Frankenstein

When reading Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, one cannot help but notice that the women characters seem to have little bits and pieces compared to the male characters. This may have been caused by the time period in which she wrote: one in which females was considered to be inferior to males. There are many factors in this novel that contribute to the portrayal of feminism. Three points that contribute a lot are, the female characters are there just to reflect the male characters, women are seen as possessions for men to protect, and finally women in the novel are portrayed as trite women in that time period. This novel portrays feminist qualities, and is such a novel. First of all, the female characters in the novel are there only to reflect the male characters. To start, in the novel itself, no women speak directly. The book has three basic narrators: Robert Walton, Victor Frankenstein, and Frankenstein's monster. The female characters are very weak in this novel, especially Elizabeth, Victor's cousin/fiancÐ"©e. She is portrayed as the perfect woman, especially after Victor's mother, Caroline dies. She takes the place of the mother figure in the household.

The women in Frankenstein fit into several roles, including loving mother, innocent child and the concerned, abandoned lover not, however are they equal politically, socially or economically. All the women are universally passive, acting out only to demand action from the men around them. For example, Caroline Beaufort works to support her father and expressed her power within the home through her childrearing. Elizabeth stands up for Justine's innocence, but is powerless to stop her execution. Safie also undermines the stereotype of the passive woman by rejecting her father's attempts to return her to her life in Constantinople. Women, especially Elizabeth, are seen as possessions, needing protection from men. This can be seen in these quotes from Victor, "She presented Elizabeth to me as her promised gift" and "Her whom I fondly prized before every other gift or fortune”. (Frakenstein)

Clearly, Victor viewed Elizabeth a gift presented to him, by his mother, and not as a significant other and didn't view their relationship as an association. Caroline thought she was being a good mother and wife, insuring a successor for her "matriarchal" role.

Eventually, these women all suffered right up to their demise and were never given the chance to act on their own. Some think Mary focused on the evils of men and therefore, in true ideological fashion, minimized the foibles of women. More chauvinist critics agree with this interpretation, adding that Mary was blind to her own flaws and was being morally self righteous. Withstanding their purity and passivity is difficult but not as much as anticipating, then witnessing, their

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