In “Constructing Connectedness: Gender, Sexuality and Race in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein,” Jessica Hale examines how Mary Shelley connects many different issues such as gender, race and sexuality to the larger context of imperialism and New World slavery. Hale argues that Shelley critiques gender roles in the society by explaining how Shelley uses the idea of “domesticity” throughout the novel to illustrate how women are prevented from accessing the “outside world” that contains “exploration, adventure, politics, public affairs, academia, and intellectualism” (Hale 12). Hale continues this argument by explaining the “homosocial relationship” and demonstrating how throughout the novel, the intimate relationship between two men is more desired than an intimate relationship between a man and a woman (marriage is a “second-best alternative to the intimate male homosocial relationship”) (Hale 13). Furthermore, Hale discusses how the monster is portrayed as an “other” which is used to represent those who are not European and how this racial difference sets the monster as an outcast in the society. Hale then explains how these close readings and critiques of the society in Frankenstein relate to the 19th century society, the time period in which this novel was written.

Hale close reads many different passages from Frankenstein to support her arguments. For her first argument, Hale is discussing the “Domestic and Public Spheres” of both genders and how they play out in the novel’s society. Hale does many close readings to demonstrate how the women are portrayed as weaker than the men in this society. For example, Hale close reads the line “‘like a protecting spirit to the girl, who committed herself to his care’” to illustrate how Alphonse acts more of a father than a lover and how he must give up his public function to take up the role of father/husband. Hale directly quotes from Frankenstein and then proceeds to analyze the meaning and explain how it supports her argument.

Additional to close reading, Hale quotes secondary sources, such as Leo Bersani’s book The Freudian Body to support her argument about suffering and sexuality. Hale uses parts of Bersani’s novel to demonstrate and support her argument that the catalyst of the monster’s sexual desire is the suffering of his first victim, William. Hale uses an idea from an outside source to compliment and help validate her own arguments. It also employs ethos because the audience is likely to trust an outside, published source and thus want to agree with Hale even more.

One term I found while reading that I did not know was the word “mélange.” After looking it up on the online Merriam- Webster dictionary I found that it means a mixture of different things. It also sounded like a french word so I went to wordreference.com and found that it also means a “mixture” or “combination” in french as well, which I thought was interesting.