Victor Frankenstein, the main character in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, is a man who holds a very sexist, patriarchal outlook of the world around him. According to critic Anne K. Mellor, this character's refusal to create a woman and desire for a men only society, denies "the value of women and of female sexuality." The way in which this outlook has surfaced is through the language Shelley uses to voice the character of Victor Frankenstein.
             Frankenstein did not seem to see women as being a significant part of civilization. Just the fact that he worked so hard at creating "life" shows us that he does not appreciate the woman's body and her very critical role in procreation. Instead he views women as being a lesser form, compared to man. This is made clear in a statement made be Frankenstein in Chapter 3 in which he says, "I doubted at first whether I should attempt the creation of a being like myself or one of simpler organization; but my imagination was too much exalted by my first success to permit me to doubt of my ability to give life to an animal as complex and wonderful as man" (p. 35) Through these words, the reader is able to see that Frankenstein does not value or appreciate women and all they have to offer the world.
             Being that the author, Mary Shelley, is a woman, it is strange that the main character of this story would have such a chauvinistic outlook of society and how it should be. This outlook is definitely both scary and weird. Frankenstein seemed to believe that the world did not need women to flourish or survive. He could just make people. Women to him, were not as "complex and wonderful as man" and if they were not needed for procreation, than what good were they? As we all know, a men only society could never survive. Men need women, as much as women need men. The world could never thrive without both genders.
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