Role And Treatment Of Women In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

In the novel “Frankenstein,” written by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, the roles of women in the novel seemed to be passive; there weren’t really much active roles that they displayed in the novel of “Frankenstein.” With one of the many themes of the novel, “passive women”, “are quintessentially ambiguous figures: present but absent, morally animate angels, but physically and politically inanimate mortals,” according to Vanessa D. Dickerson, author of “The Ghost of a self: Female Identity in Mary Shelley 's Frankenstein.” The quote is basically saying that they were in the story, but had no part in it; they would just be there, kind of like a ghost. The role and treatment of women in this novel, reflects how Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley feels as a woman in a time period where women were silent and passive listeners. …show more content…
The novel would be regarding women and their devotion to their family, not saying a word, just fulfilling their duty as a housewife and mother. The novel was also regarding women who were being compared to men that were considered intellectuals at the time. A housewife and a woman who was being compared to intelligent men, it drove Mary Shelley to write a worthy ghost story. Mary Shelley wanted to use a gothic horror story; she wanted to use a hideous monster to represent how women, such as her, psychologically felt when being invisible, so not doing too well psychologically. So basically, the novel reflects how women are treated as if they are not around, that they have no active role in the novel. There were many roles played by the female characters in the novel of