Preview

Women Play an Indispensable Role in the Novel Frankenstein Essay Example

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
516 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Women Play an Indispensable Role in the Novel Frankenstein Essay Example
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.
Some would argue that the roles of the women in the novel could easily be replaced by a man's. This argument is wrong. You see, women send a vibe, an attention to detail that men do not possess. Victor's objective was to create the perfect being. He only cared about obtaining the image in his mind. A woman's basic instinct would have over-analysed everything that could go wrong. A woman's perspective completes the thought of a man. Also, it is the fascination of the natural world that leads Victor to build the monster in the first place. The portrait of the natural world is mandatory of women. In this light, Frankenstein can be seen as prioritising traditional female domesticity with emphasis on family and interpersonal relationships.

Without Victor's mother, who indeed had a small role, Victor wouldn't exist – thus the entire tragedy itself. Which brings me to my next point. Instead of looking at Victor as playing God

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    He is passionately committed to discovery and adventure. He wishes he had a friend with the same sensibilities and he says he is self-taught.…

    • 4307 Words
    • 18 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the 1818 book, conservative cultural norms are apparent although Shelley tries to portray women as powerful and strong. When the reader is first introduced to Elizabeth, she is being adopted by the Frankenstein family, showing that, to some extent, this young girl was taken against her will. As the story progresses, however, the reader becomes aware that because of this adoption, Elizabeth is given a better life and a chance to succeed and to learn. Throughout the novel, Elizabeth is not mentioned as much as Victor is, since they are separated. As Elizabeth writes to Victor, “You are distant from me, and it is possible that you may dread and yet be pleased with this explanation” (Shelley 642). Victor seems to have forgotten about his sister and wife-to-be, but…

    • 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

    frankenstein essay

    • 1285 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The concept of ‘The Blonde’ has been ever changing over time and across different contexts. Meanings and cultural ideologies associated with blondeness have shifted due to the change in context at varying points of time. Blondeness has been represented and viewed differently from one culture to another where the context and values play a crucial role in these representations. In the movie, “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes”, Marilyn Monroe is portrayed as the archetypal blonde bombshell that uses her sexuality to appeal to rich men and hence portraying her as a ‘gold-digger’. The other text in which the ‘Blonde’ concept is portrayed in a different culture is Boticelli’s painting “The Birth of Venus”. It incorporates values from Greek Mythology as well as the context in which it was composed that is the Renaissance period specifically in 1485. The shaping of dominant meanings associated with being blonde is implied differently through the L’OREAL Blonde hair dye commercial as it shows how values and ideologies connected with blondeness have emerged in contemporary Western culture.…

    • 1285 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Shelley presents a completely gendered representation of domestic women, set forth directly in the Frankenstein family. Caroline Beaufort, subjected by societal expectations, complies with her role as a domestic female. She takes it upon herself to act as a “guardian angel” (27), feeding attention and support, nurturing and tending to the needs of her husband and children. As an act of this domesticity, she gives Elizabeth to Victor as a “pretty present,” who, in turn, “looked upon Elizabeth as [his] – [his] to protect, love, and cherish” (28). Yielding to Shelley’s idea of gendered inequality, Elizabeth is seen merely as a possession, an object given as a present to the firstborn male, despite originally being the daughter of a nobleman. Similarly, Justine’s role as a servant for the Frankenstein family degrades her existence to solely, property. With a low-born status intersected with the notions of gender and race, her form of life deems inevitable. These women, confined in their domestic roles, consequently have no access to the outside, unable to coexist with the world of public affairs.…

    • 741 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Frankenstein is full of horrible elements about human society. Mary Shelley shows many of the sides of human beings that are not necessarily positive attributes. She really gives a kind of critique on mankind’s judgement of others. In this novel, a major theme is that in society people judge people by their looks and this judgment may cause negativity, this can be seen through the characters, Victor and the creature, when they judge other characters or are judged themselves.…

    • 856 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    I think Victor shouldn’t create the monster for Frankenstein. I think he made the correct choice because; Frankenstein may not keep his promises. Also she may not agree with the promises. She could also reject him, and he could go crazy. Perhaps she could be stronger and be more destructive than Frankenstein. There is also a chance that Frankenstein may not like her back and feel a connection. Victor can get in big trouble if he creates the monster for Frankenstein.…

