Feminism Themes in Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Most people think of Frankenstein as a giant, stupid, green, monster with bolts holding his head on and a gravelly incoherent voice that terrorizes small towns. However, the novel written by Mary Shelley, that the monster in popular culture is derived from, is a well developed multi-layered piece of literature with many overarching themes. One of the least thought of themes in the modern conception of Frankenstein is feminism. However, feminism subtly pervades the entire novel. The story of Frankenstein by Mary Shelley explores feminist themes through the characters of the story, plot development, and the setting the novel.

Frankenstein is riddled with passive female characters who suffer throughout the novel. Not one female character throughout the novel ever exhibits behavior outside of the submissive and reactive female role. Elizabeth, Victor's love, dies at the hand of the male monster while waiting for Victor to come rescue her. Elizabeth is not able to do anything to defend herself without the help of a man. She meets her demise while waiting, like a princess in a tower, for Victor to save her. Justine is put to death for a murder that the monster committed. She is unable to defend herself and prove her innocence against her accusers and dies for it. Justine is a victim of circumstance, but her passive role leaves her helpless to make her own destiny and defend herself against the false accusation.

However, Mary Shelley was the daughter of, Mary Wollstonecraft, a strong activist in the feminist movement. Wollstonecraft has been called "the first feminist" and even "The mother of feminism". During the 19^th century, within Genevian society, where the novel was written, men dominated the social and intellectual sphere completely while women occupied only the domestic sphere. Although the passivity of female characters is uniform throughout the novel, perhaps jumping to the conclusion that Frankenstein is a purely misogynistic text is unreasonable. Recognizing Mary Shelley's feminist background, as a daughter of Mary Wollstonecraft, brings into question the motives behind womanizing all of female characters in Frankenstein. Elizabeth and Justine all died far before the end of the novel. It can be argued that by emphasizing the passive and reactionary qualities of all the female characters in the story, Shelley was able to emphasize the negative aspects of the static female role by "killing off" female characters who fit that role. Connecting the passive women with negative demises emphasizes the negative outcomes of their behavior and thus promotes independent feminist ideals which would've saved the woman in each case.

Feminist themes can be seen outside the female characters of the story as well. In the 19^th century Genevian culture, men we're seen as intellectuals and innovators and women were seen as emotional. Therefore, because of the very strict separation between men and women, emotion was always seen as void of intellect and intellect void of emotion. Mary Shelley explores the negative realities of not being able to mix emotion and intellect through the development of the relationship between Frankenstein and the monster. When Frankenstein animates life out of dead body parts, he takes away the one power women solely held in society; to give life to something. However, as a man, he does not bring emotion into his work. After successfully giving the monster life, he finds it disgusting and immediately abandons the monster. He feels no love for his creation and even more so no responsibility for it. This is the root of the downfall of Frankenstein and the destruction of everything he loves. If he were able to break societal norms and mix love and emotion with his work and intellect, his experiment could have been a successful one. However, because of his male role in Genevian society he does not even consider this notion, and his inability to love the monster or even simply assume responsibility for the monster as a living being is what leads to the novel's plot unfolding in the tragic way that it does, and the utter downfall of Frankenstein.

Perhaps the only positive feminist theme in Frankenstein is the comparison of femininity to nature. Throughout the novel, subtle themes of romanticism are mixed in with the dark gothic themes. When sickly and stressed from the goings on of the plot, Victor Frankenstein is able to take solace in nature. It is the only thing that is able to comfort him. Nature is constantly described as beautiful and female. However in this case, nature is not possessible or passive but rather strong and vibrant. Its positive as well as feminine qualities are emphasized in Victor's descriptions of his interactions with nature. "I pursued nature to her hiding place." The plot as well as Victor portrayed nature as feminine and positive. When the monster awakes for the first time, he runs off to the forest. Nature provides all the things that victor refused the monster when he abandoned him; food, water, fire, and education of how to survive. Edible berries tasted good to the monster but inedible ones tasted bitter. Nature becomes the mother of the monster. Through romantic themes about nature, Mary Shelley emphasizes the positive qualities of femininity, and without the passivity or possessibility that 19^th century Genevian society gave women.

Since Frankenstein was published in 1816, the general story of Frankenstein's monster has been adapted into different stories, plays, musical, and movies. However, times have changed drastically, in most western cultures, women are no longer mandated to work in the domestic sphere, and are not treated as badly as they used to. Still women make only 77.5 cents for every dollar a man makes and are objectified by the media. Although the plot, characters, and setting of the original Frankenstein novel is often changed, its theme of feminism is still very relevant in the modern age. The fact that Frankenstein is still present in literature, theatre, and cinema, attests to the merit and eternality of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.