A Woman’s Education in Frankenstein

In Frankenstein, Mary Shelley portrays a society where morality and virtue seems to be lost. In this society, the justice system cannot discern truth, innocent people are murdered as revenge and the natural cycle of life is destroyed. Therefore, I will apply Mary Wollstonecraft’s argument about education in order to shed new light on one potential reason for the lack of morality in Frankenstein. In Mary Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, she argues for a formal institution where women and men are educated together.

In contrast, in Frankenstein, the women do not receive a proper education at all and men are mainly self-educated. I will argue using Wollstonecraft’s framework on education that the reason for the lack of morality in Shelly’s Frankenstein is due to the absence of educated women. First it is necessary to fully examine the relationship between education and morality as presented in by Wollstonecraft. Then, I will apply Wollstonecraft’s theory to Frankenstein and show how Victor and the creature’s immoral pursuits are as a result the absence of co-education.

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Finally, I will conclude by examining how the Da Lacey family in Frankenstein, is the type of societal structure both Wollstonecraft and Mary Shelley believe humans should follow.

In A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, Wollstonecraft argues that co-educational schooling is necessary for human advancement and instilling virtue and morality in a society. Wollstonecraft states, “day-schools for particular ages should be established by the government in which boys and girls might be educated together” (A Vindication of the Rights of Woman 257).

She goes further in detail and explains that “to prevent any of the distinction of vanity, they should be dressed alike and all obliged to submit to the same disciple” ( 257). Wollstonecraft indicates that when children are forced to interact with the other sex, they learn at an early age virtues such as mutual respect. Additionally, it also helps break down stereotypical views society has about women. In the late 1790s, when Wollstonecraft wrote this book, women were viewed by society as no more than what “they are called upon Nature to fulfill” meaning as mothers (256). Wollstonecraft states that women are defined as “frivolous” because her society encourages this behavior and women are conditioned to know nothing else. However, Wollstonecraft believes that if women are educated with men, they can acquire reason, virtue and knowledge. Equipped with these “basis of good” women then can teach their children morals and this trend will slowly help begin to instill a more moral society.

Lastly, Wollstonecraft goes further and suggests that her framework for co-education is also “the first step to form a being advancing gradually towards perfection” (255). She explains that society has a “false light” on viewing education simply as a “preparation for life'' because schools are too focused on acquiring pure knowledge through reading books rather than through observation and experience. Wollstonecraft states students “should not be confined to any sedentary employment for more than an hour at a time” and any educational pursuits “should never encroach on gymnastic plays in the open air” (257). If children are forced to spend time outdoors with each other, Wollstonecraft implies that then men will have less time filling their heads with stories about power and glory. They will instead be equally influenced by the girls whose interests are more gentle and also moved by nature’s beauties.

However, in Frankenstein, co-educational schooling does not exist. Women are derived from an education and men do not receive a proper education until they are much older. Women in this society are portrayed as feeble and naive. For instance, Elizabeth does not go to school so she fills her time “with following the aerial creations of the season; tempest sublime shapes of the mountains; the changes of seasons; tempest and calm; the silence of winter, and the life and turbulence of our Alpine summers- she found ample scope for admiration and delight” ( Frankenstein 18). Her life consists of her waiting and preparing for Victor to return from school so she could marry him. Elizabeth is seen by Victor and even Caroline as a possession for Victor. Caroline tells Victor that Elizabeth is his “a pretty present” and “promised gift” ( Frankenstein 18). Wollstonecraft would argue that in this society a “woman only exists for man” ( A Vindication of the Rights of Woman 256). However, Wollstonecraft’s claim about education would suggest that this attitude toward women is due to lack of co-education. If women like Caroline were properly educated, she would be able to understand that women are more than “possessions” and as a mother, she would be able to instill in her son reason and virtue.

Furthermore, by showing the destructive consequences of the educated men in the story, Mary Shelley highlights the importance of Wollstonecraft’s co-education for instilling morality within society. For instance, applying Wollstonecraft’s lens, Victor’s upbringing without co-educational schools and an educated mother is the reason for his view of women as subordinate and eventual downfall. Victor did not attend a formal school until he was seventeen years old. However, at a young age Victor had a burning passion to learn about the hidden laws of nature so he spent all of his childhood reading philosophy and science. He did follow Wollstonecraft’s suggestion of playing outside in the open air. Similarly, he rarely interacted with Elizabeth, who was about his same age. Instead, he secluded himself and filled his mind with natural philosophy and the ways he could gain glory. He states, “Wealth is an inferior object; but what glory would attend the discovery, if I could banish disease from the human frame and render man invulnerable to any but a violent death” (Frankenstein 22)! Moreover, Victor’s education was not complemented with a moral education. His mother before did not not teach moral values nor encourage him to pursue other things besides his studies. However, according to Wollstonecraft this could be because Caroline herself was not educated and equipped to teach her son reason and morality. In any case, Victor perfects his studies and creates a monster that destroys Victor's life and kills innocent people.

Similarly, the creature is also self-educated. After he was conceived by Victor, he was abandoned and forced to learn about the world around him on his own. Therefore, he mainly learns about morality through books and observation of society, which as established already is lacking moral principles. The creature reads books such as Paradise Lost, Plutarch’s Lives and Sorrows of Water for guidance. However, according to Wollstonecraft’s framework this type of education is the underlying cause for the creature’s evilness in murdering innocent people such as Elizabeth. Wollstonecraft would argue that since the creature was not educated together with the opposite sex, he had no way of knowing how to discren right from wrong. Additionally, his entire education was focused on acquiring knowledge through books but Wollstoncraft’s education structure emphasizes on playing as part of schooling in order to learn how to “amuse the senses” (A Vindication of the Rights of Woman 257). Consequently, when these foundations, which Wollstonecraft argues help teach a person about virtues, do not exist, it becomes dangerous. For example, the creature murdered innocent people but he also did not have a mother and nor an adequate education to teach him how to be a moral being.

In conclusion, Wollstonecraft’s arguments on education highlights that the reason for society's lack of morals in Frankenstein is due to the absence of co-education. Therefore, Mary Shelley and Wollsonecraft argue for a social structure similar to that of the Da Lacey family. In this family, the wome