Why do monsters exist in these stories? Are they (...were they) realistic? What types of monsters exist in our modern-day literature/stories? Why do we continue to need monsters in our cultural tales? What is the perfect monster?
In a similar vein, how would you describe the heroes in these Anglo-Saxon texts? Are they different from the heroes you've read about before? How has our definition of "hero" changed in the modern day? Do we still need heroes? What purpose did they serve and do they now serve in our democratic world? Where have all the archetypal heroes gone?
Monsters exist in our world to frighten people, give them a sense of what could be out there, unknown, or perhaps undiscovered. This begs the question ‘which is scarier, the known or the unknown?’ I believe that the unknown is far more frightening than the known because you can protect yourself from the things you know are lurking. However, monsters are unrealistic, simply designed to add tension to kids’ stories. Today monsters take the form of murderers and serial killers, realistic figures that can haunt the imagination until no end. Monsters or antagonistic character are necessary to provide a plot, or maybe be a foil to the hero. A hero back in the Anglo-Saxon times was more often than not a god-like war veteran, wise enough in his ways to lead through dark times. I think a hero needs to have some weaknesses, a point of vulnerability subject to demise. In the beginning, heroes were just like monsters, developed for kid’s imagination, but I believe that at the end of the day, someone has to save the world, should it be Superman of Gandhi. The ancient hero has disappeared into disappointment. No longer do kids want to read about gods saving the world, but heroes that went through hardships to get to the top. No longer to kids say ‘I want to be like Hercules’, but rather ‘I want to be president’, a realistic hero of their own mind. No longer to kids listen to stories about heroes, they aspire to become one.
ReplyDeleteI personally agree with your statement as to the function of monsters and the role of heroes both in the present time and the stories of old. But going off of what you said about today's monsters being far more realistic, like serial killers, I would have to venture to say that the monsters of the past as well as their corresponding heroes are just as real, because they are symbolic interpretations of real foes and heroes. For instance, if you look at most earlier monsters, they tend to have very animallistic qualities, such as the Chimera, the minotaur, and Scylla, and even the dragon and Grendel. These creatures all have different qualities that come from animals, whether it be from snakes, wild cats, bulls, birds of prey, sharks, or wolves, these qualities can always be traced back to animals, and that is because in the days of ancient men these creatures had an actual ability to harm and terrorize human beings. Another example of these kinds of creatures would be Charbydis, the monster from the Odyssey that represents a whirlpool. These are all interpretations of creatures and circumstances that were something to be feared in the times that these stories were made, and so they made these monsters out of what they feared the most. Today, with the evolution of human technology and civilization, we are the rulers of animals and therefore most of our monsters, which leaves us essentially three things to be afraid of; the unknown, the weather, and other human beings. Thus today our monsters are made from people and events such as global warming and other natural disasters (as are often portrayed in the movies), aliens (the unknown), serial killers, and humanoid monsters, such as Dracula, the Mummy, and zombies. Grendel is a somewhat of a transition monster, created from a human figure and given some animal-like qualities, such as impenetrable scales. This touches on the idea that man is the monster in Beowulf. As for heroes, the same change applies. The older heroes needed bravery, strenght, cunning, and/or luck to survive their monsters, and so they were often given exaggerations of these kinds of traits in different combinations. Today's more human enemies are battled by more human heroes, which makes the more human enemies just as ferocious as the old ones when compared to their modern rivals. This goes to show that heroes and monsters are a reflection of human society and we still have them today because they exist in the fears manifested in our primitive human nature as well as our need for conflict in the stories we tell.
DeleteI agree with your ideas about modern day heroes, as well as the idea you presented about monsters being there to be feared. Taking it farther though, I think the main purpose of ancient monsters is to teach lessons to people. For instance, if you didn't want a kid to go into the woods, you told him there were wolves in there, and then they were too scared to go into the woods. Ancient monsters were especially terrifying because of the lack of knowledge we have today to explain environmental events, or dinosaur bones being found, so they made up monsters to explain them. I think modern monsters have lost that sense of imagination and explanation, and also the lesson teaching. As you said, they've become those serial killers and kidnappers that we as humans inflict on each other. Another main difference is that ancient monsters were significantly less human.. I think you are right in that heroes have become way less god-like in modern times, and have become inspirational entities. I think we do still need heroes because they give us someone to model and aspire to be, but all the archetypal heroes have faded to history.
