Monstrous Love: Oppression, Intimacy, and Transformation in Mary Reilly (1996)

Abstract

In polite Victorian society, there were things that were not to be seen, nor felt, nor even thought, and the growing trend toward “indulgences” was met with fear and sharp critique. The era was marked by the increasingly complex collision of society and the individual, with the mechanisms of iconic Victorian social control aggressively defending public veneers of propriety, keeping passions, terrors, ambitions, and curiosities submerged. In Stephen Frears’s 1996 film Mary Reilly, love, in its many guises, brings these interiors to the forefront—from the silent secrets of the individual, to the festering wounds of society—creating a narrative that confronts the human condition in ways that Victorian society neither could, nor would, allow. This chapter will explore the film’s depictions of “monstrous love,” as throughout the narrative, passion, intimacy, devotion, and sacrifice are inextricably interwoven with the Gothic Horrific. Through the revision of this classic tale, love and longing are, in fact, evoked, experienced, and expressed most fully through their association with the monster.KeywordsScience FictionClassic TaleVictorian SocietyRigid ClassImplicit Social ContractThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.