Many critics have pointed out that the women characters in Frankenstein seem relatively minor and passive, while the book focuses most fully on the relationship between Victor and his creature. If this is the case, do you think there things in the novel that mark it specifically as a woman’s novel or a novel that is interested in women’s concerns? In other words, how do you see Frankenstein as fitting into the tradition of the Female Gothic? Or do you think it’s a novel that doesn’t really fit this tradition at all?
I was actually shocked when I saw that no female in the novel had really any importance thus far. Most of them lack individuality or complexity. They are very much background characters. But I do believe the relationship between Victor and his creature makes this the female gothic, due to the back in forth between them. I guess you could label Victor as the creature’s parent since he is his creator. So the two do dit in the “not perfect family” trope. The novel also l plays with the relationship between life and death, monsters, eerie settings, and darker gory ideas.
It is interesting how the main focus of the story is on Victor and forming his monster. These male figures are what Mary Shelly chose to make her novel about. The two women we are introduced to at the beginning (the mother and the adopted daughter) are written as quiet and submissive characters, providing for the male characters. From what I’ve seen from the female gothic genre so far in The Mysteries of Udolpho and Northanger Abbey, the author makes a choice in how they represent female forces. In Northanger Abbey, Austen used a writing type called indirect speech. This was Austen’s third person narration, her voice was used to speak some understanding into Catherine’s character, making her feel seen in a way. In Frankenstein, there is a first-person narration, this means there is less room for the female characters’ voices. No one can speak for them, so they have to speak up for themselves. These female authors often tap into the harmful stereotypes women fell under during the time periods. I’m curious to see how the few female characters introduced evolve. Maybe they will speak up, Mary Shelly might contrast their passive nature with a breakthrough.
As I was reading, especially during the first 7 chapters, I was asking myself the same question. I was struggling at first to see the connection to the female gothic, but the reason for this is because the connection to the female gothic genre is a little bit less obvious in Frankenstein than it was in The Mysteries of Udolpho and Northanger Abby. When I started to think about it I realized that Victor being written by Mary Shelley is what makes a difference. Mary Shelley influenced Victors character, since she wrote him, but I do agree with the critics that the women in the novel are not as important. Elizabeth seems to take a back seat to Victor, which makes sense for this story, but it’s often not the case for most female gothic stories. Im not sure if this novel is best suited for the female gothic genre, because I feel like so much of the novel surround victors pain and agony throughout his process of creating and handling his monster, and there is not much focus on any females issues. However, I am really enjoying this novel and I think it is just the right amount of spooky but not overwhelmingly scary.
In Frankenstein it’s true that there is no traditional gothic heroine. There are also no significant female characters. This creates an argument against Frankenstein being a traditional female gothic novel. It is not traditional due to the lack of female characters, but the lack of significant female influence in this novel is almost a representation of this time period. Although there were women in the gothic period, many of them must have felt as if they were just side character to men, and that they had little influence in the world. So although there is no traditional female gothic heroine, the novel almost represents the way women were acknowledged during the gothic time period.
Although women characters in the Gothic novel Frankenstein play a minor role in the plot, it is still considered part of the Female Gothic genre. A significant reason for Franskestien to remain in the Female Gothic mode is that Mary Shelley, a woman, wrote it. The Gothic genre is not solely definitive by the leading women in the plot but of the women who wrote it. Moreover, although minor, Elizabeth’s role in the story can still be characterized as a female gothic heroine. I think an underlying message of the novel is the importance of mothers. All mother figures in the novel eventually die, furthering the chaos that Victor created. Victor’s mother’s death was one of the main factors in learning how to create new life or bring those back from the dead. The housekeeper Justine who helped raise young William can also be considered a mother figure in the novel, and Elizabeth, who took an important role in the family after Caroline’s death. Furthermore, I think the story also surrounds Victor’s fight with mother nature as he created a life outside the boundaries of what is normal.
