My dissertation upends the notion that most monsters of the early modern era still carried the medieval taint of religious prognostication in their births. Specifically, a more secular version of monstrosity arose in the seventeenth century due to the influence of natural history and cheap print, although this trend is also evidenced in the high fictional literature of the era. The female monster is crucial to understanding this sea change as women themselves were labeled monstrous both by secular figures, such as Aristotle and Galen, and Christian figures, such as St. Augustine, who traced female aberrations back to Eve. Thus, although there are excellent works on the presentation of monstrosity in the early modern era from the vantage point of history (Lorraine Daston and Katharine Park), drama (Mark Bennett), and Protestant Reformation (Julie Crawford), what the field lacks is a comprehensive understanding of the history of monstrosity at its intersection with non-performance-based literature of secular monsters and gender. By focusing the scope of my investigation, we can understand in fresh ways contemporary attitudes to the state of abnormal births, the causes of these births, and attitudes towards women's fundamental makeup and nature.