'Ten thousand times more malignant than her mate': Destabilising gendered assumptions underlying the defences of provocation and loss of control through a reading of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

Hughes-Moore, Barbara 2021. 'Ten thousand times more malignant than her mate': Destabilising gendered assumptions underlying the defences of provocation and loss of control through a reading of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Journal of Law and Society 48 (4) , pp. 690-712. 10.1111/jols.12324

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Abstract

This article explores how Mary Shelley's Frankenstein engages with notions relating to mens rea. It constructs a reading of the creature as Victor's double, and therefore a manifestation of his guilty mind. Utilizing interdisciplinary literary-legal methods, the article employs the central relationship in Frankenstein as a means of illuminating and critiquing the ways in which criminal law reproduces and perpetuates gendered notions of behaviour in relation to what is deemed a justified emotional response in the partial defences of provocation and loss of control. It concludes that Frankenstein helps to expose these gaps in legal discourse and ultimately destabilizes binaries of gendered criminality.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Law
Publisher:	Wiley
ISSN:	0306-3704
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	8 July 2021
Date of Acceptance:	1 June 2021
Last Modified:	28 Nov 2024 08:30
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/142473

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