Frankenstein: Modern Cornerstone of Gothic Queer Literature
- LIU Honors Journal
- Apr 28
- 10 min read
Allison Sinnott
Introduction
The Gothic and queer genres are both ever-present and commonly combined in modern literature, sprawling lists on Goodreads classifying many novels as both genres. While the combination of the supernatural, the Victorian setting, and LGBTQ+ themes may seem strange, the Gothic queer genre has Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley to thank for its popularization with her novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, published in 1818. Scholars can retrospectively agree that Frankenstein was a fundamental work that clearly displayed characteristics of Gothic literature, but it can be harder to recognize the queerness within the novel. By studying Mary Shelley’s background and certain thematic concepts in Frankenstein, such as the gender of the Monster and the male conception of life, this novel can be interpreted and understood as within the queer genre.
For brevity and clarity, Victor Frankenstein’s reanimated creation will be referred to as “the Monster” with the pronouns of he/him/his in this paper.
The Origins of the Gothic Genre
The beginning of the Gothic genre can be traced back to the era of Romanticism. Romanticism was an intellectual movement that ranged from the late 18th to mid-19th centuries, emphasizing an appreciation of nature, emotion over reason, senses over intellect, and a turning in upon the self (Britannica). Romanticism was a reactionary movement to its predecessor, Neoclassicism. Neoclassicism was heavily influenced by the Ancient Greeks and Romans, who emphasized reason and considered literature subject to a system of rules and literary composition (Habib). Romanticism rejected these notions. Common Romantic literature concepts were considered exotic, remote, mysterious, weird, occult, monstrous, diseased, and even satanic (Britannica). These themes lent themselves to creating their own genre: Gothic.
Before Gothic was coined as a genre, the term referred to a tribe of people called the Visigoths, who invaded and defeated the Roman Empire (Wright 1). There is no better way to portray the Gothic opposition to Neoclassicist ideas than the literal defeat of the Romans by the Visigoths. However, the term Gothic was not completely inspired by the centuries-old conflict. The term also drew inspiration from the medieval era, specifically its Gothic architecture and values. Richard Hurd popularized the term ‘Gothic’ by associating it with medievalism in his Letters on Chivalry and Romance, explaining, “The ages, we call barbarous, present us with many a subject of curious speculation. What, for instance, is more remarkable than the Gothic chivalry?” (Hurd). Stories often occurred in medieval settings such as castles, following the precedent of the first Gothic novel, The Castle of Otranto.
The Intertwining of the Gothic and the Queer
The Castle of Otranto, published in 1764, is considered to be the first Gothic novel due to the addition of the subtitle ‘A Gothic Story’ in the second published edition (Bracken). The novel includes defining characteristics of the Gothic genre, with supernatural, unexplainable occurrences taking place in an expansive medieval castle. Appropriately, the author, Horace Walpole, first formulated The Castle of Otranto after a nightmare in his Gothic Revival architecture home. Not only does The Castle of Otranto set the stage for the upcoming climax of Romantic literature, but many themes of the novel overlap with common elements of the queer genre. Due to the way homosexuality was understood in the 18th century, the antagonist Manfred’s obsessive paranoia and secrecy to keep his false ownership of the Castle of Otranto can be compared to the fear of identity exposure and ‘unspeakability’ of desire for queer people at the time (Fincher 45). The Castle of Otranto ultimately paved the way for the Gothic and queer themes of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.
The Gothic in Frankenstein
It was a dreary night of November, that I beheld the accomplishment of my toils… It was already one in the morning; the rain pattered dismally against the panes, and my candle was nearly burnt out, when, by the glimmer of the half- extinguished light… (Shelley 71).
Following in The Castle of Otranto’s footsteps, the Gothic aesthetic is perfectly encapsulated in Frankenstein, specifically the scene of the Monster’s birth. Most of the novel is set in dark, dreary, gloomy locations, a cornerstone of the Gothic genre. Notable locations include the barren Antarctic ice sheets, the eerie laboratory where Victor dedicates his time to reanimation, and the snowy, desolate mountains where Victor reconnects with his creation. These isolated settings contribute to the traditionally eerie ambiance of a Gothic novel. They also contribute to the overall feeling of dread and dismay that Victor Frankenstein experiences throughout the novel, a common state of being for Gothic protagonists.
The incorporation of supernatural elements is distinctly Gothic, as the first Gothic novel, The Castle of Otranto, has pictures moving on their own and doors closing by themselves. Frankenstein is rife with the supernatural, as the entire plot revolves around the reanimation of an assembled cadaver through scientific means. The Monster is also asserted to have supernatural abilities, as he approaches Victor with “superhuman speed” and possesses abnormal strength, claiming that he could rip a human man “limb from limb, as the lion rends the antelope” (Shelley 124, 170-171). The strange and fearsome abilities the Monster possesses evoke unease in the reader, a necessary element of Gothic literature. Frankenstein certainly fits the Gothic genre in all literary elements of setting, plot, and diction. However, its queer classification requires a contextual understanding of the novel and its nuanced topics.
