Monster Theory

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Monster Theory
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Monster

• monster   m?n st?r/ mon-ster
• noun 1.a legendary animal combining features
  of animal and human form or having the forms of
  various animals in combination, as a centaur,
  griffin, or sphinx. 2. any creature so ugly or
  monstrous as to frighten people. 3. any animal or
  human grotesquely deviating from the normal
  shape, behavior, or character. 4. a person who
  excites horror by wickedness, cruelty, etc. 5.
  any animal or thing huge in size. 6.Biology. a.
  an animal or plant of abnormal form or structure,
  as from marked malformation or the absence of
  certain parts or organs. b. a grossly anomalous
  fetus or infant, esp. one that is not viable.
  7.anything unnatural or monstrous. adjective
  8.huge enormous monstrous a monster tree.
• Origin 12501300 ME monstre lt L monstrum
  portent, unnatural event, monster, equiv. to
  mon(ére) to warn -strum n. suffix
• Related forms
• monsterlike, adjective
• Synonyms 4. fiend, brute, demon, devil,
  miscreant.

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• He had now seen the full deformity of the
  creature that shared with him some of the
  phenomena of consciousness, and was co-heir to
  him of death and beyond these links of
  community, which themselves made the most
  poignant part of his distress, he thought of
  Hyde, for all of his energy of life, as something
  not only hellish but inorganic.
• ---Stevenson (100)

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Cohens 7 Theses (1996)Jeffrey J. Cohen is
associate professor of English and human sciences
at George Washington University. He is the author
of Of Giants Sex, Monsters, and the Middle Ages
(1999) and Medieval Identity Machines (2003).

• 1. Monsters body Cultural body
• 2. Monster always escapes
• 3. Monster is harbinger of category crisis
• 4. Monster dwells at Gates of Difference
• 5. Monster polices borders of the possible
• 6. Fear of monster really a sort of desire
• 7. Monster stands at threshold of becoming

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1. Monsters Body Cultural Body

• Monster embodies the cultural milieu of the time
  period.
• Classic monsters tend to evolve/adapt to fit the
  needs of their own time periods.

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1. Monsters Body Cultural Body

• Zombies, for example, have been seen as
  representing the slow, deliberate advances of the
  great unwashed masses, a threat to wealthy,
  conservative government. Historically, zombie
  films appear more frequently as a response to,
  and threat toward, conservative administrations.

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1. Monsters Body Cultural Body

• Vampires, on the other hand, represent the
  wealthy and aristocratic a threat to liberal
  government. Typically, vampire films appear more
  frequently as a response to, and threat toward,
  liberal administrations.

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2. Monster Always EscapesFairy tales are more
than true not because they tell us that dragons
exist, but because they tell us that dragons can
be beaten. G.K. Chesterton

• Monsters are resilient creatures because we
  cannot really rid ourselves of the darkness.
• It is a fact that cannot be denied the
  wickedness of others becomes our own wickedness
  because it kindles something evil in our own
  hearts.
• Knowing your own darkness is the best method for
  dealing with the darknesses of other people.
• Understanding does not cure evil, but it is a
  definite help, inasmuch as one can cope with a
  comprehensible darkness.
• -Carl Jung

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3. Monster is a Harbinger of Category Crisis

• Western society relies heavily on binary logic
  (good/bad, human/animal, etc.).
• Monsters defy binary logic to our horror.
• We are frustrated that we cannot categorize them
  Frankensteins monster is literally pieced
  together from multiple sources. He doesnt fit.

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4. Monster Dwells at the Gates of
Difference

• Monster is the other.
• Monster is not like us. Monster is marginalized,
  ostracized.

