How effectively does Mary Shelley explore the subjugation of women in Frankenstein?
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Course
NEA Coursework
Institution
AQA
This received 21/25 and explores Frankenstein from a feminist perspective. It does not include the bibliography. In the NEA coursework, the student will pick a book and choose a certain view to apply to the text. They pick their own question too. This essay also can be used to make notes as it thor...
How effectively does Shelley explore the subjugation of women in
Frankenstein?
Almost all the female characters in Frankenstein submissively conform to being passive,
dispensable and serving a utilitarian function, which most definitely reflects patriarchal
attitudes in Shelley’s-society. It could be argued that their impact can be seen as much more
than just ‘passive’ or fitting the female archetypes at the time, as Shelley embeds a deeper
meaning where the absence of women induces a world of chaos. One could state that without
women; man could not exist so why is it that they are presented as so inferior to men? Mary
Shelley conveys this through themes such as nature, death and religion. However, the self-
conceited narrative voice of Victor not only manipulates other characters, but potentially
distorts the reader’s view on women: as the singular, over-arching figure of Victor manages to
quite literally completely silence all women throughout the novel.
The subjugation of women is evident through the narrative voice of Victor as Shelley portrays
him as the collective figure of male arrogance by shaping him as the pantomime figure of the
exaggerated male ego, perhaps contributing to the demise of all female archetypes in
Frankenstein. With this, Shelley undeniably uses the characterisation of Victor to punish women
for not breaking out of reinforced gender roles. In addition, peripheral characters such as
Justine Moritz seem to only exist in the text to represent Victor’s self-conceit, thus reinforcing
Shelley’s criticism of patriarchy as well as women who submit to the already inflated male ego.
This is evident where, had Victor confessed to the creation of his monster in Justine’s trial
(chapter eight), future deaths would have been prevented. This is not the case as Victor refrains
from exposing his secret because he does not believe that Justine’s worth could ever compare
to his image being tarnished, as his “hideously deformed” “fiend” would be linked to him,
which is not only a critique on his ego but of the male gaze: as Victor seems to judge one’s
nature based on their physical appearance. The male gaze is also evident where Shelley skews
the narrative to focus on Justine being “pretty and extremely gentle” through Victor’s eyes,
with her innocence having biblical connotations, however her beauty’s worth is completely
dismissed. It could be stated that her role in society results to her being the most inferior
female character in the novel due to being a woman and servant, so either way, if she had not
conformed to the patriarchy her fate would have been the same. Therefore, the use of Justine
is purely a structural device reflecting how her role in society is abused by men as she is merely
an object of revenge, which perhaps highlights how Justine’s morality is not great enough for
Victor’s over-riding immorality. However, her death moves the plot forward as she is the first
pawn of the metaphorical chess game between Frankenstein and his creature. This in a way
gives Justine power as though her death seems insignificant, it results to the monster being one
step ahead of Frankenstein, but her power is still limited as it ultimately feeds another man’s
dominance being the creature’s. But, this conclusively shows how insignificant women were,
especially women of lower status, and how men took credit for their existence.
Shelley also presents women and their position in society through nature; personifying nature
in being a “maternal” figure, and it could be argued that this is the only time we see genuine
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