Female Characters In Frankenstein

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Although Mary Shelly was very clearly a feminist activist due to her family and background, her female characters in Frankenstein such as, Justine, Safie, & Elizabeth, are very passive and their main job is to help the men out. The men in the book, such as Walton, Frankenstein, and Frankenstein’s monster, are very strong male characters who are the main idea of the book. It makes sense that this is her way of writing because at the time, the women were told their jobs were to make sure the men were well supported and to do house work at the time. Her gender didn’t really affect how she portrayed the female and male characters in Frankenstein.
The male characters in the novel are, not only the main characters and the most important characters but, went through the whole novel leaning on the women to do trivial tasks and make them emotionally feel better. Walton starts out the novel writing to his sister, Mrs. Saville to let her know he is okay {QUOTE}. He is on a wonderful adventure while she is at home waiting him to write back and tell her he’s okay. The monster tells Victor that he wants a companion and he wants …show more content…
Safie has to rely on Felix to help her when she is stuck with the Turks and she can’t escape {QUOTE}, implying that, as a woman, she would not be able to get through these circumstances without him. Justine is seen as a murderer and despite her insistent pleading that she isn’t the one who killed Edward, her voice as a woman is ignored and put aside as lies. Elizabeth, who is probably the strongest female character in Frankenstein, still falls into the same patterns most of the other women fall into where she only used in the novel as a friend and lover of Victor. He even refers to her as “mine only” (p. 18). This supportive idea that women are only useful for companionship and house work, was not uncommon at the time due to the laws and social standards women were put under at this
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