Feminism in Mary Shelly’s novel, Frankenstein
Introduction
For a long time, women were forced to live in a world dominated by the male gender. Shelly does a good job in portraying this in her gothic novel, Frankenstein. Further in this novel, Shelly shows how women are possessed by men rather than been left alone to be independent on their own, every step of their life is dictated by the men in their lives. The act of being possessed has made them rely on the support of the men for survival. She portrays the female characters in this novel as victims of male decisions. In conclusion, the females are bent to the will of the male gender. Some may hold the belief that these females are being portrayed as strong characters throughout Shelly’s work through their sacrifice and their potential to change the place they held in society. Throughout the novel, Sherry expresses her story from a feminist viewpoint.
The scientist in the novel is obsessed with creating all things by himself without the help of the woman. This is portraying that women were living in the outskirts of a male dominated world where their help was not valued. When Frankenstein started to create a monster female, he should have sought out the help of another female for help but he didn’t, this is evidence that the female had no place in the society at that time. The fact that Frankenstein is afraid the female creature will have her own thinking is proof enough that women were not independent and their decisions were made for them. He felt threated if female autonomy was to exist (Hadjetian, n.p). Frankenstein threated by these thoughts destroyed the almost finished female monster. This female creature was not given an opinion to choose whether to live or die, this proofs how much men were responsible for making decisions affecting women.
Justine another female character in the novel openly admits that she does not fear death when the town people accuses her of murdering William, when Frankenstein fails to admit what truly killed William. The words that Justine uses portrays her as a strong character and makes her gain respect. During the time this story was set in the death of a woman depicted her as a strong-willed person. The fact that she would also be absent in the book would make her a strong person since her death was for a good course (Hadjetian, n.p). Her sacrifice helps in improving the position of the women in society at her time by publicly dictating her willingness to die.
Despite Elizabeth, Frankenstein’s wife to be being the most dominant female in the novel she is overshadowed by the male characters. Frankenstein is found of Elizabeth but the fact that he views her as submissive sex cannot be disputed. Frankenstein undermines her existence and what she wants and declares that she belongs to him. It is clearly obvious that Frankenstein does not hold Elizabeth with much respect looking at the way he describes her, at one point he compared her to summer insects, he views her the same way he views a child. Elizabeth is killed by the monster which was seeking vengeance after Victor destroyed the companion that he was making for him. The monster did this because Elizabeth was Frankenstein’s possession (Schechet,136). In a feminist context, Shelley uses Elizabeth to show how men viewed and treated women by putting them in a submissive position.
Safie, a woman that is only mentioned in a few chapters of the story has been portrayed as a brave and strong-willed in nature. She defies her father’s command to stay in Turkey by traveling to Germany on her own to live a life with her lover Felix. She refuses her life to be dictated by her father, this kind of self-governing was unheard of in any female at that particular time (Shelley,221). The fact that her character lasts for only a few pages of the book is a clear indication that women such as Safie only existed in an ideal world of imagination and finding women like her in a male dominated society is close to impossible.
At many points in her novel, Shelley shows the effects of maternal absence. The fact that almost all mothers in the book live for a very short time is evidence that the theme of motherhood was scarce in her novel. Frankenstein’s mother dies of scarlet fever. Elizabeth his wife dies when they are on their honeymoon. Eventually their housekeeper Justine is convicted of murder. In his whole life, he grows up motherless and due to this many dramatic incidences follow. He creates a monster and tries to make it a human being created by man alone. The fact that he is devising a new way of making life that does not need conception is proof enough that he lacked the nurturing of a mother when growing up (Shelley, 221). He also lacked the maternal affection of his creation when he chooses to abandon it
Conclusion
For many centuries, women were forced to live in a male dominated world where they would have to depend on then entirely for support and survival. From a feminist viewpoint Mary Shelley portrays this in her novel, Frankenstein. Victor Frankenstein creates a female creature without seeking help from a female. He kills this female creature because he fears that it will express female autonomy which is a threat according to him. Justine another female character expresses strong will and is ready to die her sacrifice was to work in improving the position of the women in society. Caroline relies on the men in her life for support and survival this portrays her as a weak character. Elizabeth is viewed as a possession that belongs to Frankenstein. Lastly, Safie a strong-willed woman is used to show that strong-willed women in society were just a figment of imagination.
Work cited
Hadjetian, Sylvia. Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and Feminism. München: GRIN Verlag, 2008. Print. Np
Schechet, Nita. Narrative Fissures: Reading and Rhetoric. Madison [N.J.: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 2005. Print.136
Shelley, Mary W, Stephen C. Behrendt, and Anca Munteanu. Cliffs complete Shelley's Frankenstein. New York: Hungry Minds, 2001. Internet resource. 212
