female monsters in literature

female monsters in literature

Grendel’s mother is the symbol of Cain from the Bible. The female monster’s body is transformative and transgressive, For the better half of the era, women were seen as pure, pious and innocent. We all have things that scare us and that we find creepy or uncanny. The novel is littered with passive women who suffer calmly and then expire: Caroline Beaufort is a self-sacrificing … In most versions of the mythos, Medusa is beheaded by Perseus, who watches her mirror image in his shield to protect himself from looking at her. The Monstrous Feminine: A Portrait of Female Sexuality in Irish Gothic Literature Donna Mitchell is an English Literature PhD student of Mary Immaculate College, University of Limerick. Beware! The most subversive female characters in Lawrence’s oeuvre are the Brangwens of The Rainbow. Victor Frankenstein felt abandoned and had a void because his mother died. Perhaps the most notorious witch trial of the 16th Century. The Pendle Witches. 90-98; reprinted in The Endurance of "Frankenstein": Essays on Mary Shelley's Novel, ed. In the hidden high-security government laboratory where she works, lonely Elisa (Sally Hawkins) is trapped in a life of isolation. She usually appeared right before a disaster! A Field Guide to the Eccentric Creatures of Classic Children’s Literature from Huffington Post. GOTHIC literature of the nineteenth century was deeply concerned with threats to masculinity. I am also quick to point out that pictures that portray rakshasas as blue are typically euphemistic, for blue stands for the darkness of a thundercloud, and yes, a thundercloud is black. They rated each monster by Appearance v Powers v Evil Intent. IMDb says that the movie is “ An other-worldly fairy tale, set against the backdrop of Cold War era America circa 1962. Every female entrant undergoes the same storyline of calm suffering and eventually inevitable death throughout the novel. 1. In the hidden high-security government laboratory where she works, lonely Elisa (Sally Hawkins) is trapped in a life of isolation. Mobile Menu Patrick Bateman, Humbert Humbert, Tom Ripley, Raskolnikov. Read More About Classic Monsters. In the course, taught by her mentor Elaine Treharne, the Roberta Bowman … Overall as a female character, she wasn't focused on being pretty and she wasn't afraid to play with the boys and get messy. ... but ‘as with all other stereotypes of the feminine [the female monster] is defined in terms of her sexuality’ (Creed 1993, p.3). In this classic gothic novel, Victor Frankenstein, pushed by a desire for... 2. My teaching of Frankenstein is indebted to the work of the literary scholar Anne Mellor, who argues that Frankenstein is, in fact, a feminist novel. All women in this epic are different, but all of them help to define the role of the ideal woman. Be very, very ware! An aura of mystery has always surrounded this creature. It offers important feminist rereadings of many of the major texts by women writers in the 19th century. Bela Lugosi with Frances Dade in Dracula (1931). The following female monsters, some of my personal favorites from nineteenth- and twentieth-century literature, tell us that both monsters and human beings are more complicated than we might assume. Used by permission. Frankenstein. Overall as a female character, she wasn't focused on being pretty and she wasn't afraid to play with the boys and get messy. Female Gothic Ellen Moers In Literary Women: The Great Writers (New York: Doubleday, 1976; rpt. Or, maybe the Mummy, Dr Jekyll or a rampaging ape. These classic movie monsters are obviously male. The same thing goes for more recent horror villains: Freddy, Jason and Michael are monstrous men who don’t even need last names to bring to mind the slice and dice approach to life. But there are plenty of female monsters. God condemned him because of Cain and Abel. Monsters, he says, are “cultural constructions of the terrible that define what it is we subconsciously fear and what it is we’re told to hate or love.”. THE HARPYIAI (Harpies) were the spirits (daimones) of sudden, sharp gusts of wind.They were known as the hounds of Zeus and were despatched by the god to snatch away (harpazô) people and things from the earth.Sudden, mysterious dissappearances were often attributed to the Harpyiai. During the Victorian era, there was great controversy over the roles of women and what constituted the ideal woman. To tackle this question, I’d like to focus on the origins of two popular female monsters, Lamia and the Sirens, and explore how they became associated with monsters, in both antiquity and more modern literature. Chimaera has become one of the most famous female monsters described in Greek mythology. Writing the novel in the early 19th century, Shelley addressed the common stereotypical view of women as inferior to men that society of the time held. 5. When Safie arrives at the cottagers’ from Arabia, she must be tutored to learn English. The Brangwens are prototypical models of a form of femininity that connects women to Nature while distancing them from society; his women are cast as