Jeffrey Cohen is a professor of English and Director of Medieval and Early Modern Studies Institute. He specializes in many areas of research but he is famed for exploring monster; a subject that we will be looking at in this paper. I will be focusing on one of his seven theses of the monster culture by supporting his position with evidence from three different sources. In his work, 'Monster Culture,' Jeffrey Jerome Cohen introduces a new way of studying monsters in the context of the cultures in which they are found.…
In Jeffrey Jerome Cohen’s essay, “Monster Culture,” he explains the qualities of monsters…
This paper will examine Grendel as a human like figure; how his misfortune of being cast as an outcast may have affected his decision to attack the innocent. Grendel, a monster, and son to a jealous protective being; a being who lurked in the darkest corners of the earth. The two are said to have both exhibited humanlike qualities. So much so, that they can feel emotions, and communicate using noise. Grendel, an outcast to society lurks in the night killing the men in a nearby meadhall.…
Residential school, a gruesome institution that includes rape, torture and abuse. Residential schools have been around since the 19th century. They were created to assimilate aboriginal children into Euro-Canadian culture, and to essentially strip them of their native culture. In both the poem, “Monster” by Dennis Saddleman and the novel, Three Day Road by Joseph Boyden, the authors go in depth on the problems with residential schools. Saddleman explains how residential school obliterates native culture, while Boyden explains how the characters horrible experiences, ironically change them for the better.…
Psychopathy is a personality disorder manifested in people who use a mixture of charm, manipulation, intimidation, and occasionally violence to control others, in order to satisfy their own selfish needs (“Serial Murder”). This is exactly what killer Edmund Kemper used against his victims before committing numerous, heinous acts upon them and their corpora. Not only has Kemper been infamously used as an inspiration for many films and television shows, he also serves as a constant reminder to young women across the country to stay away from strangers. Like many literary characters we’ve read about such as Macbeth, The Co-Ed Killer has brought our nightmares to life starting when he was just a young child.…
The monster is an incorporation of the, “Outside, the beyond”(Cohen 7). Thus, it dwells “outside” or “beyond” the social, political, racial, economic, and sexual norms established by society. The fifth thesis is “the monster policies the borders of the possible”. Monsters are created in order to keep people from being “mobile” intellectually, sexually, and geographically. If one were to step outside their official geography, they risk being attacked by some monstrous border portal or even become a monster themselves (Cohen 16).…
In his writing, “Monster Culture (Seven Theses)”, Jeffrey Jerome Cohen argues that we no longer live in an age that uses Unified Theory, an age when we realized that history is composed of a multitude of fragments. In this writing, he has bound some fragments together to form a “monstrous body” and pushes his readers to reevaluate their cultural assumptions relating to those specific fragments. In his first thesis, “The Monster’s Body is a Cultural Body” Cohen explains that each monster has a certain culture and follows certain rules. The monsters are typically born within a certain cultural moment.…
There are several legends or just stories regarding monsters that we have known since we were children and they have frightened us since we were young into our early teenage years. But if we really think about it, what might these monsters represent or why do we even have monsters. Authors attempted to look into the world of monsters more and attempt to identify more of what the monsters could symbolize or what they can represent regarding us, humankind. In other words, the authors explain their perspectives on how do monsters and their existence affect us, how do they represent what we are here for and more. Using the articles “My Zombie, Myself: Why Modern Life Feels Rather Undead,” “Cursed by a Bite,” and “Monsters and Messiahs” I will help…
In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, the line between good and evil is blurred as a result of acts of cruelty. Victor Frankenstein played God, and yet, abandoned his creature. His inhumanity shaped his creation and bred their mutual suffering. Their fate is sealed from the very first act of cruelty: as it is the true creator of monsters. Yet, there is no clear-cut victim or perpetrator between the two main characters.…
In "Seven Monster Theses", Jeffery Cohen develops an idea that “monsters” are essential to society. In fact, they construct what is “normal”, “rational”, and “civilized”. Specifically, “monsters” are foundational to how we view ourselves. “Monsters” contain all the traits deemed unacceptable and odd. It can be concluded that every outlier is a “monster”.…
Monstrosity, defined as a grossly malformed animal, plant, or person would show the exact wording of the phrase. Understanding the exact term helps us identify Monster. Monsters, usually recognized as an imaginary creature described as typically large, ugly, and frightening, but they differ in classifications such as reanimated monsters, ecological monsters, human monsters, and technological monsters. The truth is, monsters come in different shapes and sizes. In this case we will identify and discuss a human freak of nature.…
Yet since Frankenstein never accepts his monster, while his monster gives man an unbiased chance at redemption, the doctor makes his name as the man-monster, while his creature’s preferred path in life is that of a good- natured monster-man…
A monster in a story is the one who seems to be bad, the one who wrecks everything and brings death onto a certain town, city, country, or people group. Monsters or monstrous characters have superhuman abilities and can be extremely powerful. The monster is usually perceived as the “bad guy” and the hero as the “good guy”. For forever people have picture the monster as this horrible scary creature; in Beowulf that is not the case though. Yes, Grendel and his mother are monsters in the story but Beowulf can also be considered a monster.…
Chosen Theses: Thesis 4: The Monster Dwells at the Gates of Difference It is known that monsters come in all shapes and sizes, from the stereotypical grotesque, menacing creatures to the seemingly innocent wolf in sheep’s clothing. Apart from appearances, monsters would also be created from cultural, political, racial, economic, sexual differences. With that said, all monsters dwell at the Gates of Difference, where differentiation is disapproved and abhorred. In the following essay, I will examine two iconic monsters, Medusa and Frankenstein’s Monster, their distinctions that separate or alienate them, and the significance of these differences in the becoming of said monsters.…