Date of Graduation
Spring 2026
Degree
Master of Arts in English
Department
English
Committee Chair
Lanya Lamouria
Abstract
Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel Frankenstein, a text informed by a rich Romantic era philosophical tradition, has produced an expansive contemporary body of transgender studies scholarship. Building on transgender literary studies of Frankenstein, my thesis analyzes the difference between the monster’s internalized self-perceived identity and their externally performed and perceived identity. I interpret the difference between the monster’s internal and external identity as an analogy through which to understand contemporary nonbinary experiences. The “performance” of gender that Judith Butler describes is a limited expression of an internal, inescapable, ontological experience of self-identification. The monster’s own social experience illustrates the strain between external performance and internal self-identification that nonbinary people experience. I argue the monster’s inability to articulate their difference, consequent exile, and desire for companionship are then analogous to nonbinary experiences of internalized invalidation, linguistic limitation, and social isolation.
Keywords
Frankenstein, Mary Shelley, Judith Butler, monster, nonbinary, transgender, genderqueer, gender, British literature, gothic
Subject Categories
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Studies | Literature in English, British Isles | Other Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
Copyright
© Lillian R. Durr
Recommended Citation
Durr, Lillian R., "Nonbinary Gender Performance and Self-Identification in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein" (2026). Graduate Theses/Dissertations. 4148.
https://bearworks.missouristate.edu/theses/4148
Open Access
Included in
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Studies Commons, Literature in English, British Isles Commons, Other Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons