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Movie Villainsas ranked by the American Film
Institute 2005

• 1. Dr. Hannibal Lecter (in THE SILENCE OF THE
  LAMBS)
• 2. Norman Bates (in PSYCHO)
• 3. Darth Vader (in THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK)
• 4. The Wicked Witch of the West (in THE WIZARD OF
  OZ)
• 5. Nurse Ratched (in ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOOS
  NEST)
• 6. Mr. Potter (in ITS A WONDERFUL LIFE)
• 7. Alex Forrest (in FATAL ATTRACTION)
• 8. Phyllis Dietrichson (in DOUBLE INDEMNITY)
• 9. Regan MacNeil (in THE EXORCIST)
• 10. The Queen (in SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS)

• 11. Michael Corleone (in THE GODFATHER PART II)
• 12. Alex De Large (in CLOCKWORK ORANGE)
• 13. HAL 9000 (in 2001 A SPACE ODYSSEY)
• 14. The Alien (in ALIEN)
• 15. Amon Goeth (in SCHINDLERS LIST)
• 16. Noah Cross (in CHINATOWN)
• 17. Annie Wilkes (in MISERY)
• 18. The Shark (in JAWS)
• 19. Captain Bligh (in MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY)
• 20. Man (in BAMBI)

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5. Monster Polices Borders
of the Possible

• Monster is a symbol of punishment for going
  against societal taboos.
• What are our societal taboos? Our monsters?

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6. Fear of Monster is Really a Sort of Desire

• We can project our own needs (sex and death
  drives) on them.
• Since the monster is disposable, we can kill off
  the fears of those parts of ourselves without
  guilt. (unfortunately, as seen in point 2, we
  dont really rid ourselves of them.)

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• The Victorian era was known for its sexual
  repression. And Dracula A guy who had large
  fangs he plunged into virtuous white maidens-
  drawing blood- and death. How to kill him? A
  stake to the Heart.

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7. Monster Stands at Threshold
of Becoming

• We did it to ourselves.
• We created them, and they are lurking behind our
  doors.

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The Most Famous Villain of all Time?
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Paradise Lost

• Paradise Lost is an epic poem by the 17th-century
  English poet John Milton. The poem concerns the
  Judeo-Christian stories of the Fall of Lucifer
  and the Fall of Man the temptation of Adam and
  Eve by Lucifer (later named Satan) and their
  expulsion from the Garden of Eden. Milton's
  purpose, stated in Book I, is "to justify the
  ways of God to men."

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• The protagonist of this epic is the fallen angel,
  Satan. Seen from a modern perspective, it may
  appear to some that Milton presents Satan
  sympathetically, as an ambitious and proud being
  who defies his creator, omnipotent God, and wages
  war on Heaven, only to be defeated and cast down.
  Indeed, William Blake, a great admirer of Milton
  and illustrator of the epic poem, said of Milton
  that "he was a true Poet, and of the Devil's
  party without knowing it. Some critics regard
  the character of Lucifer as a precursor of the
  Byronic hero.

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• The latter half of the twentieth century saw the
  critical understanding of Milton's epic shift to
  a more political and philosophical focus. Rather
  than the Romantic conception of the Devil as the
  hero of the piece, it is generally accepted that
  Satan is presented in terms that begin
  classically heroic, then diminish him until he is
  finally reduced to a dust-eating serpent unable
  even to control his own body.
• - Wikipedia

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Paradise Lost and Frankenstein
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• The influence of Milton's Paradise Lost can be
  seen directly from the epigraph of the 1818
  edition of Frankenstein
• "Did I request thee, Maker from my clay to mould
  me man? Did I solicit thee, from darkness to
  promote me?"
• The spirit of Paradise Lost permeates
  Frankenstein throughout the novel. At one point
  the monster says
• "The fallen angel becomes a malignant devil. Yet
  even that enemy of God and man had friends and
  associates in his desolation I am alone"

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• Three parallel themes from the two works arise
  from these quotes
• The molding of a living being from clay
• The growth of malice and the desire for revenge
• The isolation of the hostile being and the
  consequent increase of his hostility
• It is easy to establish Mary Shelley's knowledge
  of Paradise Lost. The work was admired in the
  Godwin household. Mary and Percy read it in 1815
  and again in November 1816. Her journal states
  that Shelley read it aloud while she was writing
  Frankenstein. She even incorporated Paradise Lost
  into the novel by having it be one of the three
  works that the monster studies. The monster finds
  a correlation between his condition and the novel
  when he states
• Like Adam, I was apparently united by no link to
  any other human being...I was wretched, helpless
  and alone. Many times I considered Satan as the
  fitter emblem of my condition.