Within the novel, there is a focus on the relationship between Victor and his creature. The women in the novel are not significant, such as Elizabeth, who is seen as merely the cousin/sister to Victor. She must fit into what society tells her, such as crying often like after William dies. I don’t think this novel fits into the idea of a regular female gothic novel. The main character is Victor and the creature, both of which are not the typical main character of a fragile female heroine. Out of all the characters, Elizabeth is most like the typical heroine, however, she is not given as much writing as the other characters. The novel also does not take place in a domestic setting like a manor or house, it takes place in Europe in many different settings, such as the place where the creature hides out before talking to the family and learning language. It also takes place in the village that Victor grew up in. Without a main character being female, it does not seem like a normal female gothic novel.
While reading this book, I never really though about whether or not it fit into the traditional Female Gothic genre. Now, this question stretches my mind, because although the women characters are relatively passive and minor, the heroine is still seen in my opinion as feminine. Victor’s emotions are expressed openly throughout the entirety of this book unlike a modern male figure. This could be due to the fact that these characters are written from the perspective of Mary herself. She writes in a way that makes use appeal to our emotions. We feel bad for the ugly monster when he comes in contact with humans, as well as Victor the creator coping with his guilt for making a murderous creature. Mary Shelley also adds in a lot of themes like nature into this book common in traditional Female Gothic. For all this I am unsure whether this falls into the very traditional Female Gothic, but it does have a lot of Female Gothic criteria. Regardless, I have enjoyed reading this book so far.
It did not particularly concern me whether or not Frankenstein could technically fit within the genre of the Female Gothic. I considered it a Female Gothic text regardless of the lack of, or seemingly irrelevant female characters. I’ve often found that male characters written by women have so much more depth, and desire; they are written with care and personality that often times is remiss when male authors write within their own gender. Given this, I find that Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein still fits within that Female Gothic genre. The patriarchy affects men just as well as it affects women, and while I don’t think Shelley was doing any ground-breaking, “smash the patriarchy” writing, I think she managed to write the men in her novel with her own feminine touch. Additionally, the novel is very much a product of it’s time, and it might not typically be the Female Gothic novel we are already used to within a modern context. Regardless, Frankenstein gave Mary Shelley the ability to explore dark and violent ideas from her home, something she might not have been able to do outside of the realm of fiction.
I have actually had the same thought while reading; I think the women in this story are very two-dimensional, and it makes me question how far the definition of “female gothic” can be stretched. I can see both sides, so I’m currently without an opinion on whether or not Frankenstein can be counted under this genre.
For one, I think it can’t be ignored that Frankenstein was written by a woman. The fact that the story is being told by a female, even if being interpreted through a male’s narration, greatly impacts its confirmation as a female gothic novel. I think the story coming from a woman’s mind and being written with her influence through her experiences of being a woman alone can earn a story the label. Namely, I see this influence specifically through the complexity of the range of emotions and grey moralities, as it forces the reader to challenge their biases and channel empathy as well as logic, but I also believe we truly write what we know–therefore it would be impossible for Shelley to avoid a coloring of feminine influence in her book.
Despite this, though, the actual women characters in the novel seem to be more plot device than person from what I can tell so far. They are only valuable as characters when they are advancing the development of either Frankenstein’s monster or Frankenstein himself, and their seemingly only apparent worth being based around their beauty or “demure and nurturing” deposition is off-putting to me to say the least. While written by a woman, the nature of the story is also still arguably entirely masculine, as it wholly operates around men and their perspectives. This causes me to question the effectiveness of naming Frankenstein a decidedly female gothic novel, as it detracts from the schema I had begun to develop surrounding what this label can be defined as.
Even this argument, however, could conversely support the idea that Frankenstein does in fact belong under this label: the fact that the entirety of every conflict is a result of male arrogance and conceitedly masculine ambition could be bold commentary on the patriarchal structures that allow toxicity to bloom in communities, and the further detriment it has on our society–then as well as now.
All this considered, I’m still undecided where I stand. Despite this however, I am very much enjoying this book so far! I’ve never read it before, so I’m enjoying how it’s challenging all of my preconceived notions on the worn-out, spooky monster.
Even though the women in Frankenstein are not the center of the story, they still are a big impact on the story. I think what really qualifies it to be the Female Gothic is because it is written by a woman. While the main character may not be a woman, it is still a story written by a woman, so therefore written in the perspective of a woman’s eyes, which qualifies it to be a Female Gothic novel. It may be a little untraditional, but it still has many of the same tropes and themes of the Female Gothic. Some of the depictions of women are pretty skewed and weird, but the men in the story are just as weird and bad. Everyone is weird in Frankenstein. It has all the tropes of the Female Gothic with just the main character being a male. So, I definitely think that Frankenstein can be considered the Female Gothic.
