"Monstrous Othering": The Gothic Nature of Origin-Tracing in Law and Literature

Much Gothic literature touches upon the concepts of familial injustice, disconnect from origin, and ill-treatment "monstrously-othered" or abandoned child. Certain works fiction mirror those judicial discourses that involve contentious issues unknown ancestry, not least anonymous gamete donation cross-border surrogacy. Three novels in particular see their characters rendered monstrous by law, society, unwritten norms behavior: clones Katzuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go, unnamed monster Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Emily Brontë's Heathcliff Wuthering Heights, share common features horrific fates endless exile. They are abused largely because genetic losses unknowable origins, thereby doomed to undertake fruitless quests suffer flawed fatal reunions. Dehumanizing policies disenfranchisement enable perpetuate such inequalities, but justified preserve social order. In courtrooms too, there is a need balance conflicting human rights interests: privacy, identity, family life. A "monstrous othering" can thus result, permanently exiling certain individuals fundamental protections. This so despite principles child welfare paramountcy best interests, where surrogacy, contact vetoes sealed birth records involved.