Frankenstein Application Essay
Women play a passive role in Mary Shelly’s novel. Factors that contribute to feminism in the novel are, being the fact that the female characters’ existence in the novel only mirrors the male characters. The female characters rely so much on men for support. Women characters in this novel are seen to be greatly victimized by the male characters. Mary Shelly shows how women in society are viewed as possessions that should be protected by men rather than be independent human beings.
The female characters are equally submissive, Victor’s mother takes care of the household and brings up her children. She cannot make a serious decision in her household, she decides to adopt a girl but in the real sense she is not the one who makes the decision. The girl can only stay with the family only if the husband gives permission (Shelly 17). Female characters are given the role of being wives. Victor states that he saw Elizabeth as his own “to protect, to love and cherish” (Shelly 18). The wife's role implies that a woman should be submissive and passive. Hence, Elizabeth waits for Victor to fall in love with her and marry her. In the role of being a wife, the Creature’s female companion is outstanding. The man creates a woman and by this, the man seems to have all the rights to kill the wife. The Creature’s companion is destroyed by Victor the moment he comprehends that it can be dangerous. Justine’s case also reveals how the woman character is treated where she was executed for a crime that she did not commit. Justine who is the Nanny was executed even when Victor knew who the real criminal was and could have saved her. This entirely shows that a female’s life is in the hands of the man.
Women were perceived to be a man’s possession. Even when she is grieving after the death of Caroline, she is supposed to be there for Victor and take care of his needs (Hillerström 6). Victor illustrates Elizabeth as if she is a child and compares her to animals. The role of Elizabeth is to show how women are perceived by men and society as a whole. The death of Elizabeth on her wedding day reveals Shelly’s perception about marriage and relationships and refers to it as a literal death wish. However, through Safie and Felix, Shelly describes the perfect relationship between partners. Despite Safie and Felix not being legitimately married, they show passion and loyalty that generates the yearning for a partner in the monster. Shelly considers Safie to be a perfect woman. Safie is portrayed to be self-governed, and strong-minded and not a single trait she had were validated by men, not even her partner. Safie rebels her father’s commands not to travel but then heads to Germany alone to meet DeLacy's family and Felix (Mellor 87). She disregards the norms of her culture and prioritizes her interests and not those of other people, something that was never heard of. Despite Safie being the ideal woman, she later disappears into non-existence and her story becomes a fairy tale. This shows that even though women like Safie are ideal, women like her are just an imagination.
Shelley’s mother Mary Wollstonecraft who was feminist had died of complications that arose from her birth. Shelly’s own attempts motherhood resulted in several miscarriages and deaths of her children. After the death of her children, Shelly interpreted motherhood as a thing to be feared and in her mind motherhood could not thrive either for its children or its mothers. Mothers in “Frankenstein” are noticeable by their absence and they are quite short-lived. Elizabeth’s mother dies early on and she is taken by the Frankenstein family. Victor’s mother dies of fever while nursing Elizabeth who is Victor’s wife to be but on their honeymoon, Elizabeth is killed by the monster. Justine the nanny becomes a member of Frankenstein’s family when her mother dies and becomes a very affectionate mother to the youngest child Edward. When Justine is executed, the boy is left motherless (Linsey 89). The most dramatic instance of being motherless is the monster itself which is a human creature that has been created by man alone. Mary Shelly reminds us that the mastermind of motherhood does not entirely lie in biological reproduction but in the capacity to love. For human beings to develop and thrive, they need love.
Women characters in the novel play a very passive role and have no substance compared to the male character. They are submissive and cannot make any decision despite taking care of the household. It is clear from the novel that the life of a woman is in the hands of a man from the execution of Justine. Women are perceived as men’s possession. The ideal woman who is self-governed, brave and determined represented by Safie becomes non-existent shortly after she is introduced creating a notion that the ideal woman only exists in the imagination. The women in Frankenstein are short-lived and Shelly thinks of motherhood as something to be feared after the death of her children.
Works Cited
Griswold, Lynsey. "Autobiography, Patriarchy, and Motherlessness in Frankenstein." The
Oswald Review: An International Journal of Undergraduate Research and Criticism in the Discipline of English 6.1 (2004): 6.
Hillerström, Mikael. "A feminist reading of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein." (2019).
Mellor, Anne K. "Possessing nature: the female in Frankenstein." Romanticism and Feminism
(1988): 220-32.
Shelley, Mary W. Frankenstein: The Lynd Ward Illustrated Edition. , 2009. Internet resource.