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ReplyDeleteFrom the earliest of beginnings, man has had a desire to explain the seemingly inexplicable. Things that we now have scientific explanations for, be it natural disasters, disease or famine, took on a different reality in ancient times. Monsters existed to satisfy man's innate curiosity about his surroundings and although they were not a reality in physical sense, they were the manifestations of the fear filled realities of ancient times. The cultural tales we tell, even today, include monsters of all sorts. Although modern monsters such as corrupt politicians, terrorists and serial killers may not have bloody fangs and menacing claws, they still invoke the same feelings of fear and helplessness. Modern monsters exist, because of the innate regard for heroism within the human spirit. Whenever there exists monsters, no matter their size or strength, it is in our nature as people to bring a hero into fruition. The archetypal heroes of ancient tales have been replaced with heroes judged not by their brawn, but by their moral convictions and mental fortitude. These heroes, past and present, bring balance to the unpredictable and volatile world we live in.
ReplyDeleteMonsters were created in old literature for a specific purpose, which was to explain what could not be explained scientifically at the time. The people of England, at that time, left it up to literature to give them answers to these hard questions about life. Consequently, fictional characters and ideas arose as authors invented reasons and explanations for the inexplainable. Many people of that time took these explanations to heart. Especially, since their religion did not seem to have any other explanation. As a result monsters stemmed form these fictional inventions and became the ideal symbol for evil. The Anglo-Saxons already had idols for Gods in the Pagan religion, which were symbols of good, so it made sense to have a symbol for evil.
ReplyDeleteMonsters developed in ancient literature out of the innate fear that the people of the time felt about the world around them. To those ancient people, the world was a very strange and dangerous place, so anyone who could rise above and conquer worldly evils, such as monsters, was considered to be a great hero. Although the monsters were often over exaggerated in their size and ferocity, they were still typically based upon very real or perceived dangers that the people of the time had to face. In that sense, the heroes and monsters from ancient myths are much like the ones we write about today. Although the heroes and monsters in contemporary stories are often more realistic than those from ancient stories because we have since learned so much more about the physical world around us (making certain aspects of it, like wild animals and natural disasters, much less frightening), they are still forged out of that same innately human desire to overcome things we are afraid of. That is why literature will always have both monsters and heroes ingrained in its texts. As long as there are mysteries left within the infinite expanse of knowledge that characterizes our universe, there will always some level of fear regarding the unknown and, along with this fear, monstrous figures for great heroes to overcome.
ReplyDeleteMore often than not, monsters are placed in stories to serve as a form of entertainment for the readers. This is because monsters can be transformed into anything the author would like them to be since they are after all a figment of an author's imagination and it is because these monsters are a part of an author's creative process that we as readers find them so infinitely fascinating. More often than not these monsters aren't realistic but they can still reveal a truth about mankind as a whole through their actions and behaviors. For instance, in Beowulf, the dragon protecting the hoard symbolizes greed and Grendel's mother symbolizes vengeance and revenge. Sometimes the monsters that exist within our modern day stories aren't as archetypal as one would think but rather are symbolic monsters, such as Assef from the Kite Runner (a violent boy whose immense lack of inconsideration for other human beings provides conflict for the main characters of Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini).
ReplyDeleteIn contrast to the monsters, the heroes in older stories have shared the common qualities of bravery, courage, and loyalty. This is true even of Beowulf; he is brave and courageous because he chooses to fight off Grendel, his mom and the dragon when they all threaten Hrothgar's Heorot Hall and the land of the Danes, and he is loyal in the sense that he retains his loyalty to Prince Hygelac and the Land of the Geats from where he came. In modern times though, I think we are seeing more of a shift in the definition of "hero" in the sense that a hero needs not to be defined by physical prowess but rather by the moral actions he/she partakes in. A hero today doesn't have to fight off monsters in order to be called a hero but can earn this title by simply standing up for what's right and battling more realistic struggles. We still need stories about heroes today because they provide us with hope and instill within us a sense that greatness can be achieved, even by outsiders like us reading about someone else's success.