Mary Shelley and the Queer
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, the eighteen-year-old author of Frankenstein, lived a life that defied societal norms and expectations. Shelley was the daughter of intellectuals: Mary Wollstonecraft, an early feminist thinker, and William Godwin, a political philosopher. Though Mary’s mother passed shortly after her birth, she was deeply connected to both of her parents’ works and was exposed to many radical ideas about gender, sexuality, and society (Badalamenti 421). These radical ideas contributed to the societal commentary in Frankenstein, which discusses themes of discrimination, acceptance, and morality using the character of the Monster.
Mary Shelley’s history with unconventional relationships— including her affair with her future husband Percy Bysshe Shelley and her friendships with other women— influenced her writing and contributed to the queer themes present in Frankenstein. In a letter to her family friend Edward John Trelawney in September of 1835, Mary writes about her close female contemporary, Mrs. Norton:
I never saw a woman I thought so fascinating. Had I been a man, I should
certainly have fallen in love with her …Ten years ago, I was so ready to
give myself away, and being afraid of men, I was apt to get tousy-mousy
for women; experience and suffering have altered all that (Marshall 273).
It is unclear exactly what Shelley means by ‘tousy-mousy’, however ‘tuzzy-muzzy’ has been used as slang for the vagina since 1642 (Riddell). By using this phrase, Shelley is potentially suggesting a sort of sexual act with the same gender. She goes on to describe Mrs. Norton in considerable physical detail, her words filled with admiration and attraction:
There is something in the pretty way in which Mrs. Norton’s witticisms glide,
as it were, from her lips, that is very charming; and then her colour, which is
so variable, the eloquent blood which ebbs and flows, mounting, as she
speaks, to her neck and temples, and then receding as fast; it reminds
me of the frequent quotation of ‘eloquent blood,’ and gives a peculiar
attraction to her conversation—not to speak of fine eyes and open
brow (Marshall 273).
A queer undertone is overtly present in her description of Mrs. Norton, so much so that many claim this letter as evidence of Shelley’s supposed bisexuality (Riddell). Mary’s repression of her queer identity, shown through her explanatory words, “Had I been a man…” serve to explain the presence of queer themes in Frankenstein (Riddell). As she could not express herself freely in her personal life, she may have turned to her work to express these unconventional feelings.
The Gender of the Monster
In the novel, the Monster is never asserted to be a human. Throughout the text, Victor commonly describes the Monster with the words ‘being’, ‘creature’, and ‘wretch’ (Shelley 213, 71). The exact nature of the Monster’s existence is pinpointed with the ambiguous word ‘corpse’ due to the fact that the Monster consists entirely of parts of deceased people. Despite the fact that the Monster is not considered human by any character in the novel, the Monster’s gender is assigned as male, an action typical in the surrounding human society. Victor refers to the monster with the pronouns ‘he’, ‘him’, and ‘his’, which are generally reserved for the male gender. It can also be inferred that the Monster has male reproductive organs. Victor contemplates creating a companion for the Monster but determines that it will have the consequence of creating “a race of devils”, presumably asserting that the Monster has the ability to propagate with a female of its species (213).
Gender is a human construct. Therefore, other species cannot be truly defined by gender, only by sex. While it can be determined that the Monster is of the male sex, it cannot be determined that the Monster is of the male gender.
The Monster in Comparison to Modern-Day Queerness
On multiple occasions, the Monster is rejected by society solely because of his appearance. Starting with his birth, he is abandoned by Victor, who flees in horror from the ‘demoniacal corpse’ (Shelley 73). Victor Frankenstein's intense obsession with creating life and his subsequent rejection of the Monster is a reflection of society's fear and repression of queerness. Later occurrences of abandonment include his rejection by an unnamed village he stumbles upon and his exclusion from the De Lacey family. By the time he interacts with the De Lacey family, he has already been made aware of his wretched appearance. The Monster understands their rejection, justifying the family’s violent reaction with, “Who can describe their horror and consternation on beholding me?” (Shelley 170). Similar to the Monster, the queer community deeply understands how they are negatively perceived in surrounding society.
In her performance piece “My Words to Victor Frankenstein Above the Village of Chamounix”, Susan Stryker, a transgender woman, relates to the Monster:
I find a deep affinity between myself as a transsexual woman and the monster
in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Like the monster, I am too often perceived as
less than fully human due to the means of my embodiment; like the monster’s
as well, my exclusion from human community fuels a deep and abiding rage
in me that I, like the monster, direct against the conditions in which I must
struggle to exist (Stryker 238).
