Feminism

            What is feminism? Feminism is, simply put, equality for all people in relation to economics, politics, and society. When one applies a feminist lens to popular culture or literature, one is questioning and interpreting ideologies in society or in the text. Feminism can challenge oneself to live differently by questioning and confronting gender roles and stereotypes. Through Frankenstein, Mary Shelley proved that she asked these preceding questions of herself. When reading Frankenstein one is overcome by a patriarchal nineteenth – century societal norm where men are part of the public sector and women the domestic. Men such as Victor Frankenstein and Walton endeavor on quests in search of knowledge, happiness, personal fulfillment, and experience, whereas women are confined to the house and are kept outside of the male public sphere where intellectual activity is abundant. Mary Shelley herself grew up in such a male-identified society.

            It is thought that Frankenstein’s origin is an accumulation of experiences in Mary Shelley’s life, and therefore Frankenstein is abundant with male-identified roles, such as those embodied by Victor, Walton, Clerval, and the monster. Female identified roles are very limited, which may be a reflection of the absence of a mother figure throughout Shelley’s life, as well as the societal ideologies at the time. A film adaptation entitled Frankenstein, directed by Marcus Nispel in 2004, even has very limited female roles, one of which reflects some of  the traits embodied by the women in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. There is one dominant role though in this film adaption that is taken on by a female who plays  a detective on a very heated murder investigation. Perhaps this female dominated role is the director's way of building on the gender equality that Shelley advocates in her novel, but in a very modern way. One of the most palpable feminist aspects of Shelley's Frankenstein is this segregation of male and female roles, with the second being the destruction of the need for a female in creating a human being, as seen in Victor’s manipulation of the natural mode of human reproduction through his creation of the monster. A less palpable, but as equally profound, feminist aspect is the role of Nature.

             I personally enjoyed reading the descriptions in the novel of Nature, such as landscapes like Mont Blanc and the Alps. Shelley’s vivid descriptions brought the novel to life and enhanced Victor and the monster’s experiences. Nature’s disposition changes throughout the novel to fit the mood of Victor, in some instances punishing him for his unethical choices. This relationship between Nature and Victor was intended by Shelley to symbolize the consequences of patriarchal societal norms and the revenge that females will seek upon their patriarchal counterparts. This relationship did not at first reveal itself to me until I read Anne K. Mellor’s critical essay entitled “Possessing Nature: The Female in Frankenstein.” Anne gives a very intellectual account of her theories for feminism in Frankenstein of which I summarize in my blog post entitled “The Female in Frankenstein.”

            Shelley’s questioning of her place in society, as well as her questioning of assumptions about gender and human nature at the time, is confronted in her classic novel. Frankenstein is more than just the classic gothic novel that I have known it as, but rather a novel that interplays feminism with a very ingenious and original storyline that has had critics and readers like myself in awe at such a literary piece.