Women in “Frankenstein” are by large presented as caring but submissive and powerless. Victor and the monster share the same view of women because to both of them, a woman is a definitive partner, giving solace and acknowledgment. For Victor, Elizabeth is the sole delight that can alleviate his guilty mind; likewise, the creature looks for a female of his kind to sympathize with his dreadful presence. Each eventually destroys the other’s love interest, transferring a woman’s status from an object of desire to something that can be used to inflict revenge; women thus are never given the chance to make their own decisions in the novel. The following essay will discuss how women are presented in “Frankenstein” by Mary Shelley. Comment by Adam Bernard: Literally flawless.
Firstly, the female gender in Frankenstein is presented as a possession. Victor’s mother describes Elizabeth as a “...pretty present for Victor…” (18) to have. The use of the word “present” creates a sense of possession- as if a woman is merely an accessory to a man. The fact that the mother, a female herself, is saying this implies that she was raised to believe this and that this is how their society is shaped. In addition, the same possessive ‘my’ pronoun is used by Walton when writing to Margaret in his letters and lines like “Farewell, my dear, excellent Margaret.” (3) show this. Comment by Adam Bernard: WOW!!!! What a PEE!
Next, one of the ways the presence of female characters is demonstrated to have no say and no immediate significance in the story, is the part of Margaret Saville, sister of Robert Walton. Immediately, readers are not given any information about Margaret's own life or character to give them an understanding of whom every one of these letters is being sent to. Rather, Margret is viewed as the only connection tying Robert to the world back home and the solace he swings to for moral help. As a result, readers are disconnected from Margret's feelings including apprehension and worry for her brother and the minimal relief she may have felt can only be inferred from lines like “You will rejoice to hear that no disaster has accompanied the commencemen...
