Feminist literary criticism has illuminated how societal power structures, particularly those rooted in patriarchy, shape narratives and character experiences. Two seminal works, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus (1818) and Charlotte Perkins Gilman's short story "The Yellow Wallpaper" (1892), offer fertile ground for such analysis. While separated by decades and genre, both texts reveal the devastating consequences for women confined by restrictive social expectations and a lack of agency. Through an examination of Victor Frankenstein’s monstrous creation and the unnamed narrator’s descent into madness, feminist readings highlight the silencing and objectification of female characters, the destructive nature of unchecked masculine ambition, and the profound psychological toll of patriarchal control.
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein presents a complex critique of masculine ambition and its disregard for the natural order, including the subjugation of women. Victor Frankenstein, driven by scientific hubris, usurps the role of creation, a process traditionally associated with female reproduction. His pursuit of knowledge isolates him from human connection, and crucially, from domestic and familial responsibilities. The female characters in the novel—Elizabeth Lavenza, Justine Moritz, and even the Creature’s intended female companion—are largely passive victims, objects of affection, or convenient scapegoats for male actions. Elizabeth, Victor’s betrothed, is presented as an idealized feminine figure, embodying domesticity and emotional support, yet she ultimately becomes a sacrificial lamb, murdered by the Creature on their wedding night. Justine Moritz is falsely accused and executed for the murder of William Frankenstein, a clear instance of female vulnerability and the justice system’s failure to protect the innocent, particularly when caught in the crossfire of male conflict. The Creature’s demand for a female companion, and Victor’s subsequent destruction of this potential mate, underscores the patriarchal tendency to deny women autonomy and choice, reducing them to mere instruments or potential threats. By focusing on Victor's solitary, masculine quest and the tragic fates of the women around him, feminist critics argue Shelley critiques a society that valorizes male achievement at the expense of female well-being and safety.
Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s "The Yellow Wallpaper" offers a more direct and intensely personal exploration of patriarchal oppression. The story is a first-person account of a woman, suffering from what her physician husband, John, diagnoses as a "temporary nervous depression—a slight hysterical tendency," and prescribes the "rest cure." This treatment, enforced by her physician husband and sister-in-law, involves complete inactivity, isolation, and a prohibition on any intellectual or creative pursuits. The narrator is confined to a former nursery, a room adorned with repulsive yellow wallpaper, which becomes the focal point of her deteriorating mental state. The wallpaper, with its "repellent, unreasoning" pattern, mirrors the oppressive domestic sphere and the illogical constraints placed upon the narrator. Her husband dismisses her feelings and observations as fanciful, further infantilizing her and denying her reality. As her mental health declines, she becomes increasingly obsessed with the wallpaper, perceiving a woman trapped behind its pattern, struggling to escape. This trapped woman is a clear symbol of the narrator herself, and by extension, of countless women confined by societal expectations of domesticity and subservience. Her eventual "freedom" is achieved through madness, as she rips down the wallpaper to liberate the imprisoned woman, identifying with her entirely and crawling triumphantly over her prostrate husband. This ending, while disturbing, can be interpreted as a radical reclaiming of self, albeit at the cost of sanity, a potent indictment of a system that drives women to such extremes to find any semblance of agency.
Both Frankenstein and "The Yellow Wallpaper," when viewed through a feminist lens, expose the profound dangers inherent in patriarchal structures that limit female autonomy and voice. Shelley’s novel, through the tragic fates of its female characters, critiques the destructive consequences of unchecked masculine ambition that disregards women's lives. Gilman’s story, with its claustrophobic and psychologically intense narrative, demonstrates the devastating mental toll of a system that denies women intellectual and emotional expression. Together, these works serve as enduring testaments to the urgent need for societal change that recognizes and values women's experiences, agency, and fundamental humanity.