Date of Award
Summer 8-2019
Degree Type
Honors College Thesis
Department
English
First Advisor
Emily B. Stanback
Advisor Department
English
Abstract
A trend to historicize the field of Disability Studies has emerged in recent years. However, little research has been done to place different societies and generations in conversation with one another. This thesis will utilize various adaptations of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein in order to explore shifting anxieties concerning non-normative embodiment through the vessel of the Creature. I examine the Creature’s changing physical form next to scientific and medical literature of the period to explore connotations of disability and otherness within that society. I consider the manifestation of anxieties towards non-normative embodiment through Mary Shelley’s 1831 Frankenstein, James Whale’s 1931 film Frankenstein, and Victor LaValle’s 2018 graphic novel Destroyer; the frequent reworking of Frankenstein’s Creature allows for an examination of shifting and persistent anxieties concerning non-normative embodiment over time.
Copyright
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Recommended Citation
Hobson, Ashley H., "A Historical Analysis of Non-Normative Embodiment Through the Lens of Frankenstein’s Creature" (2019). Honors Theses. 681.
https://aquila.usm.edu/honors_theses/681