Themes between Frankenstein, Out of the Silent Planet, and The Return of the King - Essay Example

The novels Frankenstein, Out of the Silent Planet, and The Return of the King reveal a great deal about literature in our society by how they depict females. Each of these texts explores the social issue of how femininity is portrayed in a different manner. One of the most important themes that runs through each of these novels is the issue of gender roles in our society. Our society has developed a mindset where women are supposed to stay at home and raise the family, while men are out providing for the family. Frankenstein examines why women are constantly placed in subservient roles and also why men wish to keep them in that role. Out of the Silent Planet does not include women in most of it, but it does make the claim that women should be content with simply raising their children because that is the Christian ideology that the author believed in. In this novel, women are shown taking care of the cooking, while the men are out providing. The Return of the King, however, portrays women in a much stronger manner. The women in this story, though few in number, are able to assist the men on their journey and provide useful contributions to them. The theme of femininity is present and important in each of these novels, but females are portrayed in their strongest form in The Return of the King, which is important because it shows that strong female characters can be used successfully in literature. Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, is a novel that does not contain very much in the way of strong females characters. The majority of them are passive and subservient women who fill their gender roles and then die in less than impressive fashion. One of the reasons why this is done could be to draw attention to male behavior and what it does to the female psyche. For example, Caroline Beaufort dies because she is so wrapped up in caring for her daughter that she does not put any emphasis on her own life. Elizabeth is portrayed as a character that is “imaginative, delicate and beautiful” (Shelley 30), which is hardly the characteristics that strong female character would possess. This, once again, shows the role that has placed upon females in our society as it would be rare to see a male do the same sort of thing. Victor also has an interesting view of the other, as he does not feel like he will be able to control the female monster if it is created. This shows that males have very little understanding of how the mind of a woman works and do not wish to challenge the unknown. It also shows how males always want to be in control of the situation, while keeping females in a more passive role. The male characters in the novel are very destructive of the female characters, as Victor aborts the creation of the female monster and the male monster eventually kills Elizabeth because Victor does not return in time to stop him. Since Mary Shelley was the daughter of a very influential feminist, this novel could have been meant as a social commentary on how helpless and inferior women are view as in society. It could also have been an example of how little men understand how the mind of a woman works, as Victor did not believe he would be able to control the female monster, thus putting him in a dangerous position. This relationship between the self and the other in the novel is very stereotypical of how society, especially at this period of time, viewed the different gender roles. While on the surface Shelly seems like she was embracing these roles, chances are that she meant this as a way of speaking out against them by showing how the behavior of males is very destructive to females and femininity. Out of the Silent Planet , by C.S. Lewis, is a utopian Christian view of life on Mars, so females also have a traditional role in this novel. The first female character that appears is Devine’s mother and although she does not have a large role in this novel, she is highly symbolic of what the novel says about women in society. She is a stay-at-home mother whose life revolves around her family. This is evident by how concerned she is that Devine returns home in time for dinner. Throughout the rest of this novel, appearances by female characters are very rare. Ransom only speaks to one other female for the rest of the novel, even though a matriarchal society is mentioned. This shows that the novel is attempting to portray women as having the main goal of raising their children, with little else to do. In addition, the alien society is only permitted to have two children and sex is only used as a form of reproduction. This means that once the children are raised, there is little much else for a woman to do. This is a very traditional viewpoint, which is not surprising because this novel was written during a period of time where the women’s rights movement had not yet hit its full capability. The idea of femininity that is presented in this novel is the view that women should be homemakers and that they do not have much else to offer society, as “by the light of the cooking fires Ransom saw an incessant activity of hrossa. The females were pouring out steaming food from clumsy pots; Hnohra was directing the transportation of piles of spears to the boats” (Lewis 78). This theme is important to this novel because it shows how femininity is thought of by the author and, therefore, so Christian society in general. The lack of feminine characters, combined with the subservient roles that the visible female characters are shown in, make this novel contrary to any feminist causes. Femininity is not important to this novel entirely because of what it does say, even though it does make the claim that females should only raise the children and work around the house, but also because of what it does not say, through the lack of any female characters holding any merit whatsoever. In The Return of the King, by J.R.R. Tolkien, however, there is a much different perception of many of the females. Eowyn, for example, is a very important character who is not content to sit back and accept the gender roles that the females in the other novels do. She has a great deal of strength to her character, which is shown by how she is able to lead her people in the absence of their King. She also disguises herself as a man, because she is aware of these gender roles, in order to ride into war with Rohirrim. During one passage in this novel, Eowyn says to Aragorn, “All your words are but to say: you are a woman, and your part is in the house. But when the men have died in battle and honour, you have leave to be burned in the house, for the men will need it no more. But I am of the House of Eorl and not a serving-woman. I can ride and wield blade, and I do not fear either pain or death” (Tolkien 58). This shows that she does not agree with how men perceive females and femininity and is therefore doing what she can to change these stereotypes. Later on in the same passage, she is asked what she does indeed fear and she replies by saying, “A cage. To stay behind bars, until use and old age accept them, and all chance of doing great deeds is gone beyond recall or desire” (Tolkien 58). This means that her greatest fear is that she will end up like the women in the other two novels, since they are only responsible for doing work around the house, while never really experiencing anything. This character is a good example of a strong female character because she is not confined by society’s ideals. What these texts show is that different authors have different manners of thinking of femininity and, therefore, they have different manners of how they depict females. Each of these texts incorporates gender roles into them by examining the differences between the self and the other. Frankenstein portrays each of its female characters as being weak and unable to take care of themselves. Despite this, however, Victor is still afraid of his female monster, since he is unable to understand the female mind. This makes femininity seem unique, as it is a frightening thing for a male to think about, even when the females are portrayed as being physically weak. Out of the Silent Planet portrays the female character that appear as being subservient and content with simply caring for their families. Their femininity does not even include sexuality, as sex is only done with the purpose of childbearing and each couple is only permitted to have two children. The Return of the King is much different than these two novels because the females are permitted to actually contribute to the exploits of the males. The female characters actually have a voice in this novel and they use this voice to have an impact on the lives of others. These texts show that the genre of science fiction is about much more than space travel and aliens, but it also can be used to examine social issues that we have on Earth, such as gender roles and femininity. Read More