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• Other echoes of Paradise Lost are as follows
• Frankenstein hopes to be the source of a new
  species, but ironically his creature evolves into
  a self-acknowledged Satan who swears eternal
  revenge and war upon his creator and all the
  human race. The monster reflects that Hell is an
  internal condition which is produced and
  increased through loneliness. His only salvation
  is the creation of a mate, his Eve.
• In the later part of the book, Frankenstein
  refers to the monster in terms used in Paradise
  Lost the Fiend, the Demon, the Devil, and
  Adversary. Both master and creature are torn by
  their internal conflicts from misapplied
  knowledge and their sense of isolation.
• Paradise Lost and The Metamorphoses were two of
  the sources of Mary Shelley's inspiration for
  Frankenstein she also heavily referenced the
  story of Prometheus.

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Frankenstein The Modern Prometheus

• The subtitle The Modern Prometheus refers to the
  figure in Greek mythology who was said to have
  first created Man from clay. In order to help
  Man, Prometheus stole fire from Zeus.
• Man was given an advantage over the animals since
  fire allowed man to cook food, keep warm, and
  make weapons and tools.
• Prometheus was severely punished by Zeus who
  chained him to a rock in the Caucasus. Every
  night, Prometheus was visited by an eagle who ate
  his liver. During the day, however, his liver
  grew back to its original state.

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Prometheus
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• Victor Frankenstein can indeed be seen as the
  modern Prometheus. He defies the gods by creating
  life himself. Instead of being the created,
  Victor takes God's place and becomes the creator.
  Just as Prometheus, Victor gets punished for his
  deeds. He is, however, punished by his creation
  whereas Prometheus was punished by the god who he
  stole from.

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Victor Frankenstein

• Frankenstein refers to Victor Frankenstein, the
  doctor, not the monster he creates as so many
  movies have suggested.

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• A likely interpretation of the name Victor
  derives from the poem Paradise Lost. Milton
  frequently refers to God as "the Victor" in
  Paradise Lost, which Shelley obviously sees
  Victor as playing God by creating life.
• In addition, Shelley's portrayal of the monster
  owes much to the character of Satan in Paradise
  Lost indeed, the monster says, after reading the
  epic poem, that he sympathizes with Satan's role
  in the story.
• Victor was also a pen name of Percy Shelley's, as
  in the collection of poetry he wrote with his
  sister Elizabeth. There is speculation that one
  of Mary Shelley's models for Victor Frankenstein
  was Percy, who at Eton had "experimented with
  electricity and magnetism as well as with
  gunpowder and numerous chemical reactions," and
  whose rooms at Oxford were filled with scientific
  equipment.
• Could Victor be considered a monster?

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So Whos the Greater Monster?The Monster or the
Creator of the Monster?Here is someone who
created a monster.
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Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley1797 1851

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• She was the second child of the well-known
  feminist, philosopher, educator, and writer Mary
  Wollstonecraft and the first child of William
  Godwin, the famous English philosopher, novelist,
  and journalist.
• She was married to the famous poet, Percy Bysshe
  Shelley.

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• William Godwin (1756 1836) was an English
  journalist, political philosopher and novelist.
• Godwin featured prominently in the radical
  circles of London in the 1790s. In the ensuing
  conservative reaction to British radicalism,
  Godwin was attacked, in part because of his
  marriage to the pioneering feminist writer Mary
  Wollstonecraft in 1797

Marys Father
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• William Godwin (1756-1836) was the founder of
  philosophical anarchism.
• In his An Enquiry Concerning Political Justice
  (1793) he argued that government is a corrupting
  force in society, perpetuating dependence and
  ignorance, but that it will be rendered
  increasingly unnecessary and powerless by the
  gradual spread of knowledge. Politics will be
  displaced by an enlarged personal morality as
  truth conquers error and mind subordinates
  matter. In this development the rigorous exercise
  of private judgment, and its candid expression in
  public discussion, plays a central role,
  motivating his rejection of a wide range of
  co-operative and rule-governed practices which he
  regards as tending to mental enslavement, such as
  law, private property, marriage and concerts.
• Epitomizing the optimism of events in France at
  the time he began writing, Godwin looked forward
  to a period in which the dominance of mind over
  matter would be so complete that mental
  perfectibility would take a physical form,
  allowing us to control illness and ageing and
  become immortal.

