A monster can be a symbol of what we fear or something we desire to be and cannot. A monster is a figure of speech. Overtime monsters have not changed how they are portrayed to the world. When we are growing up we use several figures to portray our feelings and sometimes act out. Many social scientists have developed theories telling how we can learn about people from the monster myths they tell. Some of these theories stress the role of monster myths in understanding society as a whole. Others emphasize the place of monster myths in understanding why an individual act’s in a certain way, whether it is conscious or unconscious by a person experiences in the world filtered through the senses. They come in the form of fairytales, or in this case
In society, there have always been different roles in defining the boundaries between right and wrong; Monsters take a big part of that role. In Jeffrey Cohen’s “Monster Culture,” Cohen explains seven theses which provide a clearer explanation of how monsters take a part in establishing these boundaries. The oldest Anglo-Saxon story written- “Beowulf”- provides three different monsters which all connect to Cohen’s seven theses. In the older version, however, the monsters do not relate to humans in any way, except that they are enemies. The modern version of Beowulf portrays Grendel’s mother to still be evil but also have relations with the humans in the story.
“The only motive that there was was to completely control a person… and keep them with me as long as possible, even if it meant just keeping a part of them.” Using this statement, Jeffrey Dahmer offers his insight about what made him the cruel, demented being people have known him to be for the last 25 years. Many questions still remain, however. How do we, in society, define the term “monster”? What makes a monster? What shapes our perceptions of monsters, and how do these perceptions change over time? Several centuries passed between the time of Grendel from the epic poem, Beowulf, and the Milwaukee Monster, Jeffrey Dahmer, for instance. Grendel is a creation of the Anglo-Saxons, whose culture
Ever thought of where monsters come from? Do they just appear in our world, or are they procreated by fellow monsters, maybe, created by humans and their desires. During the renaissance and romantic era, a belief roamed around consisting of the idea that any child not resembling their original procreators was considered deformed, therefore also considered a “monster.” Many factors were considered to affect a child’s resemblance to their progenitors, such as women imagination, and desires, absolutely crossing of the role of paternity in the creation process. Although she succeeds in providing many good examples of women’s imagination being a primal factor in procreation, Marie-Helene Huet, in her essay, “ Introduction To Monstrous Imagination,”
Asma, Stephen. On Monsters :An Unnatural History of Our Worst Fears. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009. Print.
In any classic story about heroes and villains, the monsters involved are often characterized as the evil ones and, consequently, receive no justice under the law. Throughout the epic story Beowulf, the hero of the story encounters three monsters that are threats to society: Grendel, Grendel’s mother, and the dragon. The monsters in Beowulf are quickly targeted and destroyed because of the harm they cause to society. However, upon further examination of the monsters and the motives for their actions, the reader can view the monsters not as the cutthroat villains they may initially appear to be, but perhaps as victims of society. In today’s society, murderers and robbers are also portrayed as “monsters” because of the atrocious crimes
Stephen Asma “ Monsters and the Moral Imagination” is an nonfiction articles which convince a general audience of the flexible use of the word monster and how it helps our imagination.
In Ted Genoways’ article “Here Be Monsters,” written in 2005, he elaborates that minds will envision the unfathomable visions regardless. He later supports it by saying that it will lead to creating the fear that monstrous events will happen. Genoways believes that we must grasp the realism of the problems that consume this world to overcome them. This short story comes from the “Virginia Quarterly Review,” which is a magazine created for discussions, reviews, poems, and more. This specific, analyzing article intends to inform and spur discussion. It focuses on improving the world rather than within the self. “Here Be Monsters” is an agreeable writing. The point made is that if there is no action taken, then we will unfailingly fear the threats and retract from those whom we distinguish as dangerous. This piece of writing is a valid impression with supporting philosophies that contains relevant explanations.
Jeffery Cohen's first thesis states “the monster's body is a cultural body”. Monsters give meaning to culture. A monsters characteristics come from a culture's most deep-seated fears and fantasies. Monsters are metaphors and pure representative allegories. What a society chooses to make monstrous says a lot about that society’s people. Monsters help us express and find our darkest places, deepest fears, or creepiest thoughts. Monsters that scare us,vampires, zombies, witches, help us cope with what we dread most in life. Fear of the monstrous has brought communities and cultures together. Society is made up of different beliefs, ideas, and cultural actions. Within society there are always outcasts, people that do not fit into the norm or do not follow the status quo. Those people that do not fit in become monsters that are feared almost unanimously by the people who stick to the status quo.
In most novel and movies monsters are known to be evil, committing numerous crimes against humanity and are normally the ones that we don’t sympathize with. However, this novel carefully shows the reader that monsters can be good creatures, with a decent heart and act based on the actions of others. The novel shows how the monster should be pitied, rather than criticised. Mary Shelley's “Frankenstein” manages to create sympathy for the creature through speech, actions and mistreatment the creature suffers.
