Preview

Roles Of Women In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein '

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
548 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Roles Of Women In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein '
Saieashwar Mukund
Mrs. Jacobs
Per. 2 HBL
28 October 2013
Roles of Women essay In the first few chapters of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, she emphasizes the many struggles and hardships that women must endure and uses this to criticize society’s ways. Real life evidence that supports Shelley’s statements is that she had to publish the book anonymously to avoid the prejudices against women that were popular in the nineteenth century. She uses female characters and references of feminine power to express her strong opinions against these beliefs and chauvinisms. Caroline, Elizabeth, and Justine all had similar events happen in their life. They were rescued, went through suffering, and, in turn, died, as if they have served their purpose on earth

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    The 1818 book Frankenstein by Mary Shelley and the 1972 movie Young Frankenstein by Mel Brooks both portray the differences in feminism regarding the cultural times through the character of Elizabeth. When Mary Shelley wrote the book Frankenstein, she was on a mission to pursue equal rights in education for her daughter. In Shelley's time, the only way to show feminine empowerment was to be literate and well-poised, which readers can see in certain passages featuring Elizabeth in Shelley's book. In the 1970's, when the movie Young Frankenstein was made, female empowerment was emphasized with a movement called “lipstick feminism”, which encouraged women to seek power over men by dressing and acting seductively, a theme seen through Elizabeth in many scenes throughout the movie. “Far from being instruments of oppression in a vast male conspiracy, such ``beauty devices'' were used by women to manipulate the judgmental masculine eye in an effort to control the uncontrollable”(Reuters 1). Both versions of Elizabeth show a woman seeking to show her feminine strength through the different acceptable approaches of the time.…

    • 1046 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the context of passive female characters, it is interesting to note that Mary Shelley’s mother, Mary Wollstonecraft, was the author of the strongly feminist A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. One can argue that Frankenstein represents a rejection of the male attempt to usurp (by unnatural means) what is properly a female endeavor—birth. One can also interpret the novel as a broader rejection of the aggressive, rational, and male-dominated science of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth century. Though it was long met with mistrust, this science increasingly shaped European society. In this light, Frankenstein can be seen as prioritizing traditional female domesticity with its emphasis on family and interpersonal…

    • 113 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the chapters 4 and 5 from the book “Frankenstein”, explains how he creates the creature and the ideas that lead him to his creation. In the beginning of chapter 4, it made it pretty obvious that Frankenstein was interested in the idea of dead people. For example, Frankenstein stated that “to examine the causes of life, we must first have to recourse to death,”(Shelley 18). This proves to show that Frankenstein was already planning on making his creature apart of death. Another process that Frankenstein used to construct his creature was when he thought about the creature as himself. To further explain, he says that “I should attempt the creation of a being myself,”(Shelley 19). Frankenstein then created the creature with characteristics…

    • 350 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Mary Shelley’s massively influential novel, Frankenstein, uses many shrewd literary devices. Robert Walton’s letter to his sister on August 13th is but one example of Shelley’s keen writing style. Although Shelley tells the majority of the novel through Victor Frankenstein’s memories, she begins the novel with letters from Robert Walton to his sister, Margaret Saville. These letters serve as an introduction to the main story, but they contain information just as important as that in the main story. In particular, the letter written on August 13th demonstrates her masterful use of tone and point of view. This letter also shows Shelley’s considerable ability to paint a character’s personality in a few lines of prose through descriptive language.…

    • 881 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Commoners In Frankenstein

    • 521 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The negative aspects of the culture of England during the years 1800 to 1850 had a profound effect on the novel Frankenstein written by Mary Shelley. There were many problems of women’s place in society and of the conditions of the poor. However, through the reforms that were brought into England, the perspective and attitude towards women and the commoners gradually changed. These problems were thoroughly addressed in the writings of Mary Shelley to inform and criticize the English…

    • 521 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Women play an indispensable role in Frankenstein. Women are generally seen as pure, innocent and kind. For example, Elizabeth stood up for Justine's innocence but just because she couldn't prevent her execution, Elizabeth wasn't entirely powerless. Though women in the novel are never given the opportunity to act on their own, they had important status: that of desire. You see, for Victor, Elizabeth proves to be the only joy that could ease his guilty conscience. Similarly, the monster seeks a female of his kind to alleviate his awful existence. For both Victor and the monster, woman is the ultimate companion providing comfort and acceptance. The monster needed this companion to tenderise him, he longed for such a friendship of understanding, love, care, sentimental value. The monster felt rejected by mankind. But he does have something in common with a "normal" man. He is different from a woman, and that is the only thing that makes him somewhat close to normal. Women are appealing because they are SUPPOSED to be different from him.…