monsters, but are strengthened … Lamia Lamia is one of the lesser-known demons of classical mythology. literature; however, she feels one of the shining female Gothic authors was Hazlitt Ann Radcliff. Mothers, Monsters, Maturation: Female Evil in Beowulf Gwendolyn A. Morgan In 1936, J.R.R. Courtesy of Universal Pictures; photograph, The Bettmann Archive. Motifs are recurring structures, contrasts, and literary devices that can help to develop and inform the text’s major themes. In 1968, the group WITCH descended upon Wall Street in black pointy hats and cloaks, semi-seriously intending to hex it. Patrick Bateman, Humbert Humbert, Tom Ripley, Raskolnikov. Morph Costumes has researched the scariest of the scary monsters in literature to find which one is the most terrifying. 39 Female Demon Names. female monster in male-created literature. Lovatar is a goddess who takes many forms and has many names. The Role Of Children’s Stories In Managing Childhood Fears And Promoting Empowerment, a paper by M.A. Granted, a lot of them are just allegorical representations of our own fears of the darkness of the human soul and the knowledge of our own powerlessness in an expansive, indifferent universe, but still! Grendel has the kingdom under his control. They were treated like household commodities. Like the males of the species, they are cunning, beautiful, seductive and blood thirsty. 123-37 {123} Monsters figure conspicuously in Gothic literature. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Female_monsters_in_literature They don’t have as strong a presence in media as male vampires, but when they do they show their fangs. The female body has been at the centre of definitions of the Female Gothic since Ellen Moers coined the term in 1976, describing it as ‘the work that women writers have … Suggested reading: The 3 Pillars Of Horror. As Homer’s Odysseus and his men attempt to sail back home to Ithaca, they must pass through a... Lamia. Monsters Are Living, Breathing … The Other Mother. x 24 in. The Greek mythological creatures: Peter Paul Rubens, Scylla and Glaucus, 1836, Musée Bonnat-Helleu, Bayonne, France. Building on current monster theory and adding to research on medieval women in literature, this study reclaims the Middle English romance as a sophisticated literary strategy that, in its narrative reflexivity—and its use of a fictionalized thirdspace—reveals how medieval rhetoric essentially makes women into monsters. The grandfather of all monster hunters, Doctor Abraham Van Helsing is one of the most famous names in the hall of horror. August 27, 1996. Suggested reading: The 3 Pillars Of Horror. Thus, because of a passive female, the monster’s first academic education results: The abandonment from Victor made the Monster angry, wanting to make Victor's life miserable. Greek sailors considered it a very bad omen to see Chimaera. Female monsters in literature Fionnuala The Fire-Fairy Frau Holle Futakuchi-onna G Gamayun Gello Giantess Glaistig Gorgon Groac'h Gwisin Gwragedd Annwn Gwyllion H Habetrot Hag Hanako-san Hannya Harionago Hashihime Headless Mule Hone-onna Houri Hulder The Harpies. Iago, Othello, William Shakespeare. AD BLOCKER DETECTED! She appears in Greek... Medusa. Rakshasas and asuras in comics spring to mind – pot-bellied and dark-skinned. This set of three 5-1/2" x 3-1/2", 48-page notebooks is filled with ruled paper … The product of a sensibility that glorifies the self in isolation from society, the Gothic explores the darker side of the Romantic vision. Portrayed as everything from mindless killers to brooding, romantic antiheroes to teen heartthrobs who sparkle in the noonday sun, vampires are a staple of the horror genre. Modern horror monsters are Freddy Kruger, Michael Myers, Leatherface, Jason Voorhees and Pinhead. We did all the research for you and compiled this huge list of female demon names.This listing includes 39 female supernatural entities, what they do, where they originate, appearance, and features.. We already have a huge listing of demonic names.We decided to make it easier for you by separating the demon names female from the males. He is constantly reflecting upon this in his journal entries. In the Gothic mirror, the self is reflected … Female monsters represent “the bedtime stories patriarchy tells itself,” reinforcing expectations about women’s bodies and behavior, argues journalist and critic Jess Zimmerman in Women and Other Monsters: Building a New Mythology. Louhi (Finnish Mythology) Source: Source. After 1660, female actors were allowed on stage in England, and sexual intrigue became the staple of the theatre. Why So Many Mythological Monsters Are Female Scylla and Charybdis. Asuras like Maricha appear like black clouds. “I expected this reception,” said the daemon. concludes that such attempts ultimately reaffirm the female’s power in this male-dominated society. Grendel is the monster from Hell. These novels are guaranteed to send chills up and down your spine. Rebecca Solnit. By Sandra M. Gilbert and Susan Gubar. There are three very complex monsters in the short story. Ramona Quimby, Ramona Quimby Series. Morph Costumes has researched the scