I chose to use William Veeder "The Women of Frankenstein" that was written in 1986 to respond to. The He is letting us know of the role of these women that are so important to Frankenstein, and how he sees them relate in Mary Shelley. He believes that Shelley is taking the very weakness in herself and becoming defensive in her writing on he female characters. She try's to express that her women are no more weak then a man. She at the same time gives her woman a very submissive demeanor.
I read the story differently then Veeder did. I didn't focus on the role of the women in the story to this much detail. Although, after reading this perspective of the story I can see where this can come to the mind. Personally this particular response will not be used in my 3rd essay. I found things in the story that I saw as having more importance, than what Veeder saw this as.
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/13718/feminism_and_education_in_mary_shelleys.html
I didn't read this particular response by Veeder. I do notice in other critical responses that femininity seems to be a strong theme in Frankenstein. I didn't really pick up on this during the read though. I would have to re-read it with the intent of focusing on Shelley's femaleness in the story. I to foond other more important issues in the story to focus on. Good Luck with # 3.
ReplyDeleteI find it interesting that Veeder focused on feminism when there are, like you said, much more important tings going on. I didn't pick up on this either. I looked more as humanity as a whole rather than dissecting it between the two sexes. But I still find that very interesting to be able to pick up on that in a story like Frankenstein.
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with the other comments, on the femininity of the book. I have a hard time wanting to use any of the articles we read for essay #3. Good job on the post tho.
ReplyDeleteHi Lindsey,
ReplyDeleteI did not read this article though now I would like to. I think that this article in a way relates to the one I read before “Female Gothic: The Monster’s Mother.” because it also brings up the importance of women, not in the story Frankenstein itself but in correlation to Mary Shelley and others like her. I also did not see this as quite an importance until after I had read the article. Though I would have to read the article that you have read before I see whether or not it would be useful or not but I believe that it can have potential if it’s anything like the one that I had read.
I never felt a strong view of femininity while reading Frankenstein either. I know that as a woman, it was a big deal for Shelley to have such success with her story, but I don't think that while writing, she was purposefully making her female characters a certain way. For me, it would be difficult to write essay number three on that idea alone. Unless you did feel a feminist undertone throughout the story I guess. But we write what we know right?
ReplyDeleteWilliam did in fact read with a strong view of femininity. While I was reading Frankenstein I got a little of how frankenstein's monster is like his child and he basically runs away from it. But I never thought to relate it to a woman vs. a man in strength.
ReplyDeleteI almost chose this article myself. I agree with you in the fact that there seems to be more important things to focus on than just Shelley's perceived weakness. I do however think that this was a very interesting way to look at Shelley and her work. I also think that Veeder was brave to give his viewpoint. After all, it is not easy to easy to outwardly say something that could possibly get misinterpreted, especially if the statement has to do with the opposite sex.
ReplyDeleteI didn't read this article at all, but a lot of the other articles where related to the feminity of it as well. I didn't think that it had anything to do with it really, I was leaning more towards a scientist wanting to discover something that had never been discovered before. I chose Ellen Moers article to do mine on, and after reading her's the essay made a lot more since to me. Great job on this though! Even though I didn't read his article, if I went back and read it now, what you had to say here would help me a lot more to understand what he had to say.
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