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• He was a brilliant man
• He wasnt a brilliant father
• He married a shrew who had her own children, and
  she didnt like Mary.
• She made Mary do all the dirty work.
• Finally, they sent Mary off to Scotland to live
  with another family who was actually pretty nice.

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• Mary Wollstonecraft (1759 1797) was an
  eighteenth-century British writer, philosopher,
  and feminist. During her brief career, she wrote
  novels, treatises, a travel narrative, a history
  of the French Revolution, a conduct book, and a
  children's book. Wollstonecraft is best known for
  A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792), in
  which she argues that women are not naturally
  inferior to men (!?), but appear to be only
  because they lack education. She suggests that
  both men and women should be treated as rational
  beings and imagines a social order founded on
  reason.

Marys Mother
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• I do not wish women to have power over men but
  over themselves.
• If women be educated for dependence that is, to
  act according to the will of another fallible
  being, and submit, right or wrong, to power,
  where are we to stop?
• No man chooses evil because it is evil he only
  mistakes it for happiness, the good he seeks.
• It appears to me impossible that I should cease
  to exist, or that this active, restless spirit,
  equally alive to joy and sorrow, should be only
  organized dust -- ready to fly abroad the moment
  the spring snaps, or the spark goes out, which
  kept it together. Surely something resides in
  this heart that is not perishable -- and life is
  more than a dream.
• -Mary Wollstonecraft

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• The great feminist hero died ten days after
  giving birth to Mary Shelley.
• Mary may have grown up feeling responsible for
  her mothers death.

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Its rumored that Percy wooed Mary at her
mothers gravesite. HOT!
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Other Scandalous Bits about
The Courtship

• Percy was married to Harriet Shelley (with whom
  he had a daughter) while he courted Mary.
• Mary was 17 when their relationship began.
• They tried to elope while he was still married to
  Harriet. Percy set up a group of friends who
  would share everything (including sexual
  partners). He took on Marys step-sister
  Claire. Mary refused to participate- maybe
  because she was pregnant.

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The Infamous TripMary, Percy, a challenge,
and that cad Byron
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Some Highlights

• Mary brought her new son along as well as her
  step-sister/woman-who-had-slept-with-her-husband-a
  nd-was-now-pregnant-with-Byrons-son, Claire, and
  other intellectuals.
• They all challenged each other to a ghost story
  contest.
• Mary was the only one who took the contest
  seriously.
• Her entry was based on a dream she had.
• She was only 19.
• Pics of Claire and Byron

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The Winning Contest Entry
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• A chilling and brilliant tale of creation gone
  horribly awry written by a young woman who was
  probably still nursing the baby son she had just
  created.

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Upon Returning Home

• Marys older half-sister, Fanny, took her own
  life.
• Percys wife (yes he was still married),
  Harriet, drowned herself in Hyde Park.
• Percy and Mary married.

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And After that

• Mary had some more children.
• Most of Marys children died (shed lost her
  first already the one who accompanied her on the
  trip was her second. He died after they
  returned.)
• Percy drowned at age 29.
• She raised her remaining son, Percy Jr., with
  love and devotion. They were close.
• Eventually, she got sick and died at age 54.

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The Premise of Frankenstein

• Victor creates a monster.
• He abandons his monster.
• His monster is disobedient.
• His monster destroys what Victor loves.

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• Perhaps Mary Shelley looked down at that creation
  of hers and was terrified.
• Perhaps ones parents often look down at their
  own creations, terrified that they will destroy
  them.
• But you would never wreak havoc on your parents
  lives, right?

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But Her Legacy Lives on