Frankenstein and the Politics of Embodiment: A Disability Studies Perspective

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818) has long been read as a cautionary tale of scientific overreach, moral responsibility, and the gothic sublime. However, within the framework of disability studies, the novel acquires a different resonance. It emerges as a foundational text that interrogates the construction of monstrosity, the social marginalization of non-normative bodies, and the ethical limits of human experimentation. This article explores Frankenstein as a literary case study that challenges dominant narratives around ability, normalcy, and personhood. Through a critical re-examination of the Creature’s embodied experience and Victor Frankenstein’s scientific ambition, the novel can be understood as a proto-critical disability narrative that questions the very grounds on which the human is defined.