“I do not wish women to have power over men; but over themselves”- Mary Wollstonecraft. Frankenstein, written by Mary Shelley, noticeably lacks a cast of strongly independent female characters. Shelley’s novel depicts the dominant role that men have over women and eventually the women’s fall due to their dominance. Although the women in the novel are not given a role with appreciable significance, Shelley indirectly highlights that their effect among men is critical for plot advancement (Importance of Women in Frankenstein English Literature Essay). Over the course of the novel, Shelly portrays the women in Frankenstein so innocently while allowing them to face the hardships and destruction caused by the impulsive decisions of the monster and Victor.
Throughout the novel, Shelley shows the reader the submissive role women had to endure during the eighteenth century. Females of the novel are only used to provoke and strengthen the development of the male characters. Victor even declares, “I looked upon Elizabeth as mine” (20); Victor’s proclamation of claiming Elizabeth shows the lack of independence all women faced. Victor takes it as far as proclaiming, “Till death she was to be mine only” (21). These quotes show the lack of independence, helplessness, and weakness attributed to all women characters in the novel.
Furthermore, they also foreshadow the death of Elizabeth by a dominating, male character. Victor then feels lacks of comfort and protection that Elizabeth was able to offer him. Like Victor, the creature also long for the comfort and protection of a women ((Importance of Women in Frankenstein English Literature Essay). Though, when Victor decides to abolish the female creature, it shows his fear of the unknown and what he believes he cannot control. Shelley’s purpose in dominating the male role is to show that no matter the dominance, females will ultimately have some type of control over any male.
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Just like Victor yearns for a womanly figure in his life, so does the monster. However after promising the creature that Victor would indeed create another monster for him to love, Victor begins questioning his promise. Unfortunately, Victor’s decision to desert the monster ruins both Victor’s and the monster’s life. The reader can witness the monster’s need for a female figure when he proclaims, “You must create a female for me whom I can live the interchange of those sympathies necessary for my being” (152). Victor’s decision not only causes initial pain of loss, but parental abandonment that causes long-term consequences. Though both Victor and the monster strongly need a woman in their life, however they ultimately end up rejecting the nourishment a woman would give, thus causing both womanly figures in their life to die.
Victor’s illustration and recollection of his childhood is another example of male dominance in the novel. Despite her care for Victor and her family, his mother lacks dependence to fend for herself. Because of this, Victor’s father takes dominance when he “came as a protecting spirit to the poor girl, committed herself to his care” (27). Furthermore when Elizabeth is “given” to Victor when he is a child, she arguably is comparable to a pet. The relationship between his parents highlights the fact that the ineffectiveness of a woman is not found just in society, but in the family household as well. When Victor’s mother dies, Shelley creates a visual representation of the low regard female character, as seen in the cruelness of any woman’s death.
Although their true significance is hidden under every line in the novel, the female role in the novel is ultimately overpowered by the supreme authority men possess. Every female character unfortunately undergoes the same storyline: calm suffering which eventually leads to death. Though Victor’s love for Elizabeth was strong, in the end she was murdered by his creation. The monster’s request for a female partner ended up being unfinished and incomplete. Lastly, Victor’s family disregarded women, leaving him with the same destiny. Shelley’s novel is not one for pleasure but one to read with a clear and open mind. Shelley is truly trying to teach the reader that women are so much more than just household mothers. From the novel the reader learns that it is not the men who hold together society, but indeed the strong and courageous women who are able to keep humanity and society sane.
