Patriarchy In Frankenstein

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In the novel Frankenstein, the author Mary Shelley narrates a series of stories based on Robert Walton’s adventure to the North Pole. The protagonist Victor Frankenstein creates a new life that has no name but called “monster” due to its horrible appearance. Ostensibly, the novel seems to be an ordinary story of Walton’s and Frankenstein’s experiences and the monster’s revenge for human being’s exclusion. However, according to the variedly historical articles of analyses, the novel does not seem to be as simple as we thought. These articles have offered its audience possibilities of what Shelley really desires to express. For example, according to H.L Malchow’s “Frankenstein’s Monster and Images of Race in Nineteenth-Century Britain,” he points…show more content…
According to Hodges, the novel Frankenstein is tagged a “woman’s book.” (Hodges 155) He declares that Shelley disturbs the narrative sequence to be unnatural and untraditional, which in a way seems to be disturbing the patriarchal structure in the society so as to subvert the woman’s position. (Hodges 158) However, the suppression from patriarchy is not only the reason that causes the weakness of female. Their self-contradictory mind can also be another reason. For instance, in Frankenstein, Shelley creates Justine to be a passive and uncommunicative character. In the case of William Frankenstein’s death, she is casted back and forth between her family and Frankenstein like a swing. Even though Victor clearly knows that she is not the murder of William, he never thinks about helping Justine throughout the case. Here reflects the reality of discrimination toward female, but if we observe deeply, Justine does not make so much argument or explanation even if she is ultimately framed for the criminal for killing William. She remains peaceful and explains, “God knows how entirely I am innocent. But I do not pretend that my protestations should acquit me,” (Shelley 84) and then she says “but I have no power of explaining it…I am only left to conjecture concerning the probabilities by which it might have been placed in my pocket.” (Shelley 85) According to her words, audience can feel that Justine actually wants to explain herself to be innocent, but she contradicts herself that she would not be successful because of the patriarchy. Her self-contradiction automatically leads her to the failure of proving herself to be innocent, which audience might consider as a result of just the female’s weakness. Through the case of Justine and the article of Hodges, it is apparent that the problem of gender discrimination is serious in the period of Shelley. Women have little power to
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