A deep understanding of the complexities inherent in queer identity is formed by drawing parallels between the experiences of the Monster and those of queer individuals. Stryker identifies with the Monster’s attitude towards human society, as constant rejection from an unaccepting world understandably results in bitterness. Queer individuals identify with the Monster through the novel’s exploration of themes such as identity formation, social stigma and discrimination, and desire for acceptance and belonging.
The Male Conception of Life
When in the process of creating the Monster, Victor carefully chooses the parts he will use to assemble the Monster. As Victor has full control of the Monster's appearance, he attempts to create a specimen fit to his liking. Victor bestows conventionally attractive features to the Monster, such as “hair of a lustrous black, and flowing” and “teeth of a pearly whiteness” (Shelley 71). However, when coupled with the dead nature of his parts, the attractive features contrast grotesquely. When the Monster comes to life, Victor reacts with disgust: “How can I describe my emotions at this catastrophe, or how delineate the wretch whom with such infinite pains and care I had endeavoured to form? His limbs were in proportion, and I had selected his features as beautiful. Beautiful!” (Shelley 71). Victor's disappointment is clear in this quotation, as his vision of the ‘beautiful’ male did not come to fruition. Victor's selection of attractive male features for the Monster and subsequent frustration from his expectations is evidence for a queer interpretation of Victor's psyche when he creates the Monster.
The male protagonist of Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein, has offspring in an unorthodox manner when he reanimates the Monster. Victor's monomaniacal passion to create offspring in a non-heterosexual manner and resistance to future life can be cited as evidence that Victor is queer. Literary critic Arezoo Izadi argues the concept of the ‘death of the mother.’ All of the prominent female characters die in the novel, including Victor's own mother, his soon-to-be wife Elizabeth, and the unborn female Monster. Izadi explains the impact of the absence of femininity on the plot, “Victor Frankenstein as the father, with accessing life through death, removes motherhood and femininity, eradicating the chances of a reproductive future not only for himself, but also for his queer monster whom he refuses to acknowledge; the creature who continues to be marginalized for its queerness…” (Izadi). The eradication of a reproductive future for Victor and the Monster is queer in the sense that it goes against the modern normative belief that generational succession is directly connected to someone’s life having impactful meaning (Warner 7). By eliminating femininity in the novel, it leaves Victor and the Monster in a state of limbo, unable to reproduce with another of their kind, paralleling queer couples’ experiences with adoption discrimination and struggle to have biological children before the popularization of surrogacy.
Conclusion
No human character in Frankenstein is confirmed to be anything but heterosexual and cisgender. However, the novel is inherently queer in its creation and themes. Through the usage of the unconventional dynamic between the Monster and his sole creator Victor Frankenstein, Mary Shelley contributed to the foundation of the Gothic and Queer genres. Frankenstein demonstrates a critical literary insight; a novel does not have to have established queer characters to be considered queer.
Works Cited
Badalamenti, Anthony F. “Why did Mary Shelley Write Frankenstein?” Journal of Religion and Health, vol. 45, no. 3, 10 Aug. 2006, pp. 419–439, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-006-9030-0.
Bracken, Haley. "The Castle of Otranto". Encyclopedia Britannica, 21 Nov. 2021, https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Castle-of-Otranto.
Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Romanticism". Encyclopedia Britannica, 7 Mar. 2024, https://www.britannica.com/art/Romanticism.
Fincher, Max. Queering Gothic in the Romantic Age: The Penetrating Eye. Palgrave Macmillan, 2007.
Habib, Rafey. “Introduction to Neo-Classicism.” Introduction to Neo-Classicism | M.A.R. Habib, Rutgers University, 10 May 2013, habib.camden.rutgers.edu/introductions/neo-classicism/.
Hurd, Richard. Letters on Chivalry and Romance. Ireland, A. Millar, W. Thurlbourn, and J. Woodyer, 1762.
Izadi, Arezoo. “Frankenstein, the Queer and the Mother.” Litlog, 20 July 2023, www.litlog.de/frankenstein-the-queer-and-the-mother/.
Marshall, Florence A. Thomas. The Life and Letters of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, Volume II (of Two). Project Gutenberg, 8 November 2011, https://www.gutenberg.org/files/37956/37956-h/37956-h.htm#CHAPTER_XXIII.
Riddell, Fern. “Does It Matter If Mary Shelley Was Bisexual?” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 7 Nov. 2019, www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2019/nov/07/does-it-matter-if-mary-shelley-was-bisexual.
Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft. Frankenstein, or, the Modern Prometheus. Titan Books, 2014.
Stryker, Susan, and Dylan McCarthy Blackston, editors. The Transgender Studies Reader Remix. Taylor & Francis Group, 2022.
Warner, Michael. “Introduction: Fear of a Queer Planet.” Social Text, no. 29, 1991, pp. 3–17. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/466295.
Wright, Angela. Gothic Fiction. United Kingdom, Macmillan Education UK, 2007.