![]() As Baldick puts it, “the monster is one who has so far transgressed the bounds of nature as to become a moral advertisement” (Baldick 3) and thus physically demonstrating transgressions in these ways. This concept can be found in numerous literary examples, with immoral deeds such as envy, lust, arrogance, and disloyalty being characterized as monstrous. In this sense, Baldick suggests that a monster, at least in the nineteenth century, is a physical demonstration of a particular vice or transgression. When considering the root monstrare as mentioned earlier, Michel Foucault argues that “in a world created by a reasonable God, the freak of lunatic must have a purpose: to reveal visibly the results of vice, folly, and unreason, as a warning to erring humanity” (Baldick 2). ![]() Hyde, and several other literary works, it can be understood that perhaps the way readers are called to visualize the monsters in these texts and the ideas they show or represent is where the root is derived from.Īlthough the meaning of a “monster” in modern usage is typically related to the “frighteningly unnatural” or large dimensions of a being, Chris Baldick suggests that earlier usages characterize monsters by their morality, rather than their physical appearances in his book In Frankenstein’s Shadow: Myth, Monstrosity, and Nineteenth-Century Writing. Through analyses of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. When considering the monsters found in literature and the way they are portrayed, something we should consider is the way in which they help us understand the definition of a “monster”, especially in the context of its root monstrare. With this being said, one derivation of the term “monster” is from the Latin word monstrare, which means “to demonstrate” or “to show forth”. As a result, the term is extremely malleable and is used in a variety of different senses. Whether it's a 7-foot creature with violent intentions, a human-like creature with clear physical deviations, or simply a human with a repulsive heart – many people are likely to empathize these characterizations. ![]() The term “monster” has a connotation that is generally widely understood by almost everybody.
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