What makes someone or something a monster? Throughout Grendel by John Gardner there are plenty of explanations of what makes a monster and what the qualities monsters must have to be a monster. There are a lot of examples of monsters throughout Grendel including the Dragon, Grendel, and Grendel’s mother. One scene in Grendel stuck out as the perfect example of a monster, which was when Grendel and the Dragon were talking. This scene really stuck out because it shows how it is to be a monster and how monsters act with each other.
The renowned literature Frankenstein, written in 1818 by Mary Shelley is one of the most influential gothic novels, as well as has inspired many genres of horror films, plays, and stories. In the novel Frankenstein, her characters are unable to recognize the creature as a human rather than a monster due to his frightening image. Mary Shelley’s story displays how society places an immense amount of judgment based off one 's physical features. She suggests that one 's appearance can indicate their inner self-worth due to society’s influence and harsh opinions. When the creature had first came to life, his creator shrieked in horror from his appearance, which made Frankenstein traumatized and resulted in him seeking vengeance.
Grendel and his mother are represented as monsters, through their physical appearance, as well as their horrific killings. The monstrosity of Grendel is directly seen through his physical appearance, as depicted when his hand is exposed in the hall as a trophy, after he was injured during his battle with Beowulf. During this scene, the beastly appearance
Society is well-known for pushing those who are outsiders or strange away from society. This is prevalent to the examples in Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein. The monster who was created by Victor Frankenstein who wanted to be the first to create life was appalled by the sights of the his creation. Frankenstein’s monster is judged based on his appearances and is often ostracized by society, just as anyone in modern day society can be shunned or pushed away due to their looks or how they think. The most outstanding example of ostracism that occurred throughout the novel is based on the monster’s physical features and structure.
A writer named Nikita Gill once said “When you see a monster next, always remember this. Do not fear the thing before you. Fear the thing that created it instead.” This quote can be related to the novel Frankenstein where instead of the actual creature being perceived as the monster, the person who created it deserves to be called one. Using the archetypal lens, Victor can be seen as the real monster in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein from his cruel characteristics, continuous patterns of monstrosity, as well as symbols and themes involving nature.
In addition, Victor is the real monster in this story because of what he has done to the monster. Victor and the monster both have thirst for knowledge. Victor has the thirst of knowledge in science. He wants to know everything about science and continues to look for new information. Victor is always researching about the
Both authors paint a grotesque picture of their creations and how they both desire to destroy beauty; Aesthetic Iconoclasm, that is shared between the two figures. However, both authors present their monsters separate to one another in philosophy; with Grendel being a mindless savage and the Monster being more contemplative and questioning the nature of its own creation. ‘Monster’ characters have always been a target of both folk tales and pagan myths since the dawn of humanity, the very concept of a monstrous creature harkens back to the primal fear instinct of facing a dangerous predator that presents a danger to humanity. Grendel from Beowulf is the perfect example of this hysteria and
Molly Childree Fleischbein EH 102.147 Draft February 5,2018 Our world is full of monsters, some imaginary, but most are legitimate and terrifying. In his text “Monster Culture (Seven Theses)”, Jeffery Jerome Cohen examines the use of monsters in literate and cinema. Cohen makes the claim that the use of monsters, historically and presently, in forms of entertainment symbolizes more than just the fear they instill in audiences. A monster is no longer just a monster.
“Whenever the creation order is inverted, there is disorder, destruction, and death. When we tamper with this order, even a little, we become life-takers rather than life-givers”(J. Ligon Duncan III ). This quote plays a large part in the overall literature that is Frankenstein; it pulls together the attributes of the story in a way I haven’t seen before. This essay will be focusing on the relationship between the gothic novel of Frankenstein, and the greek myth of Prometheus. It will be a compare and contrast of the dueling stories.
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein uses the conflict between Victor and the creature, specifically their predatory relationship in their pursuit of revenge, to emphasize how revenge will consistently push or even exceed moral boundaries. The conflict between Victor and his creature is outlined in Frankenstein through the monster’s attempt to hurt Victor through the killing of William and Victor’s destruction of the creature’s future mate, representing how revenge often cultivates a normalization of immorality. Before William’s murder, the monster had been rejected by the DeLaceys and shot at for saving a young girl from drowning. As a result, the creature’s wish for revenge upon all
The monsters are due on maple street by rod Serling, Das Bus the Simpsons and Lord of the lies by.. All have a common thread that links them together. The common thread is, a group of people end up turning into savages because of what others think. In the book the monsters are due on Maple Street by Rod Serling is an episode from the twilight zone that has a good example of how people can turn into savages when others put you in a position where you cannot decide what to believe.
Mulkay expressed that articles had written had focus on the similarity between embryo researchers and Mary Shelley 's scientific villain. Based on the articles, readers believed that the the scientists are dangerous and must have a limit over them. This connect back to my thesis is that in Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein went overboard into creating the monster as it came to life by using science and the monster threatened society. As he misused science, he went over the limit into creating another human being with dead human parts. In Brave New World, the D.H.C and other scientists are misused science for cloning and conditioning human beings as they used scientific experiment.
What makes the creature in Frankenstein a monster is that he is both a scientific creation and his physical features and his actions of murder deviate from society’s expectations. Throughout the novel Frankenstein’s creation is never given a real name. Instead, society names the creature by his physical features. In the novel he is called; a “demoniacal corpse, wretch, daemon, devil, monster, ogre, the being and creature” (36, 68, 102, 164, 165). Besides not having a name, Frankenstein’s creature is also described using the terms deformity and monster.
Many times throughout western literature, monsters are portrayed as a threat to the existence of humanity. In Grendel by John Gardner and Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, this idea is skewed by the actions of their respective monsters. Both of these novels captivate the reader by having a monster narrate the story, which is uncommon in many works of literature. Although in Frankenstein the reader only witnesses the monster as a narrator once, it has a profound impact on the overall storyline of the book. In Grendel, the book is entirely narrated by Grendel, so the reader adapts to the idea of the main character being a monster.
Biography: Mary Shelley was born in London in 1797 to a “radical philosopher”, and “an early feminist” (Shilstone). Since her mother died of childbirth complications, Shelley was raised by her father, who mostly homeschooled her, giving her a standard of education which she would not have attained at school due to her gender. For example, Mary and her siblings were all taught “French, Italian, and drawing” (Garrett). Shelley’s father was acquainted with many scientists, engineers, and poets, whom Shelley often interacted with. At age 16, Shelley fell in love with a married man, Percy, and the two travelled to America.