    • 516 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The gender roles of males and females is the most blatantly expressed theme in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus. It is as if Mary Shelley saw the theoretical horse that represents gender archetypes laying alive and well in the middle of a exquisite field of grass, and then proceeded to repeatedly strike the poor animal, with a hammer made of ink filled quills, until there was an unrecognizable mesh of blood, fur, and tissue lying before her. In Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus almost every level in the character tree there is a dominant male character that plays a significant role in the plot. In contrast, while there are some women that are main characters, the roles they play are often passively docile and supportive roles. For the most part the women in Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus act as tools for the men to interact with one another and for some of the women in this story, the main purpose of their role is their death. It is clear that Mary Shelley is projecting through Frankenstein what she thought the typical man of the early 1800s thinks about when it came to women.…

    • 1298 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the writing of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein or, The Modern Prometheus, she creates four submissive female characters all of who are negatively affected by the hands of Victor Frankenstein. These four submissive female characters are Agatha, Safie, Elizabeth, and Justine. Each of these women is proposed as passive and nonessential. The women, Agatha, Safie, Elizabeth, and Justine, make a pathway for the creation of action for male characters. The actions that happen with/to these women negatively affect them for the purpose of teaching one of the male characters a lesson or inflicting deep emotions to the male characters.…

    • 667 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    In her novel Frankenstein, Mary Shelley portrays all of her female characters from both positive and negative perspectives. Writing the novel in the early 19th century, Shelley addressed the common stereotypical view of women as inferior to men that society of the time held. Dominated by male narrators, the female’s perspective is ignored in the novel. By excluding the female’s perspective of Frankenstein, Shelley reinforces in the reader the message that society of the time attributed very little to women. In addition to that, the firm ideas that women should be dependent on males, to be taken care of and having little potential to achieve anything independently, resonates in several of her characters. Resonating with other characters, the readers are able to see that women are weak-minded, feeble characters who become easily influenced. This trend can be seen throughout Frankenstein with characters such as Caroline Beaufort, Elizabeth Lavenza, and Justine Moritz, who all played less substantial roles compared to the males in the story. Shelley portrays the persistent feminine strength in her female characters through the small triumphs of Caroline Beaufort, Elizabeth Lavenza and Justine Moritz, however Shelley acknowledges how weak minded and dependent they become in the face of adversity and their lack of control over certain situations.…

    • 1029 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Frankenstein, by Mary Shelly, Victor creates a monster who murders his loved ones. Victor could have prevented two of the female deaths but chose not to in both of the events, which provided proof that women were not of importance. By allowing all of the female characters to die, Mary Shelly was displaying how women were so disposable. In this paper, I will provide details on how women were seen and treated during the book.…

    • 985 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Women In Frankenstein

    • 1760 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Throughout Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, we are presented with various views of women, and their role in society and family. Here, I will explore the similarities of and differences between the female characters in the novel.…

    • 1760 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Women in Frankenstein

    • 1237 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelly was published in 1818. Her parent had undoubtedly influenced her ways of writing. Her father, William Godwin is famous with his piece “An Enquiry Concerning Political Justice while her mother, Mary Wollstonecraft wrote “A Vindication of the Rights of Woman” is two prominent radical writers who call for reform during French Revolution. Bringing both feminism and radical views from her parents, Shelley critiques women’s weak, docile and uneducated character. She also shows how women are often degraded and treated unjustly. The reason she brought the issues forward is to make women realize that they should improve their position and women should not conform to the dogma that they are always weak.…

    • 1237 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Women In Frankenstein

    • 764 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Imagine if in this world, women were still considered a part of the minority. In the novel, Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, women are forced to live on the outskirts of a male dominated society. Stereotypically speaking, women are seen as possessions rather than human beings, the reader sees this throughout the novel. Female characters like Elizabeth, Justine, Margaret and Agatha are the backbone of the story for all the men, living their fictional lives, not for themselves, but to impact the men’s life.…

    • 764 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Mahatma Gandhi, the preeminent leader of Indian independence movement once said, ““An eye for an eye will only make the whole world blind.” In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, the creature acts wickedly and murders people, but he is not inherently evil or malicious. All was the game of revenge of what he had to go through.…

    • 434 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Victor Frankenstein suffers from many psychological problems for a multitude of reasons. These reasons vary from things he has done to things to things others have done to him, most of his problems are very similar to his authors in respect to her ptsd and being extremely depressed but ended up making something that was very impressive. Because Shelley's Frankenstein is known by pretty much everyone and Victor in Shelley's novel creates The monster and by making the monster he creates life. And through all their hardships and with some support they did what seemed impossible. Victor Frankenstein has three main disorders and all his other disorders are by products of these disorders such as sleeplessness and nightmares.…

    • 561 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays