By stealing the female's control over reproduction, Frankenstein has eliminated the female's primary biological function and source of cultural power. Indeed, for the simple purpose of human survival, Frankenstein has eliminated the necessity to have females at all. One of the deepest horrors of this novel is Frankenstein's implicit goal of creating a society for men only: his creature is male; he refuses to create a female; there is no reason that the race of immortal beings he hoped to propagate should not be exclusively male.
shelly presents the position of women through the lack of sex within frankenstien, therefore evoking the feeling of science being more needed than natural sex. The lack of sexual activity stems from Frankenstiens’s perverse sexual feelings towards his mother, commonly known as the Oedipus complex. Shelley describes a dream in which Elizabeth morphs into his mother, “as I imprinted the first kiss on her lips, they became livid with the hue of death”. In having Elizabeth replaced Caroline, Shelley is not only equating Frankenstein’s affection for his mother with Elizabeth but also she also alludes to a sexuality that goes against the norms of society, and the lack of the need to have sex with a woman, usurping the position of women as their main role of being a woman is to bear children. What Victor Frankenstein truly fears is female sexuality as such. A woman who is sexually liberated, free to choose her own life, her own sexual partner (by force, if necessary), and to propagate at will can appear only monstrously ugly to Victor Frankenstein, for she defies that sexist aesthetic that insists that women be small, delicate, modest, passive, and sexually pleasing -- but available only to their lawful husbands. This is clearly seen as a possessive nature when he talks about Elizabeth as "My more than sister, since till death she was to be mine only." This shows that the position of women are not key in frankenstien except as a possesion, in which he does not wish to escalate a sexual relashionship with. Further more victor refuses to create a “she” creature for the monster for him to enjoy and possiably have a sexual relasionship, showing that women are possiably needed for happiness as it is after he refuses in which the monster kills elizabeth. Therefore he is denying the delights on natural intercourse. This is contradictary in the handmaids tale where sex is the only reason of any position within the giliad regime as a woman.
Atwood also presents women in an oppressive way however it is the contradiction of frankenstien as they are oppressed by being ‘ state-raped’, or forced to have sex like a “machiene”, causing a complete lack of libido between both the commander and the handmaids. The lack of enjoyment through sex makes sex another “chore” in which is another way to persecute and put women down. The women are made to believe that this is their duty and the only reason they are important. The Handmaids are told stories about these conditions to justify their situation. They are told that “men are sex machines… and not much more. They only want one thing”. Again the Gilead discourse returns to the fact that men cannot be blamed for their behaviour since it is something “natural”. The Handmaids are told that: “It’s up to you to set the boundaries” (reference). “used to think of my body as an instrument, of pleasure, or a means of transportation, or an implement for the accomplishment of my will . . . Now the flesh arranges itself differently. I’m a cloud, congealed around a central object, the shape of a pear, which is hard and more real than I am and glows red within its translucent wrapping” This shows that it seems that women are made just for sex and that’s also a natural instinct for men, therefore women should comply. Similarly in frankenstien there is an idea of going against the norm with moira,being a prostitute and a lesbian, representing the individualistic and plauralised feminisms of the late 80’s and 90’s which include the different agendas of formerly marginilized women: black women and lesbians whos intrests were closer to equality gay rights than traditional feminist agendas of the 1st wave feminism.this clearly shows that the position of women are usrped and taken away from them unless they have children. If they cannot then they are sent to camps, in which offred mother was sent to. These points clearly show that womens position in this regime is not high and the only time they get any position at all is when they have a baby, and this is only temporarly.
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