Dressing the Part: Disguise as a Feminist Motif in Mary Shelley’s Short Stories

This thesis examines how Mary Shelley implements the disguise motif in her short stories for two purposes. First, I argue that Shelley uses the disguise motif to covertly critique nineteenth-century patriarchal society and explore how female characters can gain agency through disguises. I also discuss how disguises draw attention to the female body. Through the disguise motif, Shelley writes several of the female characters’ bodies as discourses that allow those characters to resist patriarchal oppression. Second, I contend that Shelley employs this motif to emphasize the importance of female education and the necessity of reason in the lives of women.