Exclusively raising opposition to banal phenomena can only go so far: speaking of a new contrary, and generally undesirable, opinion. The crucial ingredient to making a significant impact with a foreign idea is to make an assertion so discreet that a person with contrary views, perhaps, can change their thinking - but only if a belief in individual control of this process arises. Mary Shelley uses this method in her novel Frankenstein to challenge an idea underlying patriarchal societies. Common patriarchal beliefs posit that women should stay at home where they are safe and that men should venture out into the unknown because, unlike women, they are seen as fit to live in an unstable outside sphere and unpredictable. Shelley thus creates a fictional story of an exaggerated patriarchal society which consequently leads to a terrible ending for each character. It's a story in which women simply have no purpose, men act as if their power is unlimited, and the functions of nature are infiltrated. Anne K. Mellor, in her article “Possessing Nature: The Female in Frankenstein,” analyzes the complex ways in which Mary Shelley quietly condemns Victor Frankenstein for his sexist views and actions. Victor, representing a patriarchal spirit, is an example that Shelley creates repercussions that will arise without social equality between men and women. Although readers can pick up on clues about this tactic as presented in the novel, Mellor remarkably connects all of the points that Shelley has integrated throughout and is able to coherently form Shelley's argument into an essay. By considering both Shelley's novel and Mellor's review, the reader can see Frankenstein in a new light. Shelley doesn't just preach feminism; it makes an allegory for the reader, since a society controlled by men alone is naturally doomed due to the innate character of man. Using textual and contextual supports, Mellor's critique is quite compelling: Frankenstein is a lecture for its readers, a lesson. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an Original EssayIn order for Mary Shelley to fully make her argument clear to the reader, she had to make every aspect of the novel, including the setting, the cause of her own demise. To create this manufactured patriarchal framework, Mary Shelley trains Victor Frankenstein's society on a "rigid division of sexual roles: the male inhabits the public sphere, the woman is relegated to the private or domestic sphere" (Mellor 356). Men work outside the home, “as civil servants (Alphonse Frankenstein), as scientists (Victor), as merchants (Clerval and his father) or as explorers (Walton)” (Mellor 356), while women are confined to the house. In addition to being limited to the private sphere, women were reduced to pets (Elizabeth), guardians (Caroline, Margaret) or servants (Justine). Victor even goes so far as to compare Elizabeth to his pet when he says that he "loved taking care of" Elizabeth "like I should take care of a favorite animal." (Shelley 30) Victor's foundation in this Genevan society is certainly the essence of male hierarchy, and Shelley used this arrangement because the only way to have a significant impact on the reader was to make a storyline the very concept that she denounced: the unequal distribution of income. powerbetween the sexes. Anne K. Mellor begins her essay with this idea, because she believes that Mary Shelley based her novel on a simple "cause and effect" approach. Without this framework/foundation established at the start, all the “effects” would be diverse and therefore the reader would not see the book as a lesson. But luckily, Shelley identifies the agent. Even before explaining the main results of such a strict society, Shelley does more than identify the source of the impending collapse in the first part of the novel. In order to remind the reader of the instigator of each disappearance that takes place, she drops subplots throughout the story that take the form of microcosms for the "cause and effect" assertion of the whole story. Mellor's essay draws attention to each of them so that the analysis becomes almost effortless for the reader. For example, Caroline Beaufort (Victor's mother), who can easily be overlooked and identified as unimportant, plays a crucial role in the plot, as Mellor points out. Mellor notes that Caroline was devoted to her father regardless of his financial situation until his death, that she married her father's best friend (to whom she was also devoted), and then died in breastfeeding Elizabeth during a smallpox epidemic who “embodies a patriarchal ideal of womanhood.” self-sacrifice” (Mellor 357). If Caroline had not died during Victor's youth, there is a good chance that her presence would have helped alleviate Victor's fear of female sexuality. Another important subplot that Mellor notes is the wrongful execution of Justine Moritz for the murder of William Frankenstein and the fact that Elizabeth's voice is considered worthless when she comes to Justine's defense. Had women been trusted outside the home in this particular society, Elizabeth's “passionate defense of Justine” might have saved Justine from execution (Mellor 357). These events, Mellor rightly attests, are reminders that Mary Shelley gives readers of what a patriarchal society represents. After examining these scattered microcosms, Mellor turns to the main domino theory presented in the novel – the fear of female sexuality and abuse. of a woman's natural abilities (ideals in a patriarchal society) leads to destruction and punishment. Victor Frankenstein embodies both “causes” and, as previously stated, also serves as an embodiment of the values ​​of a patriarchal society. This is why Mellor primarily focused on him as a source of analysis. Victor's distaste for women is most strikingly manifested in Victor's response to the creature's request for a female companion (Mellor 359). Although at first Victor felt sympathy for the creature's bitter efforts and promised to create a female creature like Adam's Eve, after beginning his creation of the female he decides to stop his work . Victor said: “I was now on the point of forming another being, whose dispositions I was equally ignorant of; she could become ten thousand times more malicious than her companion and delight, for her own sake, in murder and misery. He had sworn to do it. leave the neighborhood of men and hide in the deserts; but she did not do it; and she, who in all probability was to become a thinking and reasoning animal, might refuse to comply with a pact made before her creation... Even if they did. leave Europe and inhabit the deserts of the new world, but one of the first results of these sympathies for which the demon craved would be to have children, and a race of devils would spread over the earth who could make existence even of the species of man.