Shelly’s Frankenstein is rife with examples of gender iniquities, sexual repression, chauvinism, and feminine subservience. Throughout the novella we see Dr. Frankenstein preform acts that indicate his bias of the male gender and his anxieties circulating the liberation of the female figure. Probably his most blatant impingement upon the female figure is his circumvention of the birth process. During Shelly’s era a woman’s place in society was confined to the caregiver and one of domestic duties. He flagrantly denies and seeks to revoke the female’s role in the conception of human life. A commonly held conviction during this era was that a woman’s utility was defined by her role in the household and ability to produce healthy offspring. This monstrous reduction of the female implies they are merely commodities for a man’s “legacy”, or more aptly, his exploitation. Shelly alludes to this apocryphal belief on page 63 of the text when Elizabeth states, “Be calm, my dear Victor; I would sacrifice my life to your peace.” Here she highlights the subservience of women to men.
During his labors and creation of the male monster he is commandeered by excitement and hopeful resolve of his progeny. However, his change in demeanor while engineering the female monster is tangible. He ponders over his toils, “It was indeed a filthy process in which I was engaged. During my first experiment, a kind of enthusiastic frenzy had blinded me to the horror of my proceedings. But now I went to it in cold blood, and my heart often sickened at the work of my hands.” Victor’s assessment of the potential of the female monster is an enlightening window into his prejudices. Victor says, “She might become ten thousand times more malignant than her mate, and delight, for its own sake, in murder and wretchedness.” Why an order of ten thousand time more devilish? Why not a malignancy of equal magnitude? Victor overtly conveys his detestation of the female gender and his fear of the prospect of a fully autonomous woman, not constricted by the edicts of man.
Additionally, throughout the book Victor has no sexual encounters with any human. Is this a reflection of his fear of female sexuality? The closest he comes to any sort of intimacy is with another man, which is marginally homoerotic. Within this book there are many more examples pointing to the issues surrounding gender. These are but a few examples that stood out to me.
During his labors and creation of the male monster he is commandeered by excitement and hopeful resolve of his progeny. However, his change in demeanor while engineering the female monster is tangible. He ponders over his toils, “It was indeed a filthy process in which I was engaged. During my first experiment, a kind of enthusiastic frenzy had blinded me to the horror of my proceedings. But now I went to it in cold blood, and my heart often sickened at the work of my hands.” Victor’s assessment of the potential of the female monster is an enlightening window into his prejudices. Victor says, “She might become ten thousand times more malignant than her mate, and delight, for its own sake, in murder and wretchedness.” Why an order of ten thousand time more devilish? Why not a malignancy of equal magnitude? Victor overtly conveys his detestation of the female gender and his fear of the prospect of a fully autonomous woman, not constricted by the edicts of man.
Additionally, throughout the book Victor has no sexual encounters with any human. Is this a reflection of his fear of female sexuality? The closest he comes to any sort of intimacy is with another man, which is marginally homoerotic. Within this book there are many more examples pointing to the issues surrounding gender. These are but a few examples that stood out to me.
This was something that I thought as well while reading the novel. I think analyzing Frankenstein within the context of gender is especially interesting given the author, who was breaking gender norms at that time by writing novels. I think this brings an interesting perspective when thinking about the novel because it is literally from the point of view of a woman at that time. When talking about circumventing the female process of birth and Victor’s conflict with that, I know from research that Mary Shelley herself had many extremely gruesome miscarriages. I wonder if that affected at all the characterization of Victor, or inspired anxieties about the process of birth.
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