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What makes a monster
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Monster The term ‘monster’ has been around for millenniums. Throughout history, people have made their own perceptions about monsters. What are they? Are they real? For some, the term monster is only a figment of speech, for others it goes into a whole other spectrum. Monsters change based on theory, belief, perception, myths, and reality. Everyone has their own expression of what a ‘monster’ is. I have my own thoughts on what a monster should be classified as; I have based my perception on my knowledge and learned experience. What is a monster? According to Webster Dictionary, monsters are portrayed as scary, creepy or evil. They are incontrollable, and settles in our imagination (Webster). I believe that the ultimate monster lies within our religion. The devil makes his appearance everywhere we make decisions. The devil is the base line for all monsters, in my opinion. I believe in God and the devil; therefore, I see the devil as an evil spirit. When he convinced Adam and Eve to consume fruit from the tree, it showed that he is manipulative and very strong. With every temptation, he makes us …show more content…
The world today is full of criminals; more promptly, murderers, sexual abusers, and the mentally ill are what fall under the ‘monster’ category. The fear that these criminals put into our communities goes beyond any mythical monster there is. Most of us, are scared of death; therefore, we will do anything to keep ourselves and others safe. This is where the manipulative characteristic come into play. When being threatened, it causes us to freely give ourselves up. With sexual abusers, we will let them abuse us so we can keep the life we live. Allowing someone to force sex is easier to let happen opposed to being killed. The sickness of these people are incredibly horrifying. It’s never known what’s going to happen next. Putting fear into others is another ‘monster’
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.
In Jeffrey Jerome Cohen’s essay, “The Monster Theses,” he analyzes the characteristics of a "monster" and explores the course in which they are created. He interprets monsters creation in six different ways; claiming initially that they are symbols and representations of culture. "The monster in an incorporation of the outside." (Cohen, 460). Cohen defines the monster as an outsider to the cultural world in which they are. "The monster is a difference made flesh" (Cohen, 459), Cohen describes how the difference are what makes us human or "flesh."
“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
...comes God and Adam, the perfect beings and creator which are all that the monster is not. They are human, pure and unadulterated, while he is a mash of parts from nowhere, his humanity was lost when his creator cast him aside when he was horrified with what had happened. Sound familiar? Unfortunately for the Demon his actions in these scenes draw a line closer to the Satan side of the story.
dictators or people who behave in a bad way. The idea of a monster is
Monsters are symbols and representations of a culture. They exist because of certain places or feelings of a time period. Monsters are “an embodiment of a certain cultural moment”. Author of Grendel, John Gardner, and author of Frankenstein, Mary Shelley, both create a monster to represent something larger than itself in order to have the reader reflect on their “fears, desires, anxiety, and fantasy” in society, which is explained in Jefferey Cohen's Monster Culture (Seven Theses). The latest trend in monster media, zombies, also fit into Cohen's theses on what a monster is.
Throughout history we see monsters taking many different shapes and sizes. Whether it be a ghoul in the midst of a cold nightly stroll or a mass genocide, monsters are lurking everywhere and our perception of what monsters truly are, is enhancing their growth as a force with which to be reckoned. Fear of the unknown is seen throughout time, but as humans progress we are finding that things we once were afraid of we are less frightening than they once were. Monsters can evoke fear in their targeted victims rather than physically harm their victims. For instance, every year a new horror film is released with the next scary beast, but why do we call something a monster even if we know it is not real? Even certain people and creatures are classified as monsters, but are they really monsters, or do their actions speak of monstrous doings? In his article and book chapter Monsters and the Moral Imagination and chapter 5 of On Monsters, Stephen Asma suggests that monstrosity, as we know it, is on the rise as humans progress, and how we perceive monsters can often define monstrosities in itself, providing evidence as to why monster cultures are on the rise, and showing how human progress has evolved our perception of how we think on the topic that is monsters.
In "Monster Culture," Cohen widely talks about and investigates monsters regarding the way of life from which they climb. Keeping up the formal tone of a scholastic, he battles that monster climb at the intersection of a society, where contrasts develop and nervousness increases. The beast is an exemplification of distinction of any quality, whether it be ideological, social, sexual, or racial, that rouses trepidation and instability in its inventors. The creature or monster is habitually an irritating half breed that challenges categorization its hybridism defies nature. Yet despite the fact that there are unreliable monsters, real individuals can get to be monsters as well. Keeping in mind the end goal to bring oddity under control, the individuals who submit to the standard code of the day bestow huge personalities to the individuals who don't. Nervousness is the thing that breeds them and characterizes their presence. In this manner placing the beginning of creatures, Cohen strives to uncover our way of life's qualities and inclinations. For the larger part of the article, the monster is just the subject of our examination, an extraordinary animal under our investigation.
Knight, Zelda G. "Sexually Motivated Serial Killers And The Psychology Of Aggression And "Evil" Within A Contemporary Psychoanalytical Perspective." Journal Of Sexual Aggression 13.1 (2007): 21-35. Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection. Web. 1 May 2014.
monster and there is no such thing as a monster. The same goes for the
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.
Monsters are the physical embodiment of fear. Monsters are the physical embodiment due to a wide variety of reasons. The most important being: Monsters’ apparent invulnerability/incredible strength, represent the bad part of society, most often look ugly, represent evil/nightmares itself, are intelligent, and some deviate from the norms are the reasons why monsters are the physical embodiment of fear. Monsters’ incredible characteristics are what strike fear into the hearts of others. In many myths, monsters are a weakness to societies. For instance, the heroes of Rome fight these monsters in order to overcome them which is the symbolic overcoming of weakness by the community. The fear monsters represent is primarily human fear as monsters are generally on good terms with animals and human fear is far deeper than animal fear.
According to Merriam Webster’s dictionary, a monster is a “strange or horrible imaginary creature”. But monsters don’t necessarily need to be fictional; even humans can be monsters. The only thing that distinguishes us from fictional monsters are our appearances, human-monsters are hard to detect. Therefore, it’s easy to treat people based on their appearances since the human mind gets deceived by looks.
Monsters can come in various physical forms, but all monsters share the same evil mentality. A Monster is a being that harms and puts fear within people. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is a prime example of how appearance does not determine whether a creature is a monster or not. In the story, Victor Frankenstein tries to change nature by creating a super human being. The being appears to be a monster. Victor becomes so obsessed with his creation and then rejects it. Victor is the real monster because of his desire for power, lack of respect for nature, and his stubbornness.
A monster is defined as an imaginary creature that is typically large, ugly, and frightening. By this definition, Victor’s creature who is depicted to be eight feet tall and hideous