Women of Frankenstein and The British Empire

In Frankenstein the women are not direct characters of the book. The author makes mention of Victor's mother Caroline, his cousin/girlfriend Elizabeth, the servant Justine, Ms. Sayville and Safie. None of these women play strong roles. Ironically enough in the British empire during this time women played substancial roles. Women reered the children, took care of the home and worked very long and strenuous hours carding wool and running looms. These women played active and crucial roles to the Imerialistic movement of the British Empire. So why did Frankenstein have this underlying fear of women? Clearly, he feared women because of strength and power that they held on there own.

Working in Cottages

In the eighteenth century factories as we know them did not exist. All manufacturing was done in the home and not in mass production. Work was slow, strenuous and time consuming. The production process usually took place at home, therefore the title “domestic”. Everybody in the family did their part. For example manufacturing wool first, you would clean the wool after being cut from the sheep, then you would brush the wool into separate fibers, this term is called carding. Carded wool would be spun by a spinster, usually a young girl who was not married. When it’s done being spun it is known as yarn. In its final step it would be woven by a trained weaver, generally the man, on an heirloom so it can be sold to a clothier. The manufacturing most likely was done under different roofs/cottages. If work was not done in your own home it might be done in a work shop, still production was on a small scale and did not pay well. Yet, it was still a good domestic system. Working at home allowed for the workers to produce at their own pace, could overlook their children, prepare meals and could take breaks when they felt one was needed. Families worked together as a team to manufacturing a product there very little tension and a sense of pride. The population was becoming greater, meaning more mouths to feed and more clothing needing to be produced. An efficient system was in demand; a system that could produce at a greater speed and was just plain old better. This lead to new factories, ports being built and the industries with all their problems. (Source: http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/domestic_system.htm)

Apprentice Houses

When manufacturing in cottages turned to producing in new textile factories, many parents were not okay with their children working in these new establishments. This created a workforce shortage. To compensate for the loss of workers the factory owners came up with a solution. The solution was to go to workhouses or child orphanages. They would have them sign a contract making them the factory owner’s property. This idea came from Samuel Greg owner of Quarry Bank Mill at Styal. He built an Apprentice House for $300 European dollars (opposed to $100 for a small cottage) and it could house over 90 children, this made up to 50% of the Styal workers. Young children picked up the loose pieces of cotton and fix the broken threads from the spinning machines. These two jobs were extremely dangerous.  After a few years they moved up to spinners and carders. The older young men became trained mechanics (http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/IRapprentice.htm)