Feminism within the Novel and the Creation of Frankenstein In “Frankenstein” by Mary Shelley, one can undoubtedly see how the female characters have less importance than the male characters. The reason these sex differences in status occurred because of the period that she wrote the novel. Shelley, during the first half of the nineteenth century, was writing in a time in which a woman “was conditioned to think she needed a man’s help” (Smith 275). In “Frankenstein”, Mary Shelley devotes three male characters to narrate the story, Victor Frankenstein, Robert Walton, and Frankenstein’s creation. No woman throughout the entire novel speaks directly as the three narrators do. Mary Shelley also constructs the story to follow the main character, …show more content…
He claims that Victor Frankenstein’s pursuit for popularity leads to his downfall and to the distress and death of others, all because of his experiment with creating a living man out of dead pieces. This source gives illustrations of Frankenstein’s characteristics of self-centeredness, arrogance, untruthfulness, and the lack of importance for life. Lunsford writes, “This turn in Victor’s thinking reflects not so much to the failure of the male to procreate as the failure of one man to value life. Upon discovering the secret to reanimating dead corpses, Victor endeavors to create a being like himself” (175). This quote provides evidence of Victor’s true heart and mind behind the creation of the monster. Victor obviously did not care that creating a living person from dead material was wrong and abnormal, but he did so anyways to impress the people of the higher class that he wanted to join. Lunsford argues, “Victor Frankenstein doesn’t value life in the absolute. Instead, he places a higher worth on his reputation” (174). When someone performs an action solely to gain a higher status, disasters arise. This is exactly what happened to Victor Frankenstein. His determination to gain popularity lead to the complete loss of control of his creation and eventually lead to the creation murdering Frankenstein’s entire family. Mellor mentions that the “male imagination at the moment of conception [is] responsible for determining both the sex and its outstanding traits” (45). This gives insight to the reason why Frankenstein’s monster acted the way it did. This quote is proclaiming that at conception, or creation in Victor Frankenstein’s case, the thoughts and motives in the brain during this time will be reflected in the offspring. Therefore, since Dr. Frankenstein had greedy and unnatural motives his monster acquired corrupt “traits” which lead to