THE POSTHUMAN SUBJECT IN MARY SHELLEY’S FRANKENSTEIN: A STUDY OF THE MONSTER’S STRUGGLE FOR SUBJECTIVITY

Abstract

This research explores the posthuman subject in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, focusing on the Creature’s struggle for subjectivity within a framework of posthuman theory. By challenging traditional humanist notions of identity, agency, and personhood, the Creature embodies a liminal existence that blurs the boundaries between human and non-human, organic and artificial. Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1818) offers a compelling exploration of the boundaries of human identity, making it a critical text for posthumanist inquiry. This study examines the Creature’s struggle for subjectivity through the lens of posthuman theory, which challenges traditional notions of human exceptionalism and redefines personhood in relation to technology, science, and non-human agency.The Creature, as an artificial being, exists in a liminal space—both human and non-human, self-aware yet socially excluded. His quest for recognition, autonomy, and belonging highlights the limitations of Enlightenment humanism, which privileges biological and rationalist definitions of humanity.By engaging with thinkers such as N. Katherine Hayles and Rosi Braidotti, this research interrogates the ways in which Frankenstein anticipates contemporary debates on posthuman subjectivity, artificial intelligence, and bioethics. Ultimately, the novel critiques the exclusionary structures of human identity and presents the Creature as an early figure of the posthuman, whose struggle for subjectivity forces a reconsideration of what it means to be human.