The Fluidity of Gender Dynamics in Shelley’s Frankenstein Danial Abufarha College

In Anne Mellor's feminist critique of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Mellor conflates sex, gender, and desire. She maintains that all males in the novel are killers and rapists, whereas the females are victims and naïve. To be a male, according to her, is to act masculine and desire heterosexual relationships, and to be a female is to act feminine, be an altruist, and thus possess the ethics of care, which are according to her are typically female than male (Mellor 120). For instance, she contends that the two spheres in the novel are divided. The public sphere is run by men and "masculine power," the private sphere is led by women and "feminine affection" (Mellor 116). She also claims that due to the "[horrifying image] of uninhibited female sexuality" males usurp the females by either killing them or "substituting" heterosexuality with passionate relationships with men in order to eliminate them and create a society for men only (Mellor 119). However, in this essay, I argue that Frankenstein clearly demonstrates that biological sex, social gender roles, and desire are, as Judith Butler says, not identical. This can be seen in Victor and Henry's repressed homoerotic feelings, Walton’s homosexual desire and feminine attitude, and...