Women In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

It is quite ironic that Mary Shelley, a woman who grew up daughter to the important Victorian feminist Mary Wollstonecraft, portrayed women in her most notable novel, Frankenstein, as passive beings inferior to their male counterparts. However, this farcical viewpoint is direct in pointing out the flawed treatment of women in society. Through her pessimistic portrayal of women, Shelley exhibits the typical attitude of women of the Victorian era in the nineteenth century. These characteristics of woman are exemplified through Caroline's motherly self-sacrifice, Justine's unjustified execution, and the murder of Elizabeth by the monster. The women in Frankenstein play no roles that directly influence the plot of the novel. The main action