CR #2 – Frankenstein
Before I begin, I would like to say that I am using an online website in order to read Frankenstein. The problem is that there are no pages, and just chapters. So, if I cite anything I’ll be using chapters. I know that this is probably the wrong way of doing this, but there really is no other information on the website than the chapters.
In class we learned that Mary Shelly’s mother was one of the most popular women rights activists during her time. In Mary Shelly’s novel, Frankenstein, there are numerous events where women are written as the victims. To start off, the very first tragic scene in the story may as well be the death of Caroline Frankenstein from scarlet fever. Out of all the characters to die, it is the loving mother who also helped give Elizabeth a better life by adopting her.
A bit later on in the novel, a boy named William is killed by the monster. However, no one in the town knew of the monster’s acts. The one who became targeted as the criminal was Justine, a women who acted like a maid to the Frankenstein family. Elizabeth, in Justine’s defense, even said “During all that period she appeared to me the most amiable and benevolent of human creatures. She nursed Madame Frankenstein, my aunt, in her last illness; with the greatest affection and care…” (Ch. 5). Elizabeth and Madame Frankenstein could be said to have the closest and strong relationship within the story, and the fact that she is defending Justine, who is said to have killed Elizabeth’s closest friend/relative, should speak volumes about the innocence of Justine. Sadly, it does not and I believe this is another event in the story where Mary Shelly is not knowing how easy it to to victimize women such as Justine, but it is darn too difficult for women such as Elizabeth to even defend other women.
Lastly, within the story about the monster and Victor, there is a small story that features a family from France, and a women named Agatha. In one of Agatha’s letters, she writes about her mother as “…a slave by the Turks…”(Ch. 14). Not only was her mother originally a slave, Agatha later goes on to write that her mother’s “…powers of intellect and an independence of spirit (was) forbidden to the female followers of Muhammad…”(Ch. 14). Once again, we see a women who is not only victimized as a slave, but her rights are limited because of religious beliefs. The quotation clearly says that it is women who are forbidden from becoming independent and intelligent, and not men.
All of these events are definitely giving light to the sad, and outrageous acts women had to suffer because their arrangement of chromosomes. As I continue to read Frankenstein, I am certain there will be more examples of women who become prey to the world.
So you have a lot of really interesting things going on in this post. It seems like you want to draw a connection between the Women’s Right legacy Shelley inherits from her mother and the seemingly weak and victimized female figures in the novel. That would be an interesting connection to make. My concern is that you don’t quite make the connection. You move from saying what we learned about Shelley’s mother to saying many of the women in the novel are made out to be prey. You don’t posit an opinion or perspective about the relationship between these two facts.
It’s also interesting the particular pairing of examples you have. I love that you bring our attention to Agatha. I think it’s important for us to think about all these minor stories in stories and what they are doing in the novel I’m not sure how you decide to focus on Caroline, Justine, and Agatha. How does Walton’s sister Margaret, Elizabeth, or DeLacy’s daughter figure into your argument? If you are going to make an argument about what the novel does with women, then you have to address the figures that don’t fit neatly in that argument as well (otherwise it makes it seem like you’re picking and choosing data that fits).
On a larger point, I’m wondering about your close reading method and scope. It seems like you’re trying to do a follow the trail method? But I’m not sure what you’re following. Deceased female characters? Or women characters in general? Either way I think you might be too broad. If you’re interested in the murders of female characters, then 1) I think it would be worth specifying murder rather than death (and thus you might not be able to talk about Caroline) and 2) you will need to distinguish the depictions/functions of those murders from the murder of William and Clerval so as to show us what the specifically gendered or feminine aspect is that you are noticing in the narrative.