Beauty and The Beetle: Victorian Sex, Gender, Marriage, and Monsters

“Beauty and The Beetle” approaches Richard Marsh’s 1897 novel as a love story. As its antagonist, Marsh introduces the Beetle, a gender nonconforming, shape-shifting devotee of Isis come from Egypt to seek revenge on MP Paul Lessingham for a breach of romantic promise. The identity of the villain remains critically elusive, as scholars grapple with the complexities of categorical identities and the challenge of a hyper-sexual figure who is neither man nor woman. This article argues that the paradox of the Beetle’s identity is best resolved through an understanding of identity beyond a binary: that the Beetle actively self-identifies as both nonbinary and sexually active, and is capable of self-identification and romantic navigation in an imperialist, heteronormative binary culture. The horror of the novel is the social threat the Beetle poses, rather than violence: their ability to disrupt heteronormative domestic structures through their romantic overtures and expectations.