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
mankind’s experience of evil, experience of guilt and separation. • Psychological study of typically romantic characters, e.g. Victor, Walton, Clerval… • The ‘monster’ himself has been studied in connection with Rousseau’s theory of man’s natural goodness perverted by a hostile environment. • A sociological approach to the novel stresses its importance as a social document, giving evidence of a woman’s role /family ties/ education, etc.. in the first decades of the 19th century. • Feminist critics are especially interested in issues concerning women’s culture.
Ernest is described in terms with positive connotations such as “spirit”, while Frankenstein is described in pejorative terms such as “loathing”. The juxtaposition allows Shelley to critique the Enlightenment and promote Romantic ideals. Humanity * Example: Frankenstein: “I ardently desired the acquisition of knowledge”. * Technique & Effect: Shelley uses the technique of dramatic irony to highlight Frankenstein’s error in the acquisition of knowledge, as the reader is already aware from the start of the novel the failure of
Liberating Marriage and Partnership “Feminism Is for Everybody – Passionate Politics” by the author bell hooks is a feminist view on the struggles and chal-lenges that the feminist movement encounters. It also takes into account the presence of men within the movement. An argument that hooks continuously makes throughout the book, is that femi-nism is only possible if men and women both believe in and help fight for the feminist cause together. In chapter fourteen, “Liberating Marriage and Partnership” hooks provides her point of view and analysis of the equality in marriage and the liberation of sexuality. At the beginning of the chapter, the first thing she states is that “marriage was harshly critiqued” (hooks, 78) At the peak of the movement many heterosexual women began to make their entrance.
Frankenstein decided that he wants a girl to have because he sees the was Frankenstein interacts with women and wants the same thing. The way he asks Frankenstein is borderline threatening. “You must create a female for me with whom I can live in the interchange of those sympathies necessary for my being. This you alone can do” (Chapter 17page
Females began to think out of line, be aware of their suppression, and fight patriarchal rule. The progression of the yellow wallpaper and the narrator, through out the story, leads to a small win over John. This clearly represents and motivates the first steps of a feminist movement into the 20th century. The nineteenth century was a time of male domination and female suppression. Women faced economic social and freedom of rights barricades.
Through the characterisation of Victor Frankenstein, Shelley explores the concerns of the two prominent socio-cultural ideologies of her own context. Victor by his very essence is a symbol of the scientific pursuit and discovery for knowledge and society playing with powers beyond human understanding in the enlightenment period; this reflecting the paranoia and concern of gothic romantics. Victor, challenging established values of the enlightenment period, attempts to “pursue nature to her hiding-places” and “learn the hidden laws of nature”. This is reflective of the lack of boundaries that industrialization and the enlightenment period were to bring according to romantics. Victor’s use of religious connotations when discussing his hubristic ambition and thirst for knowledge, is representative of the contextual fear that scientific advances will remove societal values of religion and the sublime.
Atwood discusses the several genres of fiction that are available in this time and explains how this is not only a time of gender crossover but of genre crossover. By using the comparison she shows how literature has evolved as well as gender relations. In conclusion Margaret Atwood’s speech “spotty handed villainess” is a speech that explores the flaws in extreme feminism, challenges the patriarchal order and examines the intentions of literature and fiction. The speech still has relevance today as it examines gender roles and expectations in modern day
Halberstam observes that in Gothic novels, “the Gothic monster represents many answers to the question of who must be replaced from the community at large” (Halberstam 3). By having Victor go on a trip with Clerval prior to his wedding, Shelley suggests a homosexual relationship between Victor and Clerval. In addition, Clerval serves as Victor’s “only nurse” when he was ill. This further emphasizes the homosexual aspect in Frankenstein since Victor does not need a female, but instead he favors a devoted male caretaker who willingly risks his life for Victor. In this case, Clerval is less visible monster, which disrupts the definition of an ideal man who should be heterosexual.
Despite her antithetical ideologies, Haywood remains centuries ahead while incorporating the very themes of contemporary pop culture: Woman Power. The novel’s opening section establishes a socially inverted, female-oriented paradigm through the novel’s architecture, Fantomina’s authorial perspective and her gender-based assumptions. By deliberately situating Fantomina above the male aristocracy, through her box location, Haywood spatially partitions the PlayHouse a la the Panopticon where Fantomina serves as judging Syndic above the pit-seated male audience. Haywood’s syntax iteratively casts men as naïve tools subject to Fantomina’s scrutinizing eye. Fantomina articulates her ‘contempt’ of the men while labeling them as ‘depraved’ (227).