Explore how ‘Frankenstein’ presents the relationship

between men and women.

Mary Shelley uses relationships in Frankenstein as a vehicle to critique the stereotypical

dynamic between men and women in the 1800’s. Despite, on a surface level, echoing a
patriarchal society, Shelley presents a deeper meaning, connoting to the strengths of
women, suppressed by the overarching power posed by men. The female characters in
Frankenstein have minimal dialogue, with most of the novel focused on three men, Victor,
Walton and the creature. The depleted dialogue presented about women alludes to a clear
lack of agency, resulting in the female’s adopting passive views and actions, in contrast to
the men who are very demanding and expecting of things. Shelley critiques women not
standing up for themselves, much to the opposite to her mother, Mary Wollstonecraft who
is widely seen as the ‘first feminist.’ This can be viewed as Shelley critiquing women not
standing up for themselves, fueled through inspiration for her mother, who fought against
the injustice women faced where they were positioned in inferior positions to men.
Throughout the novel, Shelley presents men as largely dominant in comparison to their
female counterparts, who seem to be able to simply ‘observe’ the events around them due
to their lack of agency. The novel begins in the epistolary form through interactions
involving Walton and his sister, Margret, regarding his expedition. Importantly, we
seemingly never hear from his sister, meaning there is no interlocutor and, more
significantly, marginalising Margret’s voice. Walton appears to ask rhetorical questions such
as “Do you understand this feeling?” and “Do I not deserve to accomplish some great
purpose?” regarding his enterprise. Walton speaks in a condescending yet boastful tone, as
if his level of knowledge is far beyond that of his sister’s. Additionally, Shelley presents the
relationship between Walton and Margret as highly one sided, with Walton overlooking and
suppressing her opinions regarding “… the commencement of an enterprise which you have
regarded with such evil forebodings.” and that “[she] cannot contest the inestimable
benefit…” therefore alluding to the dismissive approach the majority of men would
undertake in the midst of a patriarchal society – an environment that Shelley grew up in and
critiques. Victor seemingly echoes this treatment of women through his relationship with his
own sister, Elizabeth Lavenza. When introduced to his sister, Walton talks about her as
“[his] more than sister, since till death she was to be mine only.” And “a possession of my
own.” He repeatedly uses objective language, ‘mine only,’ and ‘possession’ connoting to
Walton’s obsession with Elizabeth. This is backed up by through the ownership Victor is
seemingly provided with where “[Walton’s mother states] playfully, ‘ I have a pretty present
for my Victor…” Describing Elizabeth as ‘pretty present’ creates the image of someone who
is only useful due to their looks. We see this substantiated by Victor himself who calls
Elizabeth the “companion of all my occupations and my pleasures” and “my pride and
delight,” not only providing the depiction of total ownership but also subtle sexual
indications. The same theme of the abuse of power by men extends to that of the De Lacey
family where we see the two women treated poorly or dismissed. Shelley firstly presents
Agatha as “a young creature” connoting to a destructive soul similarly to that of the
creature, whereas we later find out that she is merely an innocent child who “listened with
respect.” Similarly to that of Agatha, Safie is presented as gentle and virtuous, however they
both lack a sense of agency – a quality of women which was reprimanded by Shelley herself.

Despite this, throughout the novel there is a suggestion that women possess more ambition
and power than men but is mostly hidden due to the oppression they come up against.
Shelley presents this no more than when Victor creates the creature by himself,
disregarding any source of female role in creation. By not including any other individual
apart from himself in the creation, Victor fuels his God-complex and thus likens himself
closer to the position of God – the creator of all. This juxtaposes the ‘evil’ and ‘filth’ in which
he made his creation, with Shelley using description closely relating to that of Satan. This
proves that without a female role in creation, Victor cannot do what he aspires - overrule
God, and needs a companion himself to help him succeed. The theme of Victor being afraid
of what women can do, if they are allowed more freedom and ‘conditions’ to show their
knowledge extends from the start of the novel to the end, where he is tasked to create a
companion for the creature. Victor’s views on a female creation only connote towards evil,
stating “she might become ten thousand times more malignant than her mate and delight,
for its own sake, in murder and wretchedness.” Shelley uses the same demonic lexical field
as when she described Victor’s story of creation, with ‘malignant’ perhaps describing Victor
more than anything else, and by drawing parallels between the two, you could argue that he
is describing all females with the same devilish elucidation that he himself has. The stark
difference between Victor and the female gender is his inability to create a being that could
fit into society, whereas every female has the facilities to do so, therefore it could be argued
that Victor envies women for their role in reproduction. This can be shown in Victor’s
negative mindset on a female creature, stating that it would create “a race of devils…would
propagate upon the earth.” Through the use of ‘propagate’ we gather the idea that Victor
thinks they would ‘abuse’ reproduction. This notion of a women that is strong-willed and
sexually liberated completely mirrors that of Victor’s perception of women as submissive
and docile – this can be perfectly incapsulated by Anne K. Mellor, who suggests “Victor is
afraid of a female that cannot be controlled by his male creation.”
In conclusion, Shelley presents relationships in Frankenstein in a way that is open to
interpretation, with no constantly revolving theme throughout the novel regarding two
characters. This can be seen through the relationship between Victor and Elizabeth as Victor
fails to show any kind of loving affection toward his sister, soon to be wife, explicitly without
describing her looks – this is until her life is at stake. Victor states that “[he] would die to
make her happy.” Shelley’s uses extreme language in the form of ‘die’ to show just how
much she means to him, however he only turns to affection after he learns that the creature
will attempt to kill her, proving that Victor only realises her qualities toward her death, an
attitude which is perceived by his father who states that “[Victor] regards [Elizabeth] as his
sister without any wish that she may become your wife]” thus providing the lack of love
Victor portrays.