Bride of Frankenstein (1935)


In this film, Victor
(renamed Henry) does
make the female
creature (who is not
‘deformed and
horrible’ in the
slightest!), and is
played by the same
actress who plays Mary
Shelley earlier in the
film.
What is your response
to this? What do you
think the filmmakers
may have been trying
to achieve here?
Discussion point: to
what extent is it a
‘right’ to have
relationships? Is it
something we need
psychologically or
is it purely a
biological idea? Is
it a right?
Victor and Elizabeth in the 1994 film
VOL II CHAP IX – VOL III CHAP IV
Learning Objective: to understand Shelley’s ideas about male-female
relationships and be able to analyse their significance to the novel.
Genesis links - rib
Genesis 2:18-24
(New International Version)
18 The
How is this different from the monster’s
experiences in Frankenstein? Why are
these differences significant?
LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a
helper suitable for him.” 19 Now the LORD God had formed out of the
ground all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky. He brought them to
the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called
each living creature, that was its name. 20 So the man gave names to all the
livestock, the birds in the sky and all the wild animals. But for Adam no
suitable helper was found. 21 So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a
deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and
then closed up the place with flesh. 22 Then the LORD God made a woman
from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.
23 The man said,
“This is now bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called ‘woman,’
for she was taken out of man.”
24 That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife,
and they become one flesh.
Paradise Lost Book 8

How is this different from the monster’s
experiences in Frankenstein? Why are
these differences significant?
Adam addresses God and requests a mate:
“Hast thou not made me here thy substitute,
And these inferior far beneath me set?
Among unequals what society
Can sort, what harmony or true delight?
Which must be mutual [...] of fellowship I speak
Such as I seek, fit to participate
All rational delight, wherein the brute
cannot be human consort [...]
“these inferior” =
other animals –
God set man
above creatures
In Genesis 1, God
describes man as
‘very good’, not
just ‘good’
In Genesis 2, God and
Adam search through
all the animals (i.e.
brutes) to find an
appropriate mate for
Adam.



Wollstonecraft argued that women should be educated to a level
equal with men and not be reduced to being a silly, frivolous creature,
to help them be more effective “help-meets” for men and consequently
more “virtuous”.
“Would men but generously snap our chains, and be content with
rational fellowship, instead of slavish obedience, they would find us
more observant daughters, more affectionate sisters, more faithful
wives, more reasonable mothers—in a word, better citizens. We should
then love them with true affection, because we should learn to respect
ourselves [...]”
“In the middle rank of life, to continue the comparison, men, in their
youth, are prepared for professions, and marriage is not considered as
the grand feature in their lives; whilst women, on the contrary, have no
other scheme to sharpen their faculties.”
Relationships in Frankenstein

Group A - Victor’s attitudes
Group B – The creature’s attitudes
Consider:

Victor’s reasons for initially
refusing the creature’s
request and his destruction of
the female creature
 Victor’s reaction to his
father’s suggestion
 Victor’s attitudes to women
throughout the novel.

Consider:




The creature’s reasons for
wanting a ‘mate’
The significance of his
killing Elizabeth on the
wedding night
The creature’s response to
women throughout the
novel.
Links to
Wollstonecraft/Bible/
Paradise Lost?
Remember to consider carefully how Shelley uses language to convey these ideas.
Collect quotations and analysis for your ideas.
Significant changes from the 1818 edition

The fact that Elizabeth is Victor’s cousin in 1818...
 “your
cousin” – “our dear Elizabeth”
What is Shelley doing
here and why?
Let’s think about structure...

“You are my creator, but I am your master; obey!”

“I shall be with you on your wedding-night”
What significance to these quotations have to the novel as a whole?
Consider:
• possible use of foreshadowing (prolepsis) – how? why?
• the idea of doubling/doppelgängers
• role-reversals
Why does Shelley end Volume 2 at this
point?


How does this present a turning point?
How does the tone shift in Volume 3?
Homework – essay Monday 18th


David Stevens, author of The Gothic Tradition (2003),
states that feminist criticism of the Gothic genre takes
issue with “the relative silence, or, at the very least,
passivity, of female characters” or the “stereotyping
of female characters according to male fantasy”.
To what extent would you agree that female
characters in Frankenstein are silent, passive and
stereotyped?
Don’t forget to be annotating chapters 21-24 in detail by next
Monday.
Plenary


With your partner, summarise the key points of this
lesson in no more than 3 sentences.
You have 1 minute!
Click for the timer!