A Critical Lens / Feminist Criticism

Works Cited:

Smith, Johanna M. "A Feminist Perspective." Feminist Perspective (n.d.): 312-30. Web. 12 Feb. 2015.

Liggins, Emma. "The Medical Gaze And The Female Corpse." Looking At Bodies In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (2000): n. pag. Gale Power Search. Web. 12 Feb. 2015.

Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein (1831) Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998

*I also used quotes from my own essay.

A Critical Lens / Feminist Criticism.

Females: Weak, sexual objects.

Conflict with sexual preference/gender. Fear of the female reproductive system:

- Women, are viewed by Victor as sexual objects, that he could only become intimate with when they are lifeless, to avoid emotional connection.

Claim One

claim

Two

Sexual objects-

- Generally women are depicted as “Object(s) of desire” and “(they are) Socially and sexually inferior” to men.

-Elizabeth’s death scene depicts her as an object

- his dominance and his disgust towards the female body leads to his “Necrophiliac desires… upon his wife’s corpse.”

Liggins, Emma. "The Medical Gaze And The Female Corpse." Looking At Bodies In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (2000): n. pag. Gale Power Search. Web. 12 Feb. 2015.

Sexualization of female pain and weakness.

Women are only

beautiful when broken.

- Victor is a male, but he is given many feminine traits.

- Victor uses science to “Bury himself in his work” and “Hide his failure to fit the mold of… nineteenth century masculinity.”

-Victor’s homosexual orientation is hinted at throughout the novel.

- Victor’s strange reaction to death shows his “Homoerotic feelings”.

-Victor “Displays disgust for the female sexual body”

-Victor see’s a woman’s ability to reproduce and carry a child as a sign of female authority.

- A female Monster would be “Ten thousand times more malignant than her mate."

Claim Three

The genderless Monster: Shelley'sperfect human

Objects of desire.

-In our society, the need to be aesthetically pleasing is incredibly prominent.

Central ideas

- Because of his terrible appearance, the Monster is rejected from society. He doesn't meet beauty standards.

Frankenstein through a feminist lens

- The constructs society holds, destroy any chance the Monster had for a good life.

Weak objects-

Safie & Elizabeth: The only importance they hold is their impact on the male's in the novel.

Safie:

- "Stronger" female character in the novel.

- Flees Islam and its gender roles, to seek out a new life.

- She is used as an aid, to explictly show how the Monster learns English, by watching her learn.

“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.”

Elizabeth:

- An emotional channel for Victor

-Victor thinks of Elizabeth as a possession

- She is murdered by the Monster solely to get revenge on Victor.

- Victor thinks of Elizabeth as a possession, he claims Elizabeth is

“Mine - mine to protect, love and cherish.” Victor believes that “All praises bestowed on (Elizabeth) I received as made to a possession of my own.”

Liggins, Emma. "The Medical Gaze And The Female Corpse." Looking At Bodies In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (2000): n. pag. Gale Power Search. Web. 12 Feb. 2015.

-Comparatively in Greek Mythology: The Creation of Man illustrates a woman, Pandora, being used as a tool for revenge.

- The Monster’s sex is male, but his gender is neutral. Since he is not a part of society, he has not been assigned masculine or feminine traits.

1. Female weakness and gender roles. Women are depicted as sexual objects, which plays a role in Victor's necrophiliac desires.

2. Victor's conflict with his gender and sexual orientation. Victor's fear of the female reproductive system.

3. The genderless Monster: His view of women and how society courrupts him.

4. Gynocriticism.

Conclusion:

-Women are often depicted as sexual beings in literature.

- Gender, beauty standards and sex all play a role in society's acceptance of a human being.

- Gynocriticism, is often viewed as sexualy biased- giving reason for Shelley's novel to be published anonymously.

-Women, are often depicted as secondary characters in novels.... as well as in real life.

- He's a perfect human.

- The Monster experiences “Independence of spirit” within Safie, leading him to believe that women are equally as ambitious as men.

Smith, Johanna M. "A Feminist Perspective." Feminist Perspective (n.d.): 312-30. Web. 12 Feb. 2015.

Autumn Battista

Miss. Aidonidis

English twelve

10 March, 2015

Thanks!

Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein (1831) Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998

Claim four

Gynocriticism:

Although Frankenstein was published anonymously, you can easily identify the feminine style of Shelley's writing.

There was a defined generalization that all Gynocriticism is emotionally driven and sexually biased.

A woman writer was expected to write only about domesticity, nurturing and birth.

Shelley pushes the view that gender and sex do not define a human being.

No matter what your sex, you are capable of being anything.