While the focus is not exactly on the female characters, I do think that Frankenstein can be perceived as having an interest in women’s concerns if you look deep enough into it. Obviously with the novel having been written two centuries ago, it probably wasn’t written with the intent of being a commentary on modern beauty standards, but I think it can be read as that. The monster is hated by everyone for simply being ugly, like before he did anything he was just labeled as a heinous monster at first sight for just being ugly. Ultimately the monster just wants love and care and decency but only gets ridiculed for his appearance. Being judged solely based on appearance is something that a lot of women go through, especially with the constantly morphing standards growing to be more and more impossible to achieve.
Aside from that reach, I don’t think this novel really hits most of the typical female gothic tropes but I do think it has quite a few. Victor’s relationship with the monster is very much so showing the trope of the abusive/absent father figure. This novel also has a good chunk of grand descriptions of nature and weather. I think that this novel is also a good example of how female gothic novels have more practical monsters and spooky content than male gothic novels because the creation of the monster is a product of science and not the supernatural.
The traditional female Gothic would entail heroic males, submissive women with a dark and mysterious aura, constantly pulsating throughout the text. I personally feel a great sense of mystery with an unsettlingly ominous narration within Frankenstein, however when it comes to the characters, I feel as if specific features have been flipped between genders. There are noticeable elements of femininity seen within the male characters in Mary Shelly’s, Frankenstein. To start, the leading male character, Victor Frankenstein himself, is far from a heroic masculine. He feels deeply and expresses his emotions in careful yet psychotic ways; stereotypes that can commonly be seen in a female character. He is also deeply in touch with, and very expressive of his emotions in terms of immediate feelings and bodily reactions. Typically within Gothic novels, and real life, men tend to bottle what they’re currently feeling to act as a powerful and savior figure. In contrast, Victor Frankenstein becomes so overwhelmed with his emotions to the point where he feels physical pain. For example, when Justine is convicted of murder, his feeling of knowing the truth causes him to withdraw instead of overcome. His reactions and the physical pain he feels directly contrast how a Gothic male would typically be depicted. Also by contrast, Elizabeth challenges a traditional Gothic female by standing up for her dear acquaintance. Again while Justine is on trial, Elizabeth stands up and fights for her friend when no one else would. In a way, one can argue that Frankenstein does in fact meet the classic female gothic stereotypes. Because the novel is written by a woman, it makes sense that the female is the character with more outspoken power. I believe that Mary Shelly intentionally, and as far as we know, made Victor less powerful in order to display the strength of the woman and heighten the strength of the monster he created.
Until this question was posed I never really questioned Frankenstein’s stance among female gothic literature. The female characters play do a very small part in the novel, and in no way do I see it as a veiled representation of women’s issues. The only way that I can really see the novel fitting into the female gothic genre is its appeal to emotion. We are driven to sympathize with the monster, as we see the abhorrence of every human that he comes into contact with, which drives him to seek revenge on his creator. This sympathy that we feel for the emotional anguish of the monster and his creator are the only remotely female gothic elements that I can think of. Other than that I would say that it is classified as the female gothic because of the author, Mary Shelley, being a woman. Also I read this book for the first time in my sophomore year of high school and it almost insufferable to read. But, this time I am actually enjoying reading it and am picking up on a lot more details than I had when I read it a few years ago.
I honestly think that because a female wrote the book and did not have the main characters as females in the book that a ton of women would not be picking up the book because it’s not also about female main characters. It also does not really mean much I say because the main characters are men aka Victor and Frankenstein and not Elizabeth or Justine or Caroline and it won’t tell a story they would read. I could be wrong, but I think I would have picked it up if the characters were also female. I would have read it if it was a female writer, female main characters, not being told to read it and found it in my genre of books I would choose it. I overall do not consider it a female novel only written by a female because from what I know and have read most female novels are written by a female and have female main characters. But anyone could read this and love it I just think the book needs to find the right audience and a person needs to find the correct genre they like.