The Werewolves of Society
Over the past several hundred years, werewolves have been an important part of Western Cultures. Werewolves have appeared in blockbuster movies and been the subject of countless books and stories. Werewolves are dark and powerful creatures that terrify us on multiple levels. While they are some of the most violent and merciless monsters that horror has to offer, there is something about the werewolf that we can identify with. Not only can we identify with the characters afflicted with the curse, but we can also identify that the werewolf is a beast and an evil force. The werewolf symbolizes the evil that is contained within us all. In this paper, I will explain the different evils that werewolves symbolize by taking a critical look at the real life history of the werewolf, the werewolf in literature and film, and the opinions of experts on the topic.
Firstly, one must understand what the lycanthrope, Greek for wolf-man and interchangeable with werewolf, is. This is no easy task. What they are and how they come into being change from culture to culture and almost from person to person. We are most familiar with the werewolf who was a normal human being who, bit by a werewolf, is now tragically infected with the werewolf disease and metamorphoses into a beast every night or full moon. This werewolf is known as the “victimized werewolf” (Otten 165). A good natured member of society is forced, on a regular basis, to become a sinister beast that eradicates any previous resemblance, in personality and physical appearance, and replaces it with an indiscriminant urge to kill.
However, according to Charlotte Otten, editor of The Literary Werewolf an Anthology, not all werewolves can fit i...
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National Statistics Online. 08 Jan. 2004. National Statistics of U.K. 08 Mar. 2005
Power is an entity that is not given to a person, but is inalienable in all people. One must realize that it is not a matter of finding and achieving power, but instead, not letting it get taken away. Angela Carter’s The Company of Wolves and Marie de France’s The Lay of the Werewolf ventures into this idea of power, but specifically, into the role of control in a male-dominated society. Carter prologues her main story with several short stories about the nature of werewolves and relationships between mutating men and the women whom are expected to submit to them. Moreover, in both Carter and Marie De France’s stories, the werewolf acts as a shocking catalyst to urge the reader to consider why the beast of the tale is no longer just animal, but also part human. Above all, the werewolf serves as a symbol of the quintessential alpha male, and what contributes to his dominance and possible success or downfall.
Cooper, Helen. The Structure of The Cantebury Tales. Athens: The University Of Georgia Press, 1984.
In the Christian tradition, Satan is commonly accepted as a hideous and monstrous being in direct contrast to God’s graceful mercy, often a shadowy figure with little depth. Yet there exists another very gothic view of this figure, as demonstrated by Milton in Paradise Lost, of a long suffering villain who appears more tragic artist than ultimate deceiver. The Monk, by Matthew Lewis, makes use of more tragic and mythical elements to make something altogether different, a Dionysian figure. Lewis uses such descriptive speech, symbols, and themes all connected to Greek myth to present a chaos creating character who transgresses not only God, but societal boundaries. While transgressions have been profusely researched in Gothic literature, the Dionysian myth connected to the Daemon spirit have been overlooked. I will reveal how much the scene of Ambrosio’s first meeting with Satan draws upon myths, symbols, and perceptions of the Greek God, and furthermore why these connections exist and reinforce the gothic genre.
Davis, Roger. ""a white illusion of a man": Snowman, Survival, and Speculation in Margaret Atwood's "Oryx and Crake"." Hosting the Monster. Ed. Holly Lynn Baumgarter. 1st ed. New York, New York/United States: Rodopi, 2008. 260. Web. 28 May 2012.
In this research paper, I would like to focus on the idea of werewolves in our society. By using Cohen theory, thesis six we will be looking at how werewolves in our society have operated on a spectrum of fear and desire. We will be looking at how the ideal fear that once repelled us from the animalistic side of werewolves have become something in society that’s craved. We will also be looking at how werewolves have gone from looking monstrous to sexual appealing creatures in the media.
One of the many staples of horror fiction is the employment of a monster to aide in the fear the reader experiences. A monster gives the protagonists a tangible object to fear. When the fear is tangible the protagonists are able to be drawn into the story in a more concrete manner. The reader is also able to be included in the fear because they can get a full picture of what is scaring the main characters. Unlike ghosts or spirits, monsters provide a visual representation of the fear to be experienced. One pair of monsters stand out from the others, this is the wolfman and the werewolf. On the surface, both are seemingly the same character with a different name, but this paper is going to explore the differences between the wolfman and the werewolf as they appear in fiction and how their different manifestations relates to the characters in the story and those behind the fur. This writer believes that although there are many similarities behind the werewolf and the wolfman, there are a few differences in how the characters are portrayed. This difference is shown primarily in The Wolfman by Jonathan Maberry and The Cycle of the Werewolf by Stephen king.
