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'Filthy Types: "Frankenstein", Figuration, Femininity'
Steven Vine
Critical Survey, Volume: 8, Issue: 3, Pages: 246 - 258
Swansea University Author: Steven Vine
Abstract
The essay explores 'Frankenstein'’s representation of selfhood as an effect of specular figuration, and argues that the novel presents monstrosity as a condition of disfiguration. In the figure of the monster, Shelley ironises Victor Frankenstein’s specular figuration as narcissistic: his...
| Published in: | Critical Survey |
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| Published: |
1996
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| URI: | https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa17978 |
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| Abstract: |
The essay explores 'Frankenstein'’s representation of selfhood as an effect of specular figuration, and argues that the novel presents monstrosity as a condition of disfiguration. In the figure of the monster, Shelley ironises Victor Frankenstein’s specular figuration as narcissistic: his bid to create an image of self-aggrandisement falls into ruin. The essay argues that femininity in the novel is harnessed to the narcissism of male self-reflection. Just as Frankenstein’s desire for his lover Elizabeth is figured in terms of specular narcissism, so the monster’s desire for a mate is grasped by a dream of resemblance. The essay concludes by examining the female ‘monsteress’ – half-created and dismembered by Frankenstein late in the narrative – as a figure that exceeds the economy of patriarchal, specular narcissism. The monsteress embodies a sublime of ‘transgressive femininity.’ |
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| College: |
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Issue: |
3 |
| Start Page: |
246 |
| End Page: |
258 |