Women of Frankenstein: Impact Based on Influence
Alexis Montgomery
Professor Jonathan Luftig
English 102
Women of Frankenstein: Impact Based on Influence
The novel Frankenstein touches on many controversial themes such as, solitude, the division of “good” evil, rejection, debate about Nature vs. Nurture, manipulation and etc. Among the many controversial themes, the one that is constantly mentioned is the rather passive, “supporting” female roles in the novel. Despite her mother’s feminist and independent legacy, Mary Shelley seemed to have written from a more societal perspective in the roles of her characters as opposed to a rebellious, un-relatable perspective. Examples of this can be found in the relationships between the characters, as well as backgrounds of each. In Mary Shelley’s novel, her female characters seem to reflect women of her time, including herself, in supporting their male counterparts even when socially invisible.
As the author, Mary Shelley used her personal experiences and bias’s of her time to write her novel. Mary Shelley’s mother died giving birth to her, leaving her to be raised by her father who was a member of a group of radical thinkers. When growing up without a mother, it is imaginable that your influences are not necessarily limited, but shifted. Mary did not have her mother, so she may have looked to the women of her time as examples of what life was supposed to be like. Mary Wollstonecraft wrote in her “Vindication of the Rights of Women”,
Women are told from their infancy, and taught by the example of their mothers, that a little knowledge of human weakness, justly termed cunning, softness of temper, outward obedience, and a scrupulous attention to a puerile kind of propriety, will obtain for them the protection of man;
(Wollstonecraft Chpt II)
Women in the early 19th century era were viewed as inferior to men. The place of women was considered to be in their home, privately.
Her novel can be considered a way for her to deal with questions of her own
Professor Jonathan Luftig
English 102
Women of Frankenstein: Impact Based on Influence
The novel Frankenstein touches on many controversial themes such as, solitude, the division of “good” evil, rejection, debate about Nature vs. Nurture, manipulation and etc. Among the many controversial themes, the one that is constantly mentioned is the rather passive, “supporting” female roles in the novel. Despite her mother’s feminist and independent legacy, Mary Shelley seemed to have written from a more societal perspective in the roles of her characters as opposed to a rebellious, un-relatable perspective. Examples of this can be found in the relationships between the characters, as well as backgrounds of each. In Mary Shelley’s novel, her female characters seem to reflect women of her time, including herself, in supporting their male counterparts even when socially invisible.
As the author, Mary Shelley used her personal experiences and bias’s of her time to write her novel. Mary Shelley’s mother died giving birth to her, leaving her to be raised by her father who was a member of a group of radical thinkers. When growing up without a mother, it is imaginable that your influences are not necessarily limited, but shifted. Mary did not have her mother, so she may have looked to the women of her time as examples of what life was supposed to be like. Mary Wollstonecraft wrote in her “Vindication of the Rights of Women”,
Women are told from their infancy, and taught by the example of their mothers, that a little knowledge of human weakness, justly termed cunning, softness of temper, outward obedience, and a scrupulous attention to a puerile kind of propriety, will obtain for them the protection of man;
(Wollstonecraft Chpt II)
Women in the early 19th century era were viewed as inferior to men. The place of women was considered to be in their home, privately.
Her novel can be considered a way for her to deal with questions of her own