Volume-XI, Issue-II, March 2025 |
Politics of Representation in Romantic
Literature: Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and the Fear of
the Orient
Bipasha Chakraborty Student, MA, Department of English,
Jadavpur University, West Bengal, India |
Received: 20.02.2025 | Accepted: 20.03.2025 | Published Online: 31.03.2025 | Page No: 293-298 | ||||
DOI: 10.29032/ijhsss.vol.11.issue.02W.027 | |||||||
ABSTRACT | ||
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1818) has been widely read through the lenses of science fiction, Gothic horror and the consequences of transgressing natural boundaries. However, one analytical dimension of the novel that often goes unnoticed is its underlying Orientalist and colonial anxieties. This paper aims to explore how Frankenstein subtly engages with the Western fear of the Orient, embedded in the narrative structure and characterization of the novel. Drawing on Edward Said’s concept of Orientalism from his book Orientalism (1978) the study highlights how the novel portrays the East as both alluring and threatening, in terms of knowledge, rationality and even its human inhabitants. The representation of Victor Frankenstein’s creation—the Monster—serves as a focal point for examining these anxieties. The delineation of the Monster’s physical appearance, with its “yellow skin” and “lustrous black hair,” has a subtle resemblance with colonial depictions of the racial “Other”, specifically the Bengali subject in the aftermath of the great famine in 1770 under British rule. Furthermore, the novel’s treatment of Safie and her Turkish father, Clerval’s Orientalist ambitions, and the framing narrative structure reinforce a hierarchical East-West dichotomy where East is deemed “feminine” and “weak” compared to the masculine West. Even the Monster’s fate; exiled to the fringes of civilization and asking mercy from Victor represents the Western belief in the Orient’s dependence on the Occident. Victor Frankenstein through its death is portrayed as the Godly superior. While the conventional readings of science, ambition-alienation and Gothic horror overshadow the academic discourse, this paper tries to examine the rich potential lying in the Orientalist fear. By critically examining the colonial undertones and European anxieties, this research seeks to broaden discussions on empire, orientalism, and the politics of representation in Romantic literature. Keywords: Orientalism, Race, Colonial Anxieties, Romantic Literature, East-West Dichotomy |