Role of The Behemoths

I found this past week's lecture to be one of the most thought-provoking and interesting thus far. I had never before stopped to analyze the important roles that monsters play in society, ones that they have in fact played for centuries. Ironically, I attended a Shakespeare class the very next day that dealt with the topic -which duly noted that the significance of monsters prevalent in our society today is congruent to their significance in Shakespeare's time. However, there is a substantial difference between what exactly classified a monster which I would like to explore today.

Back then, monsters, or "demonstrators" as they can be etymologically labeled, posed as explanations for unexplainable things. More often, they were seen as messages to be decoded by humans, from God. This approach can be seen through the words and images of Ambroise Pare in his renowned text, On Monsters and Marvels. The text chiefly dealt with the birth defects children would endure but attempted to prove that: “Monsters are things that appear outside the course of Nature (and are usually signs of some forthcoming misfortune), such as a child who is born with one arm, another who will have two heads, and additional members over and above the ordinary.”

An article which summarizes the book, cites the causes for these deformities as being: "The Glory of God; The Wrath of God; Too much seed; Too little seed; Corrupt seed; Mingling of seed; Indecent posture by the expectant mother; A narrow womb; A blow to the mother; Demons; Devils; and finally, The mother's imagination." These malformations seen in children, animals, etc, were pegged as monstrous. This system of belief differs greatly from what exists present day. As rational thinkers drowned the world in their evidential claims, culture evolved to understand that these malformations or monsters, were in fact simple defects that the people of their time could just not explain.

The shift monsters took is an interesting one; they started to become fictional creatures, ones seen in books, graphic novels, movies, songs, etc. They now exploit certain social principles, fears, norms, and are used to reflect the society in which they live. No more do they stand as explanations for that which cannot be proven - they now stand for things like: "cathartic journeys into our unconscious." (Chronicle article link) A conference is actually held annually which deals with the role of such creatures today!!!

Although the lecture did not emphasize the difference between the monsters in varying eras, it is still safe to say that their roles have remained not only important and influential, but imperative and necessary.

-Arina



Note: A very compelling read turned up in my research. Must Read!
Click Here for link.
Interesting and random quotes from the article:
-The liberal lesson of monsters is one of tolerance: We must overcome our innate scapegoating, our xenophobic tendencies.
-The "vacation" to where the wild things are ultimately helps us return to our lives of quiet repression.
-The medieval mind saw giants and mythical creatures as God's punishments for the sin of pride. For the Greeks and Romans, monsters were prodigies—warnings of impending calamity.
-Monsters can stand as symbols of human vulnerability and crisis, and as such they play imaginative foils for thinking about our own responses to menace.
-In a significant sense, monsters are a part of our attempt to envision the good life or at least the secure life. Our ethical convictions do not spring fully grown from our heads but must be developed in the context of real and imagined challenges. In order to discover our values, we have to face trials and tribulation, and monsters help us imaginatively rehearse. Imagining how we will face an unstoppable, powerful, and inhuman threat is an illuminating exercise in hypothetical reasoning and hypothetical feeling.