An Analysis On Female Gothic In Frankenstein

Frankenstein, the great masterpiece of Mary Shelley who won great popularity, has been suffered controversy since its publication. More scholars have begun to pay attention to this novel nowadays. However, most of them focus their attention on the aspects of feminism, polyphony and ecological literary criticism and some of them emphasize female tradition in Frankenstein, but they write more on the contradictions between the monster and Frankenstein while few of them focused on the hidden heroines and breakthroughs and restrictions of Frankenstein, the significance of which should not be neglected. Therefore, this thesis puts efforts on the analysis of female Gothic in Frankenstein from different angles.Female Gothic tradition contains two meanings:one is "female"; the other is "Gothic". The author of Frankenstein is a female while readers almost cannot meet any female narrators in the novel. Accordingly, the thesis will firstly try to find out the hidden heroines behind the narratives of three male narrators in the novel---Walton, Victor Frankenstein and the monster from the aspects of Gothic tradition and female Gothic tradition:firstly, Walton’s experiences reflected the similarities between Mary Shelley and Robert Walton. Their lives were unique with strong intellectual curiosity and the spirit of the adventuring; secondly, what Victor Frankenstein behaved suggested that he was a self-contradictory person, so was Mary Shelley. On the other hand, the way that Frankenstein created the monster reflected Mary Shelley’s worries and fear towards giving birth; lastly, The shaping of the male monster actually portrayed a crazy female driven by patriarchal society, which reflected female’s social status during Mary Shelley’s time---no matter how hard they tried, they would not be recognized by the society and the male world. Finally, Frankenstein as a female Gothic will be analyzed from the contrast with male Gothic fictions to point out its breakthroughs and the restrictions.