Mary Shelley's Frankenstein: The First Modern Feminist

This rejection of the creature by Victor can be viewed as a self-reflection on the part of Mary Shelley on her life and the struggles she faced. Mary’s mother, Mary Wollstonecraft, was a strong and forward-thinking woman, one of the first modern feminists with her book A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, and quite influential in her legacy. However, her life was cut short with the birth of Mary Shelley, dying only days after her new daughter was born. Mary Shelley’s father, William Godwin, was left a grieving widower with a new daughter, the namesake of his late wife, to always remind him of the loss of his love. Growing up, Mary Shelley realized this extra sadness that was set upon her father, and carried a sense of guilt around for the death of her mother and causing her father’s grief. …show more content…
This creature is her self-reflection as something that came into the world without the necessary motherly care and nurture required by many animals. This lack of a maternal figure, one to unconditionally love and help develop this new life, and the sense of rejection from a father figure, leads to a malformed creature underdeveloped in terms of its peers in how to function in