Presentation of Gender in Mary Shellys Frankenstein

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein tells of the evaluation of the problems associated with gender identity via the development of a dreadful monster in a peaceful community. Considering the major characters of 'Frankenstein' which portray the perfect gender duties in those days, it is then quite intriguing that Frankenstein's monster was created and it calls for a thorough research into the societal status of the British in the 1800s.

Female characters like Safie, Elizabeth, Justine, Margaret and Agatha provide nothing more but a channel of action for the male characters in the novel.

They are on the receiving end of actions and occurrences, mostly because they are trying to get back at a male character or make him feel a particular way. Every female character in Shelley's Frankenstein has a unique role to play (Tan).

Let's start with Justine, an inactive and quiet character in 'Frankenstein'. She is exploited by both the Frankensteins and her own family and finally set up as the culprit in William Frankenstein's slaying. Quite unexpectedly, Justine keeps her cool and remains relaxed, an act uncommon with people falsely charged for manslaughter (Tan). According to her, she believes;

"God knows how entirely I am innocent. But I do not pretend that my protestations should acquit me; I rest my innocence on a plain and simple explanation of the facts . . . " (Shelley, 65).

This statement and her relaxed conduct, despite her problem, is a display of passivity and her framing was the event that identified this as the basis of her disposition: "But I have no power of explaining it . . . I am only left to conjecture concerning the probabilities by which it might have been placed in my pocket" (Shelley 66). Therefore, Justine ends up as a quiet and tame causality of events.

Agatha is the succeeding female character. She is the daughter to the cottager, a young girl, and she is the focus of the monster. Her role, due to her caring and peaceful nature, involves a display of compassion and virtuousness. These form the very first discoveries of the monster as he hasn't experienced this level of affection ever before (Haddad). The major act of Agatha which amazes him is her relationship with her blind dad.

"Agatha listened with respect, her eyes sometimes filled with tears, which she endeavored to wipe away unperceived" (Shelley 93).

The character of Agatha, via its gentle and caring features, exposes the monster to the workings of love and beneficial human interactions.

After Agatha, the monster learns from another female called Safie. Safie, who travels from Arabia to the cottagers' needs to be taught how to communicate in English (Haddad). Safie's English lessons are therefore taken by the monster too as he continuously studies the happy household. Therefore, due to an inactive female character, the monster undergoes his first scholastic training:

"My days were spent in close attention . . . and I may boast that I improved more rapidly than the Arabian . . . I could imitate almost every word that was spoken . . . I also learned the science of letters" (Shelley 99).

Male characters display a detachment from domestic matters and in its place, possess an obsessive single-mindedness in the pursuit of their goals.

The abnormal methods by which the monster came to being and its later experiences point to the basic and important role of females in the British community. It equally indicates that apart from being the partners to the males, females have a crucial duty in keeping the society organized and peaceful (Haddad).

As a "calm and philosophical" man who "delighted in investigating the facts relative to the actual world" (Shelley, 66), Victor Frankenstein is a symbol of masculinity with his relaxed and intelligent nature and also his deep interest in science which is appropriate and important in the male-dominated landscape of natural philosophy. It is clear from Frankenstein's "days and nights in vaults and charnel houses" where he "lost all soul or sensation but for this one pursuit" (Shelley, 78) that he attained a level of focus and drive so high he could be referred to as a fanatic. All through Frankenstein's research, his social and domestic duties suffered and his admittance to how he "knew [his] silence disquieted them" (Shelley, 81) shows a level of self-centeredness in his poor relationship with his closest friends and relatives.

Female gender roles as bulwarks of the social order

The major question the novel poses is if it was the abnormality of the process which created the monster or the abscondment of Frankenstein that turned it into the heartless being it became. Nevertheless, if we are to see nature as an ideal and optimal system, then the importance of female care in the keeping the society peaceful points to a pseudo-division into nurture and nurture as a result of the dependence of social serenity on modern-day female roles (Tan).

Looking at the basics, the man-made processes leading to the monster's creation negates the biological importance of females and this theme can be clearly seen in the monster's murder of a number of female characters and even males like Henry Clerval, who by spending a whole season "consumed in [Frankenstein's] sick room" (Shelley) reminds us of the selfless care accustomed to mothers. On the night when the creature was born, Frankenstein's dream showed Elizabeth changing into "the corpse of [his] dead mother" (Shelley, 84) and this gives a clear representation of the way the abnormal birth of the monster points to a real and supernatural demise of women. Despite this, this embarrassment of females is subtly shown to be baseless as Frankenstein himself relates the absolutely negative effects attached to that sort of reality.

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The real "monster" of the novel: Viktor Frankenstein or his Creature.

Victor Frankenstein would have never converted his creature into a monster if he knew how to love and take responsibility for the ones we bring to this world.

It did not want anything bad but simply attention and support: it became a real monster through committing a murder

The monster strikes back at his creator for being deserted and left to himself to face the difficult world which denies him the privilege of simply living and having someone to love. It is apparent that the creature wasn't a monster from the onset but developed into one after his creator, Victor Frankenstein deserted it and didn't understand that he is responsible for the care of his creature for ever. The creature was faced with the harshness of the world right from birth. It was just created and it made efforts towards discovering the one who created him, who valued him and cared for him. However, it came to the realization that the world didn't care and wouldn't even offer an arm to help him up (Pellet). Victor Frankenstein deeply desired to create a being, however when he finally succeeded in this, "the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled [his] heart . . . " (Shelley, p.57). His very own creation filled him with dread and he fled, causing loneliness and pain for his creature. Frankenstein was the major cause of the creature's development into a monster via his abscondment without even giving it a proper welcome into the world of men.

Myth of the modern Prometheus,' with Victor being pictured as the one who steals the fire forms the Gods

Victor Frankenstein and Prometheus have so much in common that the novel is also called; The Modern Prometheus. Prometheus, for the benefit of humans, stole the God's fire and gave it to them. Due to this, Zeus punished him by cursing him and placing him in eternal torment. To Frankenstein, his sole aim was the pursuit of personal glory. After his mother's demise, an event which he didn't see as fair, he develops a process which will help him achieve his objective, which is the creation of a special race which would be mighty and pleasing to look on and won't be susceptible to any form of disease. He even aims to remove the inevitability of death. By his eventual success in giving life to a dead creature via his experiments, he has bestowed upon himself powers reserved to God (Pellet).

Via his attempts to create life and eliminate death by himself, Frankenstein infringes on the law of nature, one which has been in existence for several millennia. He believes that these laws can be changed and he does prove this by his accomplished creation of his monster. Nonetheless, though he attains a level and power reserved to God, his conduct shows that he has no form of experience, knowledge or responsibility like God does.