Frankenstein as a Modern Cyborg? Essays -- Frankenstein essays

Frankenstein as a innovational cyborg? The creature (demon) created by Victor Frankenstein in Mary Shelleys Frankenstein, or, The current Prometheus occupies a space that is neither quite masculine nor quite feminine, although he is clearly both created as a male and desires to be in the masculine role. Judith Halberstam describes this in-between-ness as universe one of the primary characteristics of the Gothic nut-- be in a space thats not easily classified or categorized, and because being rendered unintelligible and foolish. Donna J. Haraway posits that the post-modern science fiction cyborg occupies a akin in-between space, or, perhaps, a non-space. Similarly, Cathy Griggs argues that the post-modern lesbian is linked to this notion of the cyborg. The lesbian is rendered monstrous in social discourse by her desire to ascend into the phallic privilege, connecting this in-between-ness as both a monstrous trait and a cybernetic one. Further, the transgender man (female-to -male) occupies a similar discursive space and provides us with a post-modern link to Frankensteins creature, as both are surgically constructed men, a bodily structure that, in the eyes of society, renders them monstrous (particularly for trans-men who cant pass). Frankensteins creature embodies gender transgression on two levels, both of which are the fuel for Victors horror the first being the creatures status as being a surgically constructed male, the second being Victors own gender transgression in co-opting the feminine trait of reproduction, transforming his science laboratory into a virtual womb. Given the scientific origin of the creature, as sound as both its and Victors unstable gender, is it possible that the modern Gothic monster pre-fi... ...th. Gender Trouble Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. New York Routledge, 1990. Griggers, Cathy. Lesbian Bodies in the Age of (Post)mechanical Reproduction. Fear of a Queer Planet. Ed. Michael Warner. Minneapolis U of M innesota P, 1993. 178-192. Halberstam, Judith. beat Shows Gothic Horror and the Technology of Monsters. Second ed. Durham Duke UP, 1995. Haraway, Donna J. The Promises of Monsters A Regenerative political science for Inappropriate/d Others. Cultural Studies. Eds. Lawrence Grossberg, Cary Nelson and Paula A. Treichler. New York Routledge, 1992. 295-337. Haraway, Donna J. Simians, Cyborgs, and Women The Reinvention of Nature. New York Routledge, 1991. Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus. 1983 ed. New York The Penguin Group, 1963. Zizek, Slavoj. The Sublime Object of Ideology. London Verso, 1989.