    • 294 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Gothic Class

    • 875 Words
    • 3 Pages

    When Victor has his first encounter with the creature he is very shocked and scared at the same time. “Devil, do you dare approach me? And do not you fear the fierce vengeance of my arm wreaked on your miserable head? Begone, vile insect! or rather, stay, that I may trample you to dust! And, on! That I could with the extinction of your miserable existence……” Victor main goal was to create a human and whether it came out beautiful or ugly he should have never spoke that to Frankenstein. In society, we look as Frankenstein as a horrible scary monster when in fact he just always wanted to be love; he didn’t ask to be here. Because of what he went through there are causes that effect the way that he lives. When Frankenstein speaks for the first time he says “do your duty towards me, and I will do mine to you and the rest of mankind.” This is in fact rational because the creature just wants a female companion to keep him company. “I am alone and miserable; man will not associate with me; but one as deformed and horrible as myself would not deny herself to me. My companion must be of the same species and have the same defects. This being you must create.” This quote shows how much he wanted to be loved by another. Victor refuses because he did not know the consequences of making another like Frankenstein that could cause society harm.…

    • 875 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    In Frankenstein, the role of the monster and human are subtly revered with Victor considered more monstrous than the creature he created. This is because first, Victor is portrayed monstrous than the creature because he abandons his creature instead of educating and friendly introducing him to the world, which is itself a monstrous act of irresponsibility. Secondly, Victor ought to know that the creature will likely harm others, but due to his selfishness he places his family and friends at great risk. Some might say that Victor is not monstrous and disagree with the fact that he only wants creature to be killed, because he agreed to the creature that he will make the female form of the creature to fulfill the creature’s need and for his family’s…

    • 1656 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Frankenstein Essay

    • 717 Words
    • 2 Pages

    According to Sigmund Freud, three different concepts, ID, ego, or superego describes a person’s personality and thought process. The concept of the ID is that one’s unconscious psychic energy is constantly striving to satisfy one’s basic drives to survive, reproduce, and aggress. The ID operates on the pleasure principle and seeks immediate gratification. The concept of the ego is described as when one’s thought process operates on the reality principle. The ego seeks to gratify the ID’s impulses in realistic ways that will bring long-term pleasure. The concept of the superego is when a person, usually a child, begins to develop a moral compass (conscience). The superego focuses on how one should behave. It strives for perfection, judge’s actions, and produces positive feelings of pride, or negative feelings of guilt. Throughout the novel, Victor Frankenstein’s behaviors, for the most part, seem to be controlled by the ID, and occasionally driven by the superego. The Monster also seems to often be driven by his ID, however there was one prominent occasion where he was driven by his ego.…

    • 717 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good 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

    For a start, it is almost exclusively his view of women that the reader is provided with. There can be no doubt that Frankenstein holds his mother and "more than sister" in the highest esteem, but since there is no second opinion with which to compare his own, it is difficult to make a completely fair judgement of them. One is foced, to a large extent, to accept his insight as gospel, despite the obvious bias in doing so.…

    • 1760 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Frankenstein Essay

    • 2201 Words
    • 9 Pages

    Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, is arguably one of the most controversial novels of the 19th Century. It discusses the concept of science verses human conscience in a technological world. The Gothic atmosphere of the novel reflects the dark feelings of society at the time, and Shelley utilised pathetic fallacy, her chosen form and imagery to suggest a twist on the real monster of her story. Shelley uses poetical language and perspective to emphasise how the monster is a model Romaticist, and to express the importance of belonging and communication to a judgemental society. Symbols, contrasts and ‘heavenly’ adjectives are used to portray Victor Frankenstein as a God-like figure; expressing how we must never interfere with nature’s course and take on God’s role to the knowledge-greedy culture of the 1800’s, which was consumed with the Industrial Revolution. Shelley has manipulated her writing to convey her personal ideologies, and to reflect her concern for a loss of ethics in a society fixated on the pursuit for answers.…

    • 2201 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Frankenstein Essay

    • 637 Words
    • 2 Pages

    In the novel, Macbeth, a tyrant king turns malevolent and becomes the cause of suffering by way of heinous murder. The tragic figure, Victor, in Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, displays how the dangers of solitude causes suffering for Victor himself and for the hideous creature he creates. Victor inflicts this desolation upon himself and also upon the creature, which leads to total isolation and misery for Victor by the end of the novel.…

    • 637 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Frankenstein Essay

    • 1427 Words
    • 6 Pages

    In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, rain is used as a symbol to represent the washing away of Victor Frankenstein’s false beliefs. Thomas C. Foster explains in his book, How to Read Literature Like a Professor, that the weather in a story plays a significant role in the meanings of events and the moods of the characters in stories (Chapter 10: ‘It’s More than Just Rain or Snow’). He describes how “Weather is never just weather. It’s never just rain. And that goes for snow, sun, warmth, cold, and probably sleet.”…

    • 1427 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays