of Victor and the Monster, Shelley argues that the greatest influence on human behavior would be that a person 's environment is that completely takes a toll on their mental state. Authors such as Noreena Hertz and Roger Scruton also have similar analysis on this idea of human behavior.

The way in which she minimized the female characters in Frankenstein and empowered all male characters also can come across as a silent protest against the conventional stereotypes of gender roles within literature. Due to the contextual time however, Shelley was unable to speak up of her ideas since the rights women's roles in the 18th century were usually confined to them exercising their moral and domestic virtues through housework, religion and charity work and it wasn't until the 1918 (hundred years after Frankenstein was written) that women were given the right to vote and the development of unconventional gender roles begun.

What gives humans the right to create life? Moreover, what responsibilities does a parent have to his child. Multiple philosophies have been formulated that address this question; communism and Christianity being two of the most prominent in the western modern world. In the novel Frankenstein, Mary Shelley uses Frankenstein’s monster to convey her belief that a parent's most basic duty to their child is to be present in their live while caring and nurture them. She does this through a multitude of literary devices. By using a metaphorical child, foreshadowing torment that will result from abandonment, and telling a story within a story to show the importance of parenting Mary Shelley presents

Imagine being looked at and automatically being assumed in the most negative, narcissistic way possible; this was what Frankenstein's unnamed monster faced throughout his life. In Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, the monster that Dr. Frankenstein made is experiencing this exact problem, even though he did nothing to deserve that treatment. The book Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, conveys a strong message of people always relying on their own experience and ideas before objectively seeing a situation for what it really is; this can directly be seen with the saving of a girls life, the monsters interaction inside the hovel, and the ending sequences with Walton.

“I was benevolent and good; misery made me a fiend.” (Shelley 69) Said by Frankenstein’s monster, this quote truly defines him: initially an affectionate, love-seeking creature, he transformed into an enraged killer, angry at humanity for the undeservedly poor way he was treated. Victor Frankenstein is an unique, complex individual who encounters a similar change of nature for similar reasons. The quote—though spoken by the monster—encapsulates the evolution of Victor Frankenstein’s personality; misery—a product of isolation and loneliness—aroused a deterioration of temperament from an initially benevolent Frankenstein.

Responsibility is the state or fact of having a duty to deal with something or of having control over someone. Responsibility is something that every human needs. A lack of responsibility can be harmful to the person and the people around them and a plethora of responsibility can change a person 's life. In the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, Shelley’s portrayal of Victor as selfish suggests that not taking responsibility can lead to pain, death, and the suffering of others as the reader sees in the novel which relates to today 's society of powerful countries not taking responsibility for the weapons that they create, and the damage that is revealed as a result.

women in Frankenstein are generally portrayed as pure and innocent. Although there are a few exceptions, such as Caroline Beaufort, a girl who works to support her impoverished father, women are generally seen as kind but powerless. For example, Elizabeth stands up for Justine’s innocence, but cannot prevent her own execution. For both Victor and the monster, women are the ultimate companion, providing comfort and acceptance. For Victor, Elizabeth is the absolute joy that can take his mind off of his guilty conscience. Similarly, the monster seeks a female of his kind to be with him through his own horrifying reality. Each eventually destroys the other’s love interest, transferring the women’s status’ from an object of desire to an object of revenge. In this novel, women are not able to act on their own. As a result of reading Frankenstein, I have realized how different women were portrayed in the 18th century, rather than now in the 21st century.

Mary Shelley’s book Frankenstein is a frame narrative of the life of Victor Frankenstein recorded by Robert Walton. It is circled around his creation of a monster that suffered a lonely life and wanted revenge for being created. In Frankenstein, Shelley portrays many big ideas but, one that continues to show importance is the idea of Human Needs and Desires. so, in the novel Mary Shelley presents the idea that all creatures have a basic need for friendship and love.

Frankenstein is a book filled with puzzling hidden connections that can relate to what majority of us go through in American society today. Quotes throughout the novel create a piece of inspiration that we can look up to when discovering similar times. The diction revels pros and cons on how

Creator, let us address the sorrows that your choice to bring me to life has wrought on yourself. “Still thou canst listen to me, and grant me thy compassion. By the virtues I once possessed, I demand this from you” (Shelley 67). Though my English is poor… (Creature is never to have someone to be with him due to his “disabilities,” so that makes us pro-choice. (Quote about Frankenstein destroying the creature’s mate) Should you, creator, be forced to breathe life into a creature that will feel no joy in the world of humans, be shunned and victimized for life? Oh why, creator, did you choose to bring me into the world but nobody to accompany me?

To him, femininity is synonymous with weakness, and masculinity is synonymous with power, and he creates his characters accordingly to this belief. Similarly, author Mary Shelley also creates characters in a sexist manner in her novel Frankenstein. She creates female characters who serve little purpose other than to be disposed of by males. This can be seen in the way the Creature values the lives of females in the novel. In an attempt to seek revenge on Victor Frankenstein, the Creature frames servant to the Frankenstein family, Justine, for the heinous crime of murdering Victor’s young brother. Much like Diana’s dedication towards Dunstan, Justine lives her life dedicated to serving the Frankenstein family. The Creature’s decision to frame the beautiful and hardworking Justine for his crime shows how Mary Shelley feels her characters are quite disposable, demonstrating the same lack of value Davies shows for his characters. This sexist character creation can also be seen in Elizabeth’s submissive nature. This can be seen when Elizabeth is writing to Victor, suggesting that he marry

Women’s rights is a subject that revolved around society all throughout history, and it was not uncommon to see female writers criticizing this imbalance of social power in their literature. Mellor’s “Possessing Nature: The Female in Frankenstein” illuminates several aspects of the plot in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein that include underlying messages about the struggle for women’s rights and gender equality within this seemingly anti-feminist novel. In the very beginning of her article, Mellor brings light upon Victor Frankenstein’s perspective towards nature as a female. Additionally, Mellor argues that Victor’s experiment is a violation of nature, as he forcibly takes away the ability to create life from Mother Nature. Furthermore, Mellor

The constant passiveness and submissiveness of women towards the decisions and actions of men lead to their portrayal as being absent due to their minor roles. The absence of women could have been the very reason why there are so many downfalls throughout the novel. According to Shelley, Victor wanted to be a creator so “a new species would bless me as its creator and source; many happy and excellent natures would owe their being to me” (32). This clearly shows his obsession of superiority and insanity by not needing God or a woman to conceive a living being. Victor clearly has a “fascination and horror” of women since they are the “origin of life,” but have monstrous features when conceiving a child (Braidotti 65). In addition, Victor has “womb envy,” which is a jealous notion that since men are superior to women, men should be given the privilege to