The epoch of Medieval European history concerning the vast and complicated witch hunts spanning from 1450 to 1750 is demonstrative of the socioeconomic, religious, and cultural changes that were occurring within a population that was unprepared for the reconstruction of society. Though numerous conclusions concerning the witch trials, why they occurred, and who was prosecuted have been found within agreement, there remain interpretations that expand on the central beliefs. Through examining multiple arguments, a greater understanding of this period can be observed as there remains a staggering amount of catalysts and consequences that emerged. In the pursuit of a greater understanding, three different interpretations will be presented. These interpretations, which involve Brian Levack’s “The Witch-Hunt in Early Modern Europe,” Eric Boss’s “Syphilis, Misogyny, and Witchcraft in 16th-Century Europe,” and Nachman Ben-Yehuda’s “The European Witch Craze of the 14th to 17th centuries:
Canis Lupus, the Latin term for the “North American Wolf”. A meat eating mammal with the capability of weighing up to 180 pounds and reaching a height of sixty-three inches, the wolf is easily the largest member of the canine family. Over 500,000 wolves once lived in harmony, roaming the Northern Americas alongside the Native American tribes and the rest of the ecosystem. Wolves live in packs, a pack essentially being a family. While the average size of a pack is six to ten, the largest confirmed pack recorded in North America can be found in Yellowstone National Park where the “Druid Pack” numbers thirty-seven strong and counting. There have been alleged reports of a pack that attacked a small Russian town killing thirty horses in just four days. This pack numbered up to almost 400 members. Animal experts remain suspicious due to the fact that this number is almost fifteen times the size of an average sized pack. Wolves heavily rely on their pack. Every member of the pack has a specific job that benefits the pack, without the pack, death would be almost imminent. The pack is set up as a hierarchy, with an alpha male and an alpha female. The alphas get the best of everything, the best part of the kill, the best sleeping spot, and the breeding rights. When hunting, one member will scout ahead and will determine the weakest member of the herd. Once determined, the rest of the pack will chase the animal down and either takes it down on the run or chase it until it tires out. Unlike many predators in the animal kingdom, wolves eat their prey alive. While wolves are known for their spine tingling howls, the howl is not the only way they communicate. “Wolf Language” so to speak, consists of many grunts, snarls, growls, yips, and whines....
Trapped in the Count’s castle, the young English lawyer beholds a strange series of events, ranging from listening to ghostlike packs of wolves to witnessing flickering shadows as they sneak through the stonewalls of the estate. Yet, the most terrifying moment occurs when Harker disobeys the Count’s orders and falls asleep outside of his designated sleeping quarters, at which point he is visited by three lewd women ready to attack and seduce the mortal visitor. “There was something about them that made me uneasy, some longing and at the same time some deadly fear. I felt in my heart a wicked, burning desire that they would kiss me with those red lips” (Stoker 69), he admits. Together, this unholy trinity of women embodies an animalistic form that both seduces and horrifies the traveler — in his words; the attack was “honey-sweet (…) but with a bitter underlying the sweet” (Stoker
In Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are, the moon is an object that is depicted in many images that might often be overlooked. The readers of this story will often pay attention to the main action taking place in this story without noticing the significance that moon may represent about Max’s behavior, or rather, misbehavior and his encounter with the Wild Things. In common folklore, the presence of a full moon is known for being the cause of a man becoming a werewolf, or in other words, bringing out the beast in people. What many readers may not realize is that this seemingly simple children’s book may actually be a soft story of lycanthropy. Even John Cech’s analysis of this story in his book, Angels and Wild Things, points out Max’s
Word by word, gothic literature is bound to be an immaculate read. Examining this genre for what it is could be essential to understanding it. “Gothic” is relating to the extinct East Germanic language, people of which known as the Goths. “Literature” is defined as a written work, usually with lasting “artistic merit.” Together, gothic literature combines the use of horror, death, and sometimes romance. Edgar Allan Poe, often honored with being called the king of horror and gothic poetry, published “The Fall of House Usher” in September of 1839. This story, along with many other works produced by Poe, is a classic in gothic literature. In paragraph nine in this story, one of our main characters by the name of Roderick Usher,
Abrams, MH, et al. Eds. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. New York. W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1993.
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 1979, twenty-five million people were using illegal drugs. Most people wouldn’t usually associate drugs with the classic “Little Red Riding Hood” story, but Angela Carter takes a current issue in her time period and writes about it using the old children’s story. Angela Carter’s “The Company of Wolves” deals with the classic “Red Riding Hood” with one twist. Instead of a “big, bad wolf” there are multiple werewolves. There are three ways a man can become a werewolf. The ways are an ointment from the devil, being bitten by a werewolf and being born feet first. The only way to be sure if a man is a werewolf is his devastating eyes, similar to how it is possible to tell a drug addict by how sunken in their eyes are. Carter’s story reflects the battle with drug addiction between the 1960s and the 1970s.