Tyler Adams

The English Novel

Dr. Schroeder
11/23/15
Emma Frankenstein or Victor Woodhouse?
It goes without saying that, although both novels came out within three years of one
another, the works of Emma by Jane Austen and Frankenstein by Mary Shelley were both
written under completely different circumstances and with vastly contrasting purposes. One is a
Gothic Novel and a horrifying tale about a man, his creation, and the way society shapes both
individuals into monsters. The other is a Novel of Manners that is intended to give readers an
insight into the lives of the quaint upper class and the seemingly trivial trials that they face from
one day to the next. On the surface the stories seem vastly different and even come from
strikingly different genres. However, can there really be some similarities to be found? Perhaps
readers should look not in the content of the plot, but rather in the main characters of each novel.
Emma Woodhouse and Victor Frankenstein are the protagonists for Emma and Frankenstein
respectively, and it can be argued that although the conditions of their character differs vastly,
they are, at their base, the same.
One particular reading for the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, is that much of the
motivation for the actions of Victor derives from his affection for his dead mother. These feelings
manifest themselves in a desire to create and become a parent of sorts to a race of monsters
created by him perhaps a Freudian desire to take the place of his father to some degree?
Furthermore, Victor expresses a romantic attachment to his adoptive sister (referred to as his
cousin even though they have no blood relation), which can be seen to be due to the fact that

she was so close to Mrs. Frankenstein, and bore so many similarities. Therefore, Victor, through
this particular reading of the novel, can be seen as a character who is suffering at the hands of his
Oedipal complex, driving him to make impassioned decisions that he otherwise would not have
made if his mother were still alive. Emma, likewise, can be seen in the same way, as much of her
motivation for her actions lies in her consideration for her Father. Unlike Victor, the parent of her
affections is not dead. However, his confinement to a wheelchair and his eccentric attitude can be
seen as some sort of pseudo-death in that the man that he formerly was is no longer in existence.
That being said, Emma neglects any sort of relationship (or even the notion that such a thing
might be possible for her) because she worries about upsetting her father. Later on, however,
when she falls for Knightley, one of the potential viewpoints for this happening is the fact that
she is facing some feelings of affection toward a fatherly figure and Knightly, being significantly
older than she was, fills that role to an extet. Perhaps, then, Emma is taking her reverse-Oedipal
feelings that she has for her father and projecting them instead upon Knightley a more
socially acceptable candidate for her affections. This makes her extremely similar to Victor when
it comes to a Freudian analysis of her feelings toward the person she cares about. Victor sees
Elizabeth as being similar to his mother, causing him to develop a romantic attachment to her,
whereas Emma sees Knightley as a father figure, which drives her to see him as a potential
romantic partner. Both characters recognize, subconsciously, that they cannot pursue a
relationship with their opposite-sex parent, and therefore must compensate by developing
feelings for the next best thing.
Furthermore, both the characters of Victor Frankenstein and Emma Woodhouse share a
similar, life-changing event in their lives the creation of a monster. This fact is taken literally
in Frankenstein, and the entire plot revolves around the specific moment when Victor brings his

monster to life. What, then, can be said for Emma? For her, a similar event happens equally as
early on, although the results of the creation process dont show themselves until later on in the
novel. Harriet, a character of lower class and seemingly lower intelligence than Emma, comes
onto the scene. In spite of warnings against it, Emma pursues a friendship with her, one that will
eventually lead to Harriet being transformed from a humble, unassuming girl, into a more
uptight, picky, and cold individual. Unlike the creation of the monster in Frankenstein, which
takes only a few pages, the transformation of Harriet in Emma takes place over several chapters
and only fully comes to fruition in Volume III of the novel. It is there that she becomes most like
the monster in that she has become the foil to her creator the poetic opposite to the character
that has created her. For Victor, his absolute foil would be a creature that rises up against his
totalitarian ideals and constantly snakes its way out of his grasp by outwitting him with
overwhelming empirical intelligence. For Emma, her foil would be someone who can show her
exactly who she is in all of her stuck-up, rude, and uptight ways, which Harriet does by
becoming a model of Emma and her actions. For this reading, both the characters of the Monster
and of Harriet serve as near-perfect foils for their creators. Whats more, the monster of both
stories eventually brings about a death of sorts to their creator. In the case of Frankenstein, this
death is literal, and through the trials that he is put through, Victor eventually passes away out of
either sickness, exhaustion, or sheer loss of the will to live. For Emma, her death is more
symbolic. After seeing what she has turned Harriet into, and realizing what this means for her
own personality, Emma sheds her former self and makes the move toward being a better person
overall. One possible reading of this transformation is a sort of rebirth. The old Emma dies away
and a new one steps in to take the place.

Now, given the time period both of these novels were written in, there is a distinct battle
between Capitalism and Feudalism. Mary Shelley and Jane Austen seem to take differing stances
upon which is the best, but remain similar in their approach in their works. Their title characters
both seem to embody the overall feudalistic notion, and heavily support a fixed class system,
primogeniture, and an overall monarch. Yet, it is here where the characters differ the most. While
they remain the embodiment of a feudalistic system, they are also both faced with the idea that
the world around them is rapidly changing and moving away from that ideal. Victor faces this in
his monster, who continues to resist his rule. Emma, on the other hand, faces this as all of her
friends begin to shy away from the countryside and toward the cities (a symbol for capitalism)
and start to accept the fact that perhaps some lower-class folk can work their way up into being
accepted by the upper classes. What differs in these characters is their reactions to this worldly
change. Victor rejects it, and clings to his feudalistic notions even when he is dying aboard the
ship in the end. It is perhaps his struggle to hold fast to these old notions that causes his eventual
downfall. Emma, on the other hand, makes the smarter choice, and eventually comes to accept
the change to some small degree. This change is particularly evident when Emma begins to show
characters, such as Jane Fairfax, who she previously looked down upon, some measure of
growing respect. Her adaptation allows her to live and move along with the times, growing
further as a character. Still, both of these literary figures started off as heavily feudalistic, and
that similarity is important to tying them together and making the argument that they are
practically one and the same.
In the end the two novels themselves are different, and Mary Shelley and Jane Austen
both had vastly different visions for what they wanted their works to say. However, one cannot
deny that there are certain core similarities between the characters of these two works of

literature, and when it all boils down to it, they faced similar trials that shaped them in the end.
Only toward the very end do they branch away and become slightly different which begs the
question: what if their places were switched, to a degree? What if Emma neglected to accept
these changes, and continued to act as a proponent for the feudalistic lifestyle? Would she, then,
perish as Victor had? Similarly, what if Victor had realized that it was useless to keep holding on
to a set of old world notions? Would he have been allowed to live and move on and grow as a
character? One can only make guesses.