《弗蘭肯斯坦》中賈斯汀?莫里茨的悲劇成因分析

摘 要：《弗蘭肯斯坦》是英國女作家瑪麗·雪萊的重要作品之一。賈斯汀·莫里茨是書中弗蘭肯斯坦家族中的女傭，最后被誣陷致死。作為來自下層階級的女人，她的一生充滿濃烈的悲劇色彩，但她卻很少被評論家或讀者所提及和重視。本文通過分析賈斯汀的悲慘人生和結局，讓大家不要忽視了那個年代這一類女性在肉體及精神上所承受的折磨和壓迫。父權社會對于女性的忽視以及階級偏見的雙重打擊，導致了賈斯汀的必然性的悲劇命運。她的悲劇代表著千千萬萬個下層婦女的可悲人生，她的死亡是作者渴望父權社會改變的吶喊。

關鍵詞：女性；下層階級；必然性；悲劇；父權社會；階級偏見；

中圖分類號：I106 文獻標識碼：A 文章編號：1674-3520（2014）-12-00-03

Introduction

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley （30 August 1797 – 1 February 1851） was a British novelist， whose father was the political philosopher William Godwin， and mother was the feminist Mary Wollstonecraft. For Mary Shelley， her masterpiece is the Gothic novel Frankenstein： or， The Modern Prometheus （1818）， generally known as Frankenstein.（Schor xv-xvi） It is a chilling tale about a young man named Victor Frankenstein， who discovers the secret of life and creates an intelligent but grotesque monster， but he abandons the Creature. With the hatred to Victor Frankenstein， the monster starts to ruin his life and people around him.

Among the characters in Frankenstein， the critics mainly analyze the tragedy of Caroline， Elizabeth and Safie. There is little study of Justine Moritz --- a maid in the Frankenstein family and her tragedy， so this paper sets out to make an analysis of Justine and her inevitable tragedy. From this paper， we can see clearly the miserable life of lower class women at that time and find out the reasons of it.

1. The Portrait of Justine Moritz

Justine is the third child of the Moritz family， and who belong to the lower orders of the society. When her father is alive， she is always the favorite of her father among the four children. However， the monopolistic love from her father arouses other family members’（especially her mother） discontentment. Mary Wollstonecraft once explains mothers’ affection to children in this way： “Woman， however， a slave in every situation to prejudice ... for she either neglects her children， or spoils them by improper indulgence” （265）. The prejudice in Madame Moritz’s mind makes her to neglect her own daughter --- Justine. When Mrs Moritz passed away， Madame Moritz is “prevailed on” to allow Justine to live in the Frankenstein family as a servant. However， Justine’s siblings died one by one， so she accuses Justine of it. The brutal accusation sows the seed of tragedy in her lifetime， as well as the sense of guilty in her deeper heart.

When Caroline Beaufort Frankenstein adopts her， Justine becomes a servant in this new family. Caroline Frankenstein can be regarded as the first “life teacher” in Justine’s short life， who enlightens her duties and good virtues of women. With the gratefulness and admiration for Caroline， Justine thinks “her （Caroline） the model of all excellence， and [endeavours] to imitate her phraseology and manners” （Shelley 51）. Likely， Elizabeth acts as Justine’s sister or her “beloved and only friend” （Shelley 69）. Elizabeth is a perfect lady at that time， and her loyalty and devotion to the family have strongly impressed Justine. She is made to realize that all the people are confined in their own status by different responsibilities， and her duty is to be a good servant. Similar to Caroline and Elizabeth， she submits to her status and sacrifices for the family.

The child of the big family is killed in the forest by Frankenstein’s “creature” and Justine is accused of murder of the boy. Her excellent personality and the good virtues she learns from “good women” cannot save her any longer. Under the pressure of the court， her confessor’s threat and the lingering sense of guilt， Justine declares the murder and she is executed in the end. Actually， Justine is not the murderess but a victim.

2. The Causes of Justine Moritz’s Tragedy

Mary Shelley lived in the late 18th century to the mid 19th century Britain. Although British culture was reaching the democracy， women and lower classes had little status at that time. As a woman from the lower class of the society， Justine suffers not only the social values’ prejudice of women but also the discrimination from higher classes.

In that period， Women were deprived of legal rights. They were not allowed to vote and largely restricted to their roles as wife or mother， then confined to the house. They were “beings designed by sweet attractive grace， and docile blind obedience， to gratify the sense of man when he can no longer soar on the wing of contemplation” （Wollstonecraft 100-101）. Anne K. Mellor once discusses the females’ position in Frankenstein， and she says that one horror of this novel is Frankenstein’s implicit goal of creating a society for men only. Instructed by members of the Frankensteins， Justine has learned well the lessons of submissiveness and devotion. Although most of the women are talented and capable， their only function is to do the domestic works and please the family members. All of them cannot get independence from men either financially or spiritually.

So the first reason of Justine’s tragedy is that： she is one of the females who suffer the inequality and injustice from that Patriarchal society. As a woman， she gets no rights to be educated professionally or obtain a proper skill to make a living. She is educated by Caroline --- the model of good woman at that time， who teaches Justine the discipline and rules for woman， tells her the tenderness， kindness and selflessness that a traditional woman should have. And the public approbation for Elizabeth also makes her to become submissive. With the restriction of her living sphere and mind， she is confined to domestic work. All of these make her “the most grateful creature” （Shelley 51） and the most loyal servant.

The second cause of Justine’s tragedy is the class prejudice. The lower-class workers in the nineteenth century still remained out of the political process （David Cody “Social Class”）， and they were restricted in almost every aspect. As John Burnett points out in his introduction to The Annals of Labour： “Domestic Service， The ‘Mute and Forgotten’ Occupation”. This quotation obviously shows that there is no legal protection and attention for the lower-class workers. Though the family treats her very well， Justine is still only a servant in that society. Anca Vlasopolos claims that “Class selection， namely the survival of the upper class and its will-to-power， appears in incident after incident throughout the novel…” （Hoeveler 56）. The upper class’ prejudice of lower class is directly shown throughout Justine’s tragedy. Justine is from lower class， so when she is adopted by the Caroline she becomes a maid. As a maid， she is not allowed to be educated at school， and she is forbidden to go outside without master’s permission. The social values in Patriarchal society and class prejudice limit her self-awareness.

Either women or lower class can not get freedom from social prejudice. They have to be dependent on men or their masters economically and mentally. In this way， they are in a weak position psychologically. Because of this psychologically weak position， they tend to seek approval， love and protection from the society desperately. Let’s see through Justine’s life， her expectation of social approval exists in every word she says or everything she does. In order to please her hostess and other masters， she studies every behavior of Caroline but neglects what she really is. She learns the virtues of Caroline and takes her ideal conception of women as her ultimate goal of life.

The the last cause of her death is Justine’s belief in God. Justine is a young woman from a religious lower-class family. To them， confessor is their spiritual guide and leader. So at last Justine is persuaded to admit the guilt by her confessor. Under the threat of her confessor， she declares her guilt and thinks that she would be forgiven if she confesses. Justine thinks that the religion is her last supporter， and she believes that she will gain God’s love again. However， her confessor who stands up for the Patriarchal society confirms her guilt and threatens her to admit the crime of murdering William. She has no choice but to submit to the discipline of the religion. The fear of being excommunicated makes her confesses a lie. With the confession， Justine becomes “a wretch doomed to ignominy and perdition” （Shelley 68） eternally.

Conclusion

Justine’s life is really tragic and she embodies the best in suffering from the social injustice. As a daughter， she is tortured by her indifferent mother. Later on she is confined to Frankenstein family as a servant. And then she is accused as a murderess. She suffers a great lot in the face of injustice and is executed at last， much like a martyr. Justine’s death is a result of “Victor Frankenstein’s abnegation of responsibility and the monster’s impetuous revenge” （Juengel 370）. Monster is a visible figure of evil which represents the ugliness of the whole society （Preu? 99-100）. Justine is a woman comes from the society’s lower class. What Justine suffers is not only due to the patriarchal prejudice against women but also to the oppression from the upper class. And the double influence on Justine from the society finally causes her inevitable tragedy. Justine suffers the pain， the oppressions from the society， and is even killed by the unfair society. But her sufferings will help us to learn the miserable history of lower class women in that period and fully understand the importance of equality and justice in a harmony society.

Bibliography

Cody， David. “Social Class”. The Victorian Web. 23 March 2009.

Preu?， Karin. “Melancholy， Madness And Monstrous Science inShelley”. The Question of Madness in the Works of E.T.A. Hoffmann and Mary Shelley Publisher： Lang， Peter Publishing， Incorporated， 2003. 99-103

Mellor， Anne K. “The Female in Frankenstein.” Romanticism and Feminism， ed. Anne K. Mellor. Bloomington and Indianapolis： Indiana University Press， 1988. 220-232.

Shelley， Mary. Frankenstein or The Modern Prometheus. Introduction and Notes by John Mepham. Hertfordshire： Wordsworth Editions Ltd. Press， 1996.

Juengel， Scott J. “Face， Figure， Physiognomics： Mary Shelley’s ‘Frankenstein’ and the Moving Image ”. NOVEL： A Forum on Fiction. Vol. 33， No. 3 （Summer， 2000）， pp. 353-376 Duke University Press. Jstor.org. 14 March 2009. . Path： Search； Face， Figure， Physiognomics

Hoeveler， Diane Long. “Frankenstein， Feminism， and literary theory”. The Cambridge Companion to Mary Shelley. Ed. Esther Schor. Cambridge： Cambridge University Press， 2003. 45-62.

Schor， Esther. Ed. Chronology. The Cambridge Companion to Mary Shelley. Cambridge： Cambridge University Press， 2003. xv-xix.

Wollstonecraft， Mary. Vindication of The Rights of Woman. Ed. with an introduction by Miriam Brody. London： Penguin Books Ltd. Press， 1983.