Peter Brooks' essay "What Is a Monster" tackles many complex ideas within Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, and the main concept that is the title of the essay itself. What is the definition of a monster, or to be monstrous? Is a monster the classic representation we know, green skin, neck bolts, grunting and groaning? A cartoon wishing to deliver sugary cereal? or someone we dislike so greatly their qualities invade our language and affect our interpretation of their image and physical being? Brooks' essay approaches this question by using Shelley's narrative structure to examine how language, not nature, is mainly accountable for creating the idea of the monstrous body.
The article “Monsters” is written by a brilliant writer: Anna Quindlen. It tells us about the children’s fears and the parents behavior, which should always be aimed to help the child to overcome his /her fear. The author starts with a description of a night house and it’s gloomy atmosphere, especially for a little child. The little boy tells his mother that he believes a monster to live under his bad. His mother is ready to tell him about her own fears, but she stops herself. Anna Quindlen describes the appearance of the monster, and the mother realizes that she has to tell her son that there is no monster. However, she knows that it wouldn’t be helpful, because, when she will leave the room the monster will appear again. She never lied to her children, thus, it was really a trial for her to tell her children that the monster didn’t exist. It is also hard for her, because she realizes that her son will, even more strongly, believe in monsters in future, as she does now. Because the real life monsters are everywhere, and their existence cannot be denied. In real life we can see the burglars, killers and other monsters every day. Mother decides not to teach her son, how to personalize his monster, she just leaves him alone. The woman believes that there are some things, which cannot be taught, but only learned on the child’s personal experience.
A monster can be characterized by an extreme deviation from the normal standards of society including an internal or external wickedness. In the case of Mary Shelley’s Creature, his appearance overwhelms those who lay eyes upon him. A mere glance can send a villager running for the hills. It was not until the Creature caught a glance of his own reflection that he understood why villagers were so afraid of him. The realization of his ghastly appearance began the monster’s journey into hopelessness. In Peter Brooks’ article he writes, “Self recognition as the ‘filthy type’ completes the mirror stage of the Monsters development.” (Brooks 377). Seeing oneself as ugly and slovenly can cast shadows on even the most compassionate of hearts.
We live in a world where creatures have abilities that can blow our minds, however we are ignorant of this. We live in a world where a constant power struggle is occurring between these secret species, a struggle that most human beings have no inclination of. We live in a world where people who know the truth are sworn to secrecy, and those proclaim this truth are considered crazy and locked away; to be sane is to be ignorant. Well, that is what I would love to be true. In actuality, I am fascinated with the topic of monsters; I love them all: lycanthropes, Frankenstein’s monster, witches, fae, necromancers, zombies, demons, mummies, and my favorite: vampires. This fetish has been manifested in the movies I view, the televisions shows I watch, and the books I read. When my obsession with reading is crossed with my obsession with monsters the result is a bookshelf containing more vampire novels than most people would consider healthy. I have discovered that every vampire novel varies vastly; no two books are ever alike. For example, the Twilight Series, the Anita Blake Series and the Vampire Chronicles Series have different legends and lore, different relationships between vampires and society, and different genres, theme, and purpose; this array of novels display most clearly the range of audience for vampire genre can cater.
Myths are the creative answers to questions humans fail to answer any other way. Modern humans are as superstitious today as they were in the cave. Humans want to know who they are, where they came from, and why they are here so badly they will invent their own answers. Humans are also clever enough to figure out that veiling their myth as fact can give their human recipients the illusion of knowing without the struggle of study. Humans are inherently skilled at developing detailed narratives. Our ancestors attempted to quell their insatiable curiosity with stories that matched their philosophical notions. Each culture and age develops the myths and stories passed on to them by the preceding generation. The first myths centered on the natural world, including the sun, moon, stars and whatever materials provided sustenance to humans, including rain, fire, vegetation and animals. As entirely oral traditions, these myths underwent constant revision and were sometimes short lived. The stories shared by a community were among the most precious information held by the community after where to hunt and gather food or find shelter. These myths were the core of a community’s identity and were often the first knowledge to be preserved by the written word. For millennia, myths permeated knowledge bases so thoroughly that carving them out of farming, trade, astronomy, biology or other texts would leave little remaining. Reading and writing were very specialized skills limited to a select few. Not surprisingly, it was not long before a society’s most trusted members, such as monks, shaman and priests, were entrusted with the myths. In many cases, these trusties were the only people in a community with the ability to read, let alone interpret a...
Criteria for being considered as a “monster” are quite broad, but they are entirely based on society’s assessment. Things perceived as monsters represent our fears and insecurities, and they are often judged as a monster based on those. The first criterion, however, is always our first impression of how a thing looks. We jump to conclusions without assessing the nature of the creature. The problems faced by both Gregor Samsa and Frankenstein’s creature all stem from how people react to their appearance. Despite their attempts to fit in with society, they could not overcome the prejudice that they faced because of their outward appearance.