Once our minds are freed from the weighty constraints of society, once we allow ourselves to reconsider the preconceptions of gender so deeply ingrained within our minds, we enter an inverted universe in which the repressed become freed and the idealised criticised. The social deviant, the individual whose refusal to conform with the normal regulations of society sees them considered a degenerative outcast, in this case becomes the figure in which inspires hope and promise rather than an incitation of fearful warning. In this thesis my aim is to justify the transgressions of this deviant, understanding what it is about this notorious individual who brings so much pleasure in their presence. Through in-depth explorations of Charlotte Dacre’s Zofloya, Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu’s Carmilla, and Bram Stoker’s Dracula, I will identify the characters who, despite their deviation from the normal constructions of sex and gender, are those who pre-empt a modern embrace of our growing refusal to conform to a norm that has for many years kept our inherent desires and emotions chained within us.