The Wolfish and the Wayward: Depictions of Non-Normative Sexuality as Monstrosity

Abstract

Werewolves or lycanthropes have existed as a part of various cultures for centuries. These figures are often constructed as representations of physical or social difference. The werewolf has long existed as a symbol for individuals or groups who exist on the margins of society. While lycanthropy has long been used to depict deviancy, this thesis draws a specific connection between the lycanthropic figure and representations of non-normative sexuality. In order to draw attention to the creation of a literary trope in which those who are sexually non-normative are depicted as monstrous lycanthropes, this thesis examines werewolf narratives from three literary periods. The first text of study is John Webster’s The Duchess of Malfi. In looking at this early modern play I examine Duke Ferdinand’s descent from humanity to bestiality as he becomes increasingly and incestuously obsessed with his sister, the Duchess. Alongside this, I also examine the Duchess’s own fall from grace as she disobeys social convention to remarry. As both of these figures engage with these deviant sexual urges both are increasingly described as wolfish and are portrayed as threats to the social order. This chapter examines these depictions of wolfish figures in relationship to early modern anxieties surrounding court sexuality in order to provide a framework for why these non-normative sexualities were something to fear and depict as monstrous. Ultimately, this first chapter argues that The Duchess of Malfi participates in the construction of a trope in which those who are sexually deviant are portrayed as lycanthropic figures in literature. The second chapter of this thesis turns to an examination of Clemence Housman’s The Were-Wolf. This late-Victorian Gothic narrative follows the Scandinavian female werewolf White Fell as she terrorizes a family. Housman’s text engages with Victorian anxieties surrounding the New Woman and the threat she presented to social order. White Fell is a threatening figure due to her androgyny, her inability to reign in her physical impulses, her sexual desires outside of marriage, and her complete lack of motherly instinct. Alongside this, White Fell is linked to the woman’s suffrage movement which would have immediately marked her as a danger to social order. Ultimately, then, White Fell’s monstrosity is seen as a direct reflection of her social and sexual deviancy. In this text the threatening female body that refuses to conform becomes lycanthropic and that monstrous body must be destroyed. The Were-Wolf, then, participates in constructing a trope in which those who are different are monstrous. Finally, this thesis concludes with an analysis of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series. In particular, this chapter examines Rowling’s assertions that lycanthropy within her series is meant to serve as a metaphorical representation of AIDS. In looking at this assertion, this final chapter argues that Rowling’s linking of lycanthropy and AIDS serves to queer code her two main werewolves. Rowling’s werewolves are presented as either dangerous beasts who seek to harm everyone within their grasp, or as hidden threats to social order. This queer-coding, then, marks members of the gay community as being dangerous in their difference. Ultimately, this thesis demonstrates the construction of a trope across three literary periods in which non-normative sexuality is depicted through the lycanthropic body