She instructed her daughter in the tenets of her religion and taught her to aspire to higher powers of intellect and an independence of spirit forbidden to the female followers of Muhammad.
Chapter 14 · The Creature
Context
The Creature relays the contents of Safie's letters, which explain that her Christian mother raised her to value intellectual independence and reject the gender restrictions imposed on Muslim women in her father's culture.
Analysis
Shelley places the word 'forbidden' at the end of the sentence, making it land with the force of a closed door—the syntax enacts the confinement it describes. The phrase 'independence of spirit' is framed as something specifically denied rather than simply absent, implying that the capacity exists but is being actively suppressed. This positions Safie's mother as a subversive educator, someone who teaches her daughter to want what the surrounding culture prohibits.
Essay Tip
Support a thesis that Shelley critiques all forms of enforced ignorance, not just Victor's scientific recklessness—Safie's storyline shows that denying education based on identity (gender, religion, appearance) produces the same stunted outcomes the Creature himself suffers from, linking social prejudice to his individual tragedy.