The_Ideal_Women_Figure_in_19th_Century_Found_in_Frankenstein

Throughout Frankenstein, we can find the ideal women figure in 19th century, considering that the female characters’ roles and personalities are apparently different from those of the male characters. The female characters are isolated from the outside of home to take care of their husband, father or children while male characters such as Victor, Walton, and Henry have their freedom of action. Besides, in the novel, women are described as beings under men’s protection. For example, Victor’s dad provides a shelter to the orphan girl, Caroline with “a protecting sprit” (19) and she is considered to be protected by her husband. Elizabeth can be seen as a counterpart of Caroline, because she is also an orphan, and needs Frankenstein family’s support. After Caroline’s death, Elizabeth fulfils her responsibility for taking care of the family as seen in Victor’s comment “I never beheld her so enchanting as at this time, when she was continually endeavoring to contribute to the happiness of others, entirely forgetful herself” (27). We can conjecture that patience and sacrifice for their family were the ideal virtues for women to have at that time. Moreover, Victor’s description about Elizabeth “She was docile and good tempered, yet gay and playful as a summer insect.” “Her hazel eyes, although as lively as a bird’s, possessed an attractive softness” (20), “I loved to tend on her, as I should on a favorite animal (21)” compares her with animals and implies that she is just an enjoyable being for Victor. Women belong to men in Victor’s perspective, which represents a dominant point of view on women in 19th century. The thing is that the all women in the novel, who have been innocent and passive, die after all. Caroline dies after her sacrifice for her adopted daughter, and Elizabeth is killed and used as a tool for the monster’s revenge. In addition, Justine is mistreated in the trial and condemned to death, unlike Victor’s case. The female monster is also destroyed by Victor even before it is born. The female characters’ death may suggest that women were helpless in the society at that time, in which they were mistreated and discriminated from men. In other words, the author seems to indirectly be in a tone of criticism on the ideal virtues which women were forced to have, in 19th century.