Relationships towards women in XIX century: responding Frankenstein - Essay Example

Relationships towards women in XIX century: responding Frankenstein The novel “Frankenstein” by Marry Shelly was published in 1816 and is a mirror of the male and female gender roles in Victorian society. It also provides Shelleys feministic belief system at that time. Many facts of the novel are based on personal experience of the author. Like Elizabeth Frankenstein, Mary’s mother, Mary Wollstonecraft, died soon after childbirth, and like Elizabeth Frankenstein, from an early age Shelley was surrounded by famous philosophers, writers and poets, like Coleridge and Charles Lamb. So I can say that characters reflect available gender situation in society mixed with personal author’s beliefs and experience. In the story Elizabeth is portrayed as a beautiful possession of Victor Frankenstein. When Caroline – Victor’s mother - saw her for the first time she was so amazed by the look of this girl that decided to take Elizabeth to Frankenstein’s family. Describing this situation Shelly talks about the girl as a thing. “I have a pretty present for my Victor – tomorrow he shall have it.” “And when, on the morrow, she presented Elizabeth to me as her promised gift, I, with childish seriousness, interpreted her words literally, and looked upon Elizabeth as mine – mine to protect, love, and cherish. All praises bestowed on her, I received as made to a possession of my own” (35). These relationships on the first pages are described as unilateral. It seems that she is incapable of doing anything, she could be only an object of activity. But it is not so as we can see in further chapters. Elizabeth is really incapable of doing evil. That is a stereotype view on women in Victorian society. Even her appearance is angelic, beautiful and very feminine. “Her hair was the brightest living gold, and, despite the poverty of her clothing, seemed to set a crown of distinction on her head. Her brow was clear and ample, her blue eyes cloudless, and her lips and the moulding of her face so expressive of sensibility and sweetness, that none could behold her without looking on her as of a distinct species, a being heaven-sent, and bearing a celestial stamp in all her features” (34). Elizabeth is also portrayed as being sensitive, caring, intuitive, and is someone who understands feelings and emotions. “The saintly soul of Elizabeth shone like a shrine dedicated lamp in our peaceful home She was the living spirit of love to soften and attract” (37). Elizabeth grew up taking care of people, and respecting all classes of people. She treated all people the same, even aiding the poor. It seemed as if Shelly was portraying herself. Women during this time were generally submissive, gentle, and all caring. When Justine was accused of murder Elizabeth didn’t even think that it could really be so. I rely on her innocence as certainly as I do upon my own (69). Also there is a strong differentiation of domestic and public or science spheres. Domesticity, the wall which separates the “female” domestic space of the novel from the “male” public sphere (Hale). Elizabeths main interests layed in field of contemplaiting and Victors - investigating.“She busied herself with following the aerial creations of the poets; and in the majestic and wondrous scenes which surrounded our Swiss home – the sublime shapes of the mountains; the changes of the seasons; tempest and calm; the silence of winter, and the life and turbulence of our Alpine summers – she found ample scope for admiration and delight. While my companion contemplated with a serious and satisfied spirit the magnificent appearances of things, I delighted in investigating their causes. The world was to me a secret which I desired to divine. Curiosity, earnest research to learn the hidden laws of nature, gladness akin to rapture, as they were unfolded to me, are among the earliest sensations I can remember” (30). In the domestic situation of Frankenstein, Shelley gives us such a completely gendered representation of weak women in need of male protection and careless men undone by unbridled ambition that the binaries of public and private, male and female, presented in the novel demand to be read as a critique of the binaries themselves (Hale). Women should yield their opportunity of working in public sphere in order to safe household. The main purpose of women is to bring children up and lead domestic routine. The tragic deaths of all the novel’s female figures and the ambivalence evident in Shelley’s vivid descriptions of the pleasures of pursuing knowledge reveal her advocacy of the supreme importance of ensuring the “tranquility of domestic affections” to be as riddled with internal tensions and conflicts as the nineteenth century family itself (Hale). Herbert Spencer and Patrick Geddes as Victorian theorists explained why the species evolved into the two sexes. In partnership with other scientists they constructed a stereotypical dyadic model, according to which men were considered as active agents, who expended energy while women were sedentary, storing and conserving energy. A dichotomy of temperaments defined feminine and masculine: an anabolic nature which nurtured versus a katabolic nature which released energy respectively. That is why men and women spheres of activity differ. According to the model men role is only fertilization while women heavy role is pregnancy and child-rearing which left very little energy left for other pursuits. So men have energy to spend in other aries. As Spencer says "the male capacity for abstract reason... along with an attachment to the idea of abstract justice...[which] was a sign of highly-evolved life" (qtd. in Hale ). In the process of evolution women have to stay at home to conserve their energy while men could and needed to go out and hunt or forage. And it also influenced on mental development. Men considered to be more intelligent, courageous, independent. Women on the other hand... were superior to men in constancy of affection and sympathetic imagination. They had greater patience, more open-mindedness, greater appreciation of subtle details, and consequently what we call more rapid intuition. That theory had strong influence in those days and it is reflected in Shelly’s novel. After Victor’s mother death, which was great tragedy for Elizabeth “she indeed veiled her grief, and strove to act the comforter to us all. She looked steadily on life, and assumed its duties with courage and zeal. She devoted herself to those whom she had been taught to call her uncle and cousins. Never was she so enchanting as at this time when she recalled the sunshine of her smiles and spent them upon us. She forgot even her own regret in her endeavours to make us forget” (41). That is what Alphonse is saying about her trying to persuade Victor to marry “our dear Elizabeth as the tie of our domestic comfort, and the stay of my declining years” (124). She really had perfect intuition. Victor notices that while describing his despair and illness state of health before marriage. “Elizabeth alone had the power to draw me from these fits; her gentle voice would soothe me when transported by passion, and inspire me with human feelings when sunk in torpor” (125). One more Victorian conviction about women is that they are weak. From one side this is really portrayed in the novel. Elizabeth is entirely dependent upon the Frankenstein‘s, particularly Victor, for whom she waits for her entire life. “You alone can console Elizabeth” (67) says Alphonse to Victor in the letter when she accused herself of Williams death. “Your persuasions will induce poor Elizabeth to cease her vain and tormenting self-accusations” (68) these are word of Ernest. Elizabeth believes in Victor’s strength and his ability to solve problems that seem to have no solution. That is typical not only for Victorian society, it is generalized characteristic of men in all times. When he arrives she says "Your arrival, my dear cousin fills me with hope. You perhaps will find some means to justify my poor guiltless Justine”(63). But it turns out that Elizabeth has more strength to overcome this accident. She doesn’t know about inner Victor’s contradictions but she fells them. "My dearest friend, you must calm yourself. These events have affected me, God knows how deeply; but I am not so wretched as you are. There is an expression of despair, and sometimes of revenge, in your countenance, that makes me tremble” (80). Her only weakness is her love to cousin. She wants Victor to be really happy and when father compels him to marry her she writes a letter in which gives her beloved groom freedom of choice. “I confess to you, my friend, that I love you, and that in my airy dreams of futurity you have been my constant friend and companion. But it is your happiness I desire as well as my own when I declare to you that our marriage would render me eternally miserable unless it were the dictate of your own free choice (153). She is able to refuse own happiness for the sake of Victor’s but he doesn’t even warned her about danger which was concealed behind a monster. So she has no power to control her own destiny, in fact it is controlled by Victor’s “baby”. Shelly tries to refute a stereotype of powerless woman by opposition of Victor and Elizabeth character. Elizabeth ends up being the "strong" character in the book which reflects Shelleys and her mothers independence and strong will. She became the prime caretaker of the family when mother dead and when William was murdered. Her generous interference during the Justine’s trial was a brave attempt to ascertain the justice, while Victor, who really knew the murderer remained silent. He is described as very egoistic person, he is afraid of losing his face, he will allow his family and friends to die as long as they dont find out that their demise is the result of his gigantic failure. So all these facts don’t allow talking about Elizabeth as weak, powerless woman. Reading the novel we can fell that author tries to show that attitude to the woman doesn’t correspond to the reality. Women sometimes can be stronger than man. As a conclusion I can say that Mary Shelly portrays Elizabeth including her own features and social stereotypes to this character. Elizabeth is nurturing and kind, living spirit of love and patience. And in the same time very strong personality who overcomes all difficulties of her destiny. It is a perfect woman of Victorian times. Works cited Hale, Jessica. “Constructing Connectedness: Gender, Sexuality and Race in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. The UCI Undergraduate Research Journal (2004): 12. Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. New York: Penguin, 1963. Read More