Feb 16

For my essay #2, my broad topic will be the role of gender in the novels.

The first piece of evidence is the fact that women act as a source of happiness. Throughout the novel, Elizabeth is referred to by Victor as his only source of happiness. The monster asks Victor to build him a female companion, a source of happiness for him, as he has been discovering that he is not wanted by society. Victor builds then destroys the female monster in rage against the monster. The monster retaliates by destroying the last source of happiness Victor has: Elizabeth.

The second piece of evidence is the theme of passive women. Throughout the novel, the women are extremely passive of the situations they are in. They slowly suffer then die. Caroline, Victor's mother, contracts scarlet fever from Elizabeth, but continues to care for her. She succumbs to her illness shortly before Victor leaves for college. Justine is convicted for murder. Although she is innocent, she is executed. At the end of the novel, Elizabeth waits for Victor as he checks the house for the monster on their wedding night. Later that night, she is murdered by the monster.

The third piece of evidence is man's intolerance towards ugliness. The monster, being male, is grotesque and is feared by others in society. Both Safie and the Monster are separated from the De Laceys due to a language barrier. However, Saife is strikingly beautiful and is tolerated by the family. On the other hand, the monster is feared from by Felix when he returns to the cabin.

These pieces of evidence are bound together because they all deal with the role of women in the novel. Every woman in the novel is an undeveloped character, but the women as a whole represent many themes such as happiness, passiveness, and tolerance towards ugliness.

The pieces of evidence differ because each piece, for the most part, deals with a different female. Happiness is derived from Elizabeth, while intolerance is derived from Safie. Every women is passive in nature.

The evidence complements each other because it shows the many roles of gender in Frankenstein. As the story progresses, more and more gender themes are introduced. When combined, the evidence shows readers that women have a far more important role than expected. It shows that the simplest, most flat and two-dimensional characters of the novel are symbolic of very large themes.