• Three Women’s Texts and a Critique of Imperialism(1985): “the
language of racism— the dark side of imperialism understood as social
mission— combines with the hysteria of masculism into the idiom of
(the withdrawal of) sexual reproduction rather than subject-
constitution.”
• Godwin reported on the slave trade for the Whig New Annual Register
in the 1780s and 1790s and witnessed the defeat of Wilberforce’s
Head of a slave:
motion in April 1791 from the visitor’s gallery of the House of
figurine from the Commons.
Wilberforce Museum,
Hull
• Wollstonecraft in her "Vindication of the Rights of Woman" (1792),
compared the plight of women to slaves , and here, she also supported
the Haitian revolution, a series of conflicts between Haitian slaves and
the armies of the British and French colonizers.
• A letter to Imlay (who was her former lover), she writes: ‘These men,
like the owners of negro ships, never smell on their money the blood by
which it has been gained, but sleep quietly in their beds, terming such
Haitian Revolution occupations lawful callings.’
(1791)
• The text initially presents Victor Frankenstein as an impressive heir apparent to the
role of “master” in the master-slave relationship. Victor is a member of the master
class, the son of a well-respected aristocrat whose family is “one of the most
distinguished of that [Genevese] republic”.
• The seeds of Victor’s enslavement lie in his vanity. Young Victor has grandiose plans
for personal greatness and fame: he seeks to create “a new species” that “would
bless me as its creator and source; many happy and excellent natures would owe
their being to me”. The vanity and arrogance typical of masters fuel the profligate
creation of the new species, the first of which is to be the monster: “when those
muscles and joints were rendered capable of motion, it became a thing”. By referring
to the monster as “it” or “thing”, the text relegates the monster to the status of an
object.
• Abhorring the monster “thing” immediately after its creation, Victor alienates the
monster by fleeing from his presence: “the beauty of the dream vanished, and
breathless horror and disgust filled my heart. Unable to endure the aspect of the
being I had created, I rushed out of the room”. Not only does Victor fail to establish
recognition of his creation, Victor’s emotional and physical condition deteriorates as a
result of creating the monster: “When I thought of him, I gnashed my teeth, my eyes
became inflamed”. The words “gnashed” and “inflamed” suggest torment and
degradation, conditions not unlike those experienced by toiling slaves.
• In Frankenstein, the slave experiences a radically different type of freedom than that
experienced by Victor and those of the master class. While Victor’s freedom derives from
asserting societal class distinctions such as wealth and social status, the monster’s freedom
derives from his association with nature. Experiencing nature, free from the superficiality
and artifice of society, the monster exclaims, “My spirits were elevated by the enchanting
appearance of nature; ... and the future gilded by bright rays of hope, and anticipation of
joy". Having developed his intellect and experienced freedom in nature, the monster seeks
out his creator as one would seek out a long lost father.
• The monster, far from receiving recognition, realizes his creator loathes him. The monster’s
quest for recognition from Victor Frankenstein tragically ends unfulfilled. Although the
monster initially refers to Victor, as “my natural lord and king,” Victor ultimately fails to
recognize the monster.
• the monster says to Victor, “You are my creator, but I am your master—obey!” That is to
say, the slave will dialectically evolve into mastership, just as the master will dialectically
evolve into enslavement. The role reversal between master and slave culminates in the
enslavement of Victor Frankenstein by his monomaniac obsession with revenge.
• One such message reads, “My reign is not yet over...you live and my power is complete.”
Here, the text depicts the monster as an authoritative figure with command over Victor. By
utilizing the phrase “my reign is not over” the text suggests the daemon’s authority and
Victor’s subjugation. Additionally, by using the words “you live,” the text reveals the
daemon’s mockery of Victor, which, when considered with the phrase “my power is
complete,” signifies the former slave’s transformation into the new master as result of
Victor’s monomania.
In his 1807 book The Phenomenology of Spirit, Friedrich Hegel introduces the
concept of the master-slave dialectic, which is also relevant to Frankenstein,
where he says, “The one is independent, and its essential nature is to be for
itself; the other is dependent, and its essence is life or existence for another.
The former is the Master, or Lord, the latter the Bondsman. But just as lordship
showed its essential nature to be the reverse of what it wants to be, so, too
bondage will, when completed, pass into the opposite of what it immediately
is: being a consciousness repressed within itself, it will enter into itself, and
change round into real and true independence. It must cancel this its other. To
do so is the sublation of that first double meaning, and is therefore a second
double meaning. First, it must set itself to sublate the other independent
being, in order thereby to become certain of itself as true being, secondly, it
thereupon proceeds to sublate its own self, for this other is itself.”
