Monsters and Men in Macbeth, Beowulf, Frankstien

Monsters and Men (Unit Paper)

For ages, we have wondered what is the difference between monsters and men that make them who they are. What are the characteristics that define a monster? Typically it’s the bad guy, the person or thing that comes into the story just to cause massacre or stand in the protagonist’s way. On the other Men are just defined as people who are the opposite of evil. There can be multiple people in a story who can be characterized as men. They don’t all necessarily have to be heroic to be considered as men. In the literature pieces of Macbeth, Beowulf and Frankenstein; there are countless instances where one might be able to distinguish between Monsters and Men. But they all fall in different genres. Macbeth is a story about a tragic hero; the fallen one or the man who brought misery upon himself. The monster can be identified as guilt. This guilt built stronger and stronger and led him to be his worst enemy. Beowulf is an epic about a hero (men) who takes on great challenges and adventures. His worst enemies are all the monsters that took place over the course of the story. Like: Grendel and his mother. This epic poem was made around the Anglo Saxon period. And lastly, Frankenstein is about a crazy doctor who created a monster. The monster name wasn’t Frankenstein, the doctor’s name was. That’s why the story is called “Frankenstein’s monster.” All these literary pieces are plotted so intelligently that it takes a moment before one can distinguish the monsters and the men.

Macbeth was a tragic hero. Traditionally, a tragic hero is someone who is born as an example of greatness but somehow along the way they acquire a flaw in character that brings about his own downf...

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...monster most envies because he does not have them. After finding Victor dead aboard Walton's ship, the monster goes further north planning to destroy himself and end the suffering that Frankenstein began when he created him.

Now it is a lot clearer to understand the whole point of “Monsters and men” or who these characters are. In these three astounding pieces of literature, it might not be easy to distinguish them, but their actions truly make them who they are. Like the monsters in Beowulf can’t be thought of as anything other than monsters; because of their characteristics. But in the case of Frankenstein’s monster; the monster is only named monster. At first he is just about as innocent as a newborn. It is the people who made him the way he is. Everyone has good and evil inside them, so no one might actually determine who the monsters and the men really are.