Justine Moritz is a minor character who is of major importance in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Justine only appears briefly, but makes a strong impression on the two main characters who are either directly or indirectly responsible for her death. She becomes the victim of the inaction of Victor Frankenstein, the actions of the Creature, and of the inadequacies of the justice system. Justine isn’t a fully realized character; she is the object and the subject of guilt, blame and injustice. A detailed physical description of Justine is never provided, but her personality is captured when Elizabeth writes how she can change Victor’s despondency into joy from a simple glance.
In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, the women are intelligent, but submissive—often victims—powerless to protect themselves and "second class citizens." The only exception may be Caroline Frankenstein who dies before the monster is created. Caroline is Victor's mother. She alone shows the ability to stand up to the world. Victor recounts... Caroline Beaufort possessed a mind of an uncommon mould; and her courage rose to support her in her adversity.
Another theme Barker looks at is ‘Silence,’ which could link to her grandfather who refused to talk to her about his experiences in the war. And finally, the theme of emasculation is a strong theme throughout the novel, it is particularly interesting as the novel is written by a female author and from a woman’s perspective, but is mainly based around the experiences of men and their lives and any woman that do feature in the novel are usually inconsequential characters that do not understand Rivers or other characters. Silence is a symptom of ‘Shellshock.’ The term shell shock is a disorder found on the battlefield in soldiers who had been exposed to an exploding shell. The symptoms of shell shock were numerous and varied from soldier to soldier. Physical effects ranged from trembling, sweating, insomnia, diarrhoea, and minor twitches to paralysis, blindness, and muteness.
Many influences are easily spotted in the novel, her view on feminism shown through the deaths of the female characters, the use of scientific tools and studies to reflect the time period, and most importantly the dynamics of a dysfunctional family that reflects her own family. From the preceding information it can be deduced that Mary Shelley's use of symbolism and narration in her novel Frankenstein reflect experiences from her life and support the prevalent theme of nature vs. nurture, a result of family life. We have learned that for nearly all her life, William Godwin was indifferent to Mary Shelley; he sent her off to another country and had little contact with her. It is evident that the lack of parental guidance in her life caused a deal of emotional scarring, which she wrote about in her novel. Alfonso, Victor Frankenstein's father, pays his son little attention, and brushes his dreams and interests away.
Many men had an attitude of superiority and most women judged the women working in sciences negatively. However, there was some acceptance from men and women of females working in the scientific community. Women frequently were excluded by men from scientific study in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries because the attitude of the time was that women had only certain traits they could possess skill in, such as housework and beauty, and they lacked the intelligence to learn science. In document 3 Samuel Pepys, an Englishman, wrote in his personal diary that the Duchess of Newcastle, an author who wrote a book entitled "A World Made by Atomes", wished to be invited to the meeting of the Royal Society of Scientists. He ends his entry by saying that “The Duchess hath been a good, comely woman, but…” and proceeds to describe his negative opinion of her appearance.
This representation of the woman as powerful differs from the original expectation in a gothic novel, as the woman would usually be portrayed as weak, and in need of saving. Despite this, it is seemingly the man who is the victim here, as he enters the house. She claims she will be ‘very gentle’ while killing the man, so this is the indication that he is the one in trouble. By creating this role reversal, Carter projects the possibility of a powerful female, or even a female villain within Gothic novel. Now some could say that she is in need of being saved from her vampire personality, but in a physical sense of things she is completely self-sufficient.
After reading Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley its safe to say that she used the story of Frankenstein as an example of how she perceives humanity. The best example of how the author, Mary Shelley, perceives humanity is the theme that you need to take responsibility of your actions and if you don’t then there are consequences. All throughout the book Mary Shelley proves that not taking responsibility for something has serious consequences especially in Victor’s case. Responsibility is a word that no teenage kid or an adult for that matter wants to hear. It’s this big scary thing that tends to mean you did something and now its time to own up to it.
The Discrimination against Women Identities Throughout history, female were considered lesser beings and nothing more than the property of their husband. In the short story, Blank Spaces by Joanna Cockerline, the acknowledgment of female being inferior creatures in comparison to men is highlighted. Struggle against misfortunes, Elizabeth is oppressed by the social inequality due to the fact that she is a girl. In Blank Spaces, the social inequality implied by the narrative severely impacts Elizabeth’s career hierarchy, character traits, and life experiences. Like many feminist writer, Cockerline focuses her emphasis on how social norm discriminate women by inhibit their job opportunities.
All three stories barely compared, they all just touched on different aspects on how woman were supposed to be for their husbands, and how it would be if they did do as said. Like, in d’Arthur when Guinevere was to be killed. One can also see while reading each piece that each author all have an interpreted feeling that they feel against women in their writings. Like in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and Le Morte d’Arthur, one can get the idea that the authors have a “don’t trust women” set of mind. One can get that idea, being that in both pieces the woman are having an affair with another man, although Sir Gawain and the Green knight was just a joke, it was mostly trying to “teach a lesson” or make a point to men, why one should not trust a women, because of the trickery and games they hold up their sleeves.
I agree with Anne Mellor in the fact that she portrays Frankenstein as being sexist and against women. In the analytical essay, “Possessing Nature: The Female in Frankenstein”, written by Anne Mellor, she talks about how Shelley depicts women’s injustice in nineteenth century society through her use of characters, science, political constructs, and offers an alternative portrayal through the DeLaceys. She explains how Victor Frankenstein possesses the patriarchal mindset prevalent during this time through his inability to exhibit balanced emotions, his creation of a being which perpetuates the idea that females are no longer necessary, and his need to keep women in a submissive role. Mellor describes how the women within the novel are confined to the home, while the men are