Personal Synthesis + Feminist Analysis

Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein is a timeless classic that can teach life lessons and give light to new perspectives every time it is picked up. This was my second time reading the novel and I found that I enjoyed it much more this time than the first and that I also got much more out of it. Shelley shares deeper meaning than the story’s literal surface story can break through and it takes time and thought to see through to these meanings. Coming at the book from a feminist standpoint was a challenge to me at first. Throughout my reading I kept trying to find feminist qualities but I was finding it difficult and struggled with the task. In our class discussions along with our Twitter posts, these topics seemed to be the most asked about. Many of us had problems connecting the story to feminism and connecting Victor to motherhood.  It was not until our class discussion on Shelley’s background that I was able to see some of the feminist qualities about this famous story. Once I learned of her history, many of the feminist ties in Frankenstein became clear and this goes to show how an author’s background can carry through with great importance in the work they do. Many of the negative reviews I came across for the book were from people that simply did not understand the deeper meanings Shelley intended to be seen, meanings that related to her life and situation, while the positive reviews were clearly from readers who understood the underlying messages. As readers we are still supposed to use our imaginative twist on the topic, we must still keep the intended moral of the story clear in our minds.

I think Shelley does an excellent job in using her novel to bring about strong feminist qualities and topics such as motherhood and childbirth. The story is thought to have come out of Shelley’s own anxieties about giving birth and creating life. Her first pregnancy resulted in a daughter who died after only two weeks of life. For some time after this Shelley had dreams of brining her child back to life. This idea flows into Victor’s character as he wishes to take dead pieces and assemble a whole and bring it back to life as a new, living and thriving creature. “I thought, that if I could bestow animation upon lifeless matter, I might in process of time renew life where death had apparently devoted the body to corruption” (page 33). Both Victor and Shelley wished to turn around and defeat life’s greatest enemy – death.

Feminism is also noted through Victor’s actions in creating and then choosing to abandon the child. As a parent this is not something we would expect to see but sadly the world is filled with people who have children and cannot bring themselves to love them. This was a fear of Shelley’s and was something carried out by Victor who abandoned his ‘child’ and left it to survive in the world on its own. Even when the creature reached out to Victor he ran from it in fear.

Overall I really enjoyed reading this novel and I would do so again in the future. I think that I would pick up something new and gain new perspective each and every time I read the story. There are so many ways in which readers can connect it into their lives so depending where I am in life, I could easily pick up an entirely new meaning from the same story. As I said above, it’s timeless and I would recommend the book to anyone seeking a book with a deeper message or looking for a quick, but meaningful, read.

Sources:

Shelly, Mary. Frankenstein. 2nd ed. New York: W.W. Norton &, 2012. Print.