Monsters were created in literature to try and make sense of certain aspects of the world that were inexplicable and even frightening. Unlike our current society that allows us to turn to science for answers, people of this time period made up stories that fit their own logic as to why their world seemed the way it was. Of course these monsters that appear throughout old tales often amuse us due to their unrealistic nature, for the people of their time they were frightening. In class, we discussed that Grendel was a spin off of huge wolves that were truly a threat at that specific time period that would generate a reaction from the tale's audience. I think for our society, the modern-day monsters that frighten us in literature are not scary in appearance; the characters that are of our own human race, play mind games, and twist logic itself are what triggers a reader's fear. As for heros, they've developed from being phyically strong and brave people to being ones that take a stand and fight for what they believe in. They try to change the negative views of society and take all the wrong in their world and make it right.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with your first statement. While reading the poem, I noted that monsters were a way of explaining the unknown. They lived in a world of darkness, which left much to be explained. It is quite understandable why the people of this time period as well as the characters in Beowulf came to such conclusions. However, I believe that true modern-day monsters lie within that which we can't explain. One example of this would be sociopaths or psychopaths who commit crimes, feel no guilt, and don't have a motive for the crime which they committed. Another more abstract example would be a terminal illness such as cancer. We are so heavily dependent on science nowadays, but it isn't always able to come through for us or explain away everything. We've gotten so accustomed to having an answer at our fingertips for everything; however, when we are unable to do so, fear sets in.
DeleteHeroes are still very important today. While I agree that they have developed into people who are willing to "take a stand and fight for what they believe in", such as Martin Luther King, Jr. and Gloria Steinem, I also believe that we have many "everyday heroes" who are very invaluable. These everyday heroes include the following: firefighters, paramedics, doctors, police, etc. Not only do some of these occupations rely on brawn like warriors from the middle ages did, but it is also necessary that they be intelligent and able to think quickly on their feet.
Many of the other comments have pointed out how monsters served the purpose of explaining the unexplainable, an idea which certainly gains weight with monsters such as Charybdis, the nymph turned whirlpool. However, there are more to monsters than just scientific explanations waiting to be discovered. We all dream up monsters, they are the reason we bound up the basement stairs, or walk to the door just a bit faster at night. We all know nothing is waiting to grab us, or just on our heels and yet we still create these shadowy figures to haunt ourselves. I could list off theories all day to why we scare so easily; a millennium of training for when something actually did leap out the dark, a representation of personal demons, whatever you wish. But at the end of the day, humanities will still tuck there collective toes under the covers, just in case...
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ReplyDeleteMonsters in older literature were designed as a means to explain what could not be explained. Before connectivity between different parts of the world were achieve, much of what was out there was a mystery. In Anglo-Saxon England, much of this mystery was created by proximity to the sea. Sure, there were probably glimpses of marine life, but they were seen so irregularly, that they were often depicted as monsters. This is also a time before the development of modern science and before a means of research and classification was carried out. These monsters were realistic during the time period, because there was no existence of evidence, and thus, anything told by word of mouth or recorded could have been believed as truth. Now,in our modern day stories, monsters consist of more realistic figures that can provoke fear or danger due more to what is known to us. For example, in our society, criminals are known to be dangerous to us, and are used as the bad guy, rather than what could be dangerous simply because it is unknown. Despite our knowledge of the existence of criminals, their acts and the reasons for their acts remain a mystery, and their unpredictable nature is was causes them to be an example of an ideal monster. Heroes, back in the day were represented as almost god-like figures that may have acted as a representation of the perfect human-being as designed by the god of a specific belief system. Odysseus, Hercules, and Beowulf represented abilities that made them seem super-human. Today, the heroes in our society are figures that one can look up to and even aspire to be. In our society today, a firefighter or a doctor can be seen as a hero, and children, thus, may aspire to be one. The heroes of both time periods, despite their different natures, appear to act as inspiration to drive the direction of one's life. Whether one hears about Hercules or a doctor saving a life, the notion is spread that, it is possible to achieve our full potential and do something great if we work towards it and act with a moral conscience based on what is right in our society.
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ReplyDeleteMonsters are only successful if they can play upon the fears of the ones they attack. Death and destruction is an obvious fear of many people so old monsters take advantage of it. The monsters are often unrealistic because humans fear what they can't control. Humans are the dominant force in the world so creating a mundane monster does not have much affect. This led old story-tellers to stray towards the unknown to capture the imagination of the readers. Grendel and his mother represent the unrealistic monsters that prey upon the fears of the men. Since it was an older story, they strictly played upon the fear of death. Hrothgar was not worried about his hall being damaged. Instead, he feared the death of the people in the hall. The perfection of the monster is predicated upon their ability to strike fear in others. They need to be able to find their deepest fear and exploit it to the fullest of their ability. Death is not always a deepest fear and a truly great monster knows when to play on those other fears. For example, Bane knew Batman did not fear death left him alive and helpless. Batman feared Gotham City being destroyed and he could not help them so Bane left him in a cell with a tv to watch Gotham fall into chaos. Heroes are universal and do not evolve over time. The values of an Anglo-Saxon hero and Batman will be the same. They are willing to overcome their fears for the benefit of someone else. Beowulf is willing to overcome his fear of death and even accepts his death to remove Geatland of his dragon. The hero is definitely not gone but is drowned out by the evil in society. It is important to note we are learning about fictitious heroes of the past instead of actual people. There are plenty of fictional heroes in modern times and nearly every action movie is based upon a hero. It is much tougher to point out real life heroes because real heroes do not do good deeds for glory. They do not strive for personal gain and recognition is a form of personal gain.
ReplyDeleteMonsters exist simply because we need something to be afraid of. The monsters in Beowulf were somewhat realistic; They came out of their dwellings to terrorize the town and create sheer havoc. Furthermore, they took on certain characteristics that a human might possess. For instance, Grendel showed child-like fear, his mother displayed pure vengeance, and the dragon went mad for his stolen property. What makes a monster/ villain frightening is how well we can relate to them. The monsters in Beowulf are scary because we can see ourselves getting extremely upset over stolen possessions and wanting revenge on those who killed our child. The monsters are scary because we can see the monsters in ourselves. Additionally, the worst kind of villain is the one without motive because there is no reasoning with them. They just want to watch the world burn. It is this concept that made Grendel such a perfect antagonist in Beowulf. In contrast, the heroes in Beowulf are those who fight monsters without fear of death. Nowadays, the heroes fear death but fight anyway. We will always need heroes because we will always need people to look up to, but also because there will always be evil to be protected from.
ReplyDeleteThe perfect monster is one who actually believes that they are the hero. Their logic is so twisted and their views are so abnormal that they thing that by causing destruction, killing innocent victims, and promoting anarchy, they are actually doing the right thing. In modern days, a lot of the time the monster is not causing their harm by physical destruction and murder. They commence their evil by taking advantage of others, lying, and cheating their way through life. By this definition, terrorists and murderers aren't the only monsters, but some politicions, CEO's, and lawyers are the silent killers. Heroes have changed over time as well. The Anglo-Saxons used to look for pure strength and confidence (almost to the point of cockiness) in their heroes. Now, when we look for heroes we look for people who are emotionally strong. People who have overcome incredible adversity to make the most of a negative situation stick out a lot more than someone who "slays a monster." Although what we look for within a hero has changed, it's clear that we will always have a need for them.
ReplyDeleteMonsters exist in stories like Beowulf to create a sense of unknown. They can be either bad or good, when they are bad they exist to highlight the protagonist by making him look good, but also to show the conflicts that go beyond just monsters battling men. When they are good they exist to hold comparisons with the protagonist. In stories like Beowulf, yes I believe monsters are realistic, especially in that time frame from which it was written. That is because people were not as advanced, and did not know everything about what existed in the world. So, monsters that ate people were pretty realistic. The only difference they had from humans were there inhumane actions and qualities they possessed. In our modern day literature, however, since readers and authors are more knowledgeable about the world the presences of a flesh eating monster would be unrealistic. In our tales now and in the Beowulf time period monsters were needed in order to create villains and suspicion, the tales center around them and they help create positive characters. Without these elements tales would not have the appeal to readers. We need them to help pose questions about mankind and their ultimate goals. The perfect monster is one that is relatable, that has humanlike qualities, but its actions are inhumane. The difference of heroes in Beowulf versus the typical hero now is that heroes in Beowulf were the battle kings. They were the ones who were undefeated in battle and would constantly lead their nations to victory. Beowulf embodies that perfect hero. In modern days however, winning war does not make you a hero. You must have special powers, and be able save eight people at once. It is not all about war anymore, but now it is about defeated the villain in the best looking way possible. Heroes and villains will always be needed to fuel our imaginations and pose questions about the goals of both sides in humanity.
ReplyDeleteMonsters exist in stories because they are the fear of the unknown. They were realistic at the time because the author had to have a basis for Grendel, Grendel's mother, and the dragon. Although there has not been a monster like Grendel that has been discovered in real life, people can still get scared of the monsters hidden in the shadows. It's because most people are afraid of what has been undiscovered over what they know to be fact. In our stories today, there are murderers and serial killers which are more realistic to the reader which makes them scared that the monsters in literature today exist and could be around them. Monsters are needed in stories to progress the plot and give the hero something important to do like saving someone's life or killing the monster. Beowulf was a different heroes than other heroes in the other epics. He was almost completely human and did not have any powers granted to him by the Gods and was not protected by them. To me the heroes we have now days are veterans, police officers, fire fighters, and doctors. The definition of a hero has shifted to ordinary people who save lives and sometimes even risk their lives for what they believe in. Heroes play a major part in society today because people want to become them when they are older and instead of someone saying they want to be a God-like hero, they want to be police officers or fire fighters.
ReplyDeleteMonsters exist in these stories to show a contrast to the hero. Often times these monsters are exact opposites to the heroes. These monsters aren't realistic at all. They are extreme exaggerations of very human flaws. For example, Grendel's mother and the dragon both represent human flaws, except exaggerated to the extreme. Grendel's mother is a representation of revenge, a characteristic that was a huge part of the ancient anglo-saxon culture. The dragon represents gluttony, one of the mortal sins. These concepts are foils to Beowulf, a fair and level headed man who spread his wealth among his loyal followers. Modern day literature hosts the human villains. These monsters are mostly greedy and selfish, but are often 'flawed' with positive characteristics. We often use monsters in cultural tales to teach important lessons, or show a contrast against positive qualities. Most real monsters, who are inhuman, are only parts of children's stories because they effectively show a single flaw that needs to be portrayed as bad. The perfect monster is one who has no motive, no weakness, and one that shows no remorse and can not be punished. Most of all, the perfect monster is one that is very similar to the hero, an evil that makes you look for the evil in yourself.
ReplyDeleteMonsters exist in stories first to set a common enemy for the reader and the character, thereby drawing the reader in and secondly to point out flaws in certain characters or other faults. If a monster is similar to the reader, the reader feels uncomfortable with the defeat of it, pushing a point about the one who defeated it. If the monster is different from the reader, it could help point out a flaw in a different type of person or way of thinking. Monsters help to balance a story and make it an informative or thought challenging read. A perfect monster is one used by the writer to convey a central theme, either about itself, or the protagonist, or even the readers themselves. Nowadays, however, it seems like many of the monsters in literature we read are simply put in as an obstacle for the hero to defeat. Monsters have lost much of their purpose in stories.
ReplyDeleteSimilar to this, heroes from the old texts and heroes from newer texts are different. In texts like Beowulf, the hero is there to spread his name and earn fame by saving people or slaying a monster. On top of this, the heroes treat death with a nonchalance that modern heroes do not have. Modern heroes always seem to have an emotional struggle and enter a task unwilling, but resigned to their fate. However, heroes are always needed to save people. In a democratic society, it is extremely important to have the types of heroes who will do what they have to do, regardless of the consequences to themselves, out of their own free will.
A good story revolves around some kind of conflict and the reason monsters exist is to serve as the basis for the conflict of that story. To me, the perfect monster is the motiveless monster. A monster with no motive is the scariest because you cannot settle with them or do anything to stop them. If a monster wants treasure, you can just appease him with treasure. If a monster wants vengeance, you let him have his revenge, but a monster with who wants nothing but total and complete destruction will not stop at anything and that to me is a scary and effective monster. Grendel from Beowulf meets this criteria because ultimately, he had no motive. He did not want treasure, he did not want the throne or land, and it did not matter how many people he killed. He would always be back the next evening for more, and would have continued doing so had he not been killed by Beowulf. Heroes on the other hand, are the call to the resolution of conflict in stories. I believe that in modern stories the monsters have changed and in turn, so have the heroes. Because the heroes of the story are meant to address whatever the evil may be in their story, if the source of evil changes, so must they. We no longer really have stories about monsters like dragons and beasts like in Beowulf. Rather, now our stories revolve around more subtle evils like terrorism and drug wars. So in turn, our heroes are no longer majestic warriors, but rather they are fire fighters or policeman or soldiers equally as important, but not as iconic.
ReplyDeleteThe monsters in older literature are placed there for a variety of reasons. Readers must be careful of making generic statements about their placement in every story to, for example, explain the inexplicable. Also, as Beowulf critics did after Tolkien's essay, it is important not to associate the monsters with blanket metaphors for humans and their qualities. Every story with elements of fantasy are intended to communicate a message about the real, human world.(Except for perhaps the rare occurence of a simplistic indulgence in the form of just an adventure story about a monster) The relationship between the fantasy world and the real world is how an artist can portray this message. In Beowulf, the tragedy of the monsters is placed in the center of the story's plot. This is done to demonstrate that more than any monster or his rampage, human conflict is the most detrimental force to society. This is one example of a monster's role in literature. There may be many literary examples to support the claim that monsters are placed in stories to explain unknown concepts, but this is certainly not universal. What is universal is the human reaction to and relationship with the monsters; besides a few people, in the form of fear. This fear may be reflective of human fear of the world around them, and Old Testament God, or a number of other things. Overall though, it can represent human submission. Despite remarkable achievements in conquering the natural world, humans are still submissive to their own thoughts and to the ultimate power, death.
ReplyDeleteMonsters in stories exist for the soul purpose of bringing out the hero in literature. Beowulf would have been merely a muscular Geat unless Grendel was in the story. The concept of Grendel, a giant demon/beast that randomly attacked the halls of Heorot and ate men alive seems highly unlikely, but was probably a spin off of some creature or idea that the people of the time feared. Like modern-day monsters in literature (i.e. Voldemort in Harry Potter,) there probably is no evil wizard lurking in the shadows waiting to kill our parents- yet the idea of an unknown being,taking away loved ones is a common fear that many people have, so we use a mixture of reality (the human-like features of Voldemort) mixed with the idea of what we fear (a murderous villian.)Both Grendel and Voldemort have the similarity of being the perfect monster- has humanistic behaviors and relates to the main character in some form, yet are both pure evil in the sense that they will demolish any other life form.
ReplyDeleteSimilarly, the heroes in these Anglo-Saxon stories also share a commonality with modern day heroes: the traits that the culture values. People valued big, strong men, so they use those characteristics to create their hero, Beowulf. Our modern culture values knowledge and courage, which in turn, created the beloved Harry Potter. It's inevitable that heroes are needed in every culture and because of this, the hero/ monster saga will infinitely carry into future stories.
The goal of monsters in literature is to bring out fear in the reader. I don’t believe that monsters have ceased to exist: instead, they have changed to address more current fears. For example, if I were an Anglo-Saxon, then who would I be to argue that a dragon couldn’t burn down my village? In comparison, I can say with a fair amount of certainty that Grendel will not maul me on my way to school tomorrow. To clarify, our monsters have shrunk to meet today’s much more reasonable problems. Likewise, modern heroes have also shrunk to match the new monsters. Ultimately, the time of heroes like Beowulf is over; however, there will always be monsters, and there will always be heroes to fight them.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the concept of Evil or monsters exist in our stories for a very important reason. How can a story have a hero if the hero has nothing to combat. For example, would Beowulf even be admired by the reader and by his people if he had not accomplished heroic feets. Heroic feets can't even exist if there is nothing to triumph over. This concept of pure evil-one that has no feelings for others and doesn't care what becomes of his/her actions, but only seeks to benefit themselves- arises from the concept of pure good. A hero like Beowulf, as he is presented in the poem; pure and incoruptable, requires an individual to stand at the other end of the rope, to contrast his actions and oppose him. This is the essential element to a story; without it there can be no conflict, or resoloution. Monsters also exist to reflect the part of ourselves into a story that we despise, just as a hero exists to reflect that part of ourselves that we appreciate. In reality no one can be completly good or completely bad, we share these qualities. When we personify these qualities in a story we can then pit them against each other and reflect that inner conflict we all face at one time or another.
ReplyDeleteMonsters are present in this story because they're a neccessity in all heroic tales, they were needed to further the heorism of Beowulf and in this case they were mostly realistic though besides for Grendel's mom, had very little reason for attacking.
ReplyDeleteIn our modern world, one hero alone is not in such a high demand as it once was because we've developed such effective methods of battle. Heros are important in many daily activities though just not in the same way they once were. Throughout history there have been epic heros who travel the world, slaying all the monsters. This is rarely ever the case anymore so our modern day heros have become people in great power ie. our president.
You can never escape the idea of monsters. If it is not the kind of monsters in Beowulf with scales and eat people for fun, it is the human monsters who are generally wicked people. In old stories, the author just builds up the idea of a human monster into something you can visually see is scary. The kind of monsters in stories now are not big burly beats with large claws and bloodshot eyes hungry for human, but are more realistic and could be found all around us, for example a cereal killer. A perfect monster could either be two things, something that is just too bizarre and out there that you could never understand or something that is so unbelievably relatable that it scares you how much you have in common. I feel like the idea of a hero in Anglo-Saxon texts and present day stories are more or less the same. In both it is a person or a group saving or helping out others. Maybe in old stories though they could seem more heroic as they slay dragons and save a whole country. Now heroes could just be the person who saves their friend from taking the wrong path and saving their life. You can never escape the idea of needing a hero as long as there are monsters in the world. They are everywhere. A hero is nothing more then a person who is brave and helps out others.
ReplyDeleteThroughout literature's history, there has always been an obsession on creating the "perfect monster." A perfect monster, in my opinion, cannot be completely abstract and must be relatable to the reader. This villain also has to perfectly contrast the novel's hero. A great literary monster has to be realistic to the reader, which creates a fear that is applicable to each individual reader. The major villain must also be used as a foil against the major hero; in every way, they must be different.
ReplyDeleteConversely, a perfect hero has to be the epitome of good. They are always portrayed as uncorruptable, just, courageous, and great in every way. However, the definition of a hero can differ depending on perspective; one man's hero can be another man's villain. Our definition of a hero has drastically changed in the modern day. As Harry said, people are much more likely to aspire to be the president rather than Hercules.
I feel that monsters in ancient times were needed for more different reasons that why monsters are needed to day. In ancient times monsters explained the unknown, but as time went on the pertinence of monsters shed this meaning and instead represent the evil in society. I believe that the perfect monster is different for everyone; it's based on the individual. If monsters represent the evil within us then the perfect monster is exactly what we should not be. We need them because sometimes it is easier to understand what not to do rather than attain perfection.
ReplyDeleteIn Beowulf the heroes are allowed to be flawed. In today's society, we have this misconception that in order to be a hero we have to be flawless. Beowulf, on the other hand, is allowed to be human. He is defined as a hero simply because he follows the heroic code.
I believe the function of monsters in literature is different today than it was in the time of Beowulf. In the past, I think monsters were used as a way to depict things people couldn't explain and to display man's dominance over them. I think heroes have changed over time in that people look up to real people that they want to be instead of mythical, epic heroes. Nevertheless, I think heroes still play an important role in literature and society today.
ReplyDeleteMonsters are added in literature to add suspense to the storyline and an unknown element. When you have a hero who is fighting for common values and morals against an antagonist, it gives the reader a character to root for. We can all relate to struggling against a greater power, and by having a hero such as Beowulf fight and conquer all the monsters he is up against gives the reader a sense of hope. Also, I believe that monsters are added in literature so that they can be contrasted with the hero of the story, to make that hero seem even more divine. Monsters add a unique element to literature; they add characteristics of evil and the unknown. We had discussed in class which monster is more frightening, one with a motive or one without. I believe that a monster without a motive is most frightening because you cannot bargain with them; they have no reason for the terror that they cause. We touched on this idea when talking about Grendel’s attacks on Heorot and how he does not seem to have a clear motive.
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