Invisibility, Domesticity And Egalitarianism In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

The present thesis means to explore the complexity of and inherent contradiction in Mary Shelley's view concerning the values of the bourgeois family in the early nineteenth century. On the one hand, she agrees with what her mother advocates that every family member should enjoy the equality within the family; on the other hand, she casts doubt on the realization of the egalitarianism. She goes on analyzing the exclusivity and inclusivity lying in her contemporary bourgeois family culture, noting that the self-interestedness is the essential in the culture, and also the source contributing to the failure of the realization of egalitarianism.The first chapter makes a brief review of the criticism Frankenstein has received since its publication. There is a wide range of critical approaches, but after 1985, the primary criticism turns to be Feminism. Then, the chapter makes a brief introduction of Mary Shelley's life, and pointing out the important connection of her life and Frankenstein.The second chapter devotes on the necessity of egalitarianism applied to the bourgeois family. It begins with the invisibility, pointing out that not only the monster, but also Frankenstein, all the females in his household as well as Walton's sister are in fact in the state of invisibility. The invisibility, resulting from the patriarchal system and also the division of public and private spheres, represses one's individuality and set barriers to understanding the self and the real world, meanwhile getting in the way of the communication among the family members, which contributes a big part to the happening of the tragic fate.The third chapter starts with the structure of the bourgeois family, noting this family mode based on the social contract forms the hierarchal relationship within the family decided by the amount of the property, which is materialistic. In the novel, Frankenstein's family is established mostly on the family indebtedness, which makes victims of Frankenstein, the monster and the women in Frankenstein's household.The fourth chapter studies the bourgeois family by placing the novel's families intheir contemporary political context. Under such circumstances, Shelley observes that domestic affections are vulnerable to the influence of the money, in some cases can be reduced to the commodity sold in the market. At the same time, the coexistence of inclusivity and exclusivity in the bourgeois family proves that self-interestedness is the essential characteristic of the family mode, and also the source contributing to the failure of realization of egalitarianism in the bourgeois family in the early nineteenth century.The conclusion part makes a brief review of the former chapters, and reiterates Mary Shelley's complicated view on the egalitarian bourgeois family.