Webbläsaren som du använder stöds inte av denna webbplats. Alla versioner av Internet Explorer stöds inte längre, av oss eller Microsoft (läs mer här: * https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/windows/end-of-ie-support).

Var god och använd en modern webbläsare för att ta del av denna webbplats, som t.ex. nyaste versioner av Edge, Chrome, Firefox eller Safari osv.

Speciesism in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

In English

Författare

  • Alexandra Kallman

Summary, in English

This essay analyses how Mary Shelley challenges speciesist thinking popular at the time of the publication of Frankenstein (1818). Speciesism is a discriminatory belief that favours the human species over any species other than human, and that is manifested in how we perceive and treat nonhuman beings. Much literary criticism has touched upon Frankenstein’s monster’s otherness, mainly in relation to racism. However, this essay argues that the monster’s otherness is linked to his nonhuman appearance and is therefore subjected to speciesism by being perceived and treated as a nonhuman animal. The essay also discusses Victor Frankenstein as the epitome of the Enlightenment scientist who engages in speciesist thinking and practises, the novel’s criticism of speciesist practices
such as vivisection, and the novel’s promotion of vegetarianism. Shelley questions speciesism by blurring the species boundaries that separate human beings from nonhuman beings, which is why the human-animal binary will be an underlying theme throughout the essay.

Avdelning/ar

  • Master's Programme: Literature - Culture - Media
  • Engelska

Publiceringsår

2015

Språk

Engelska

Dokumenttyp

Examensarbete för magisterexamen (Ett år)

Ämne

  • Languages and Literatures

Handledare

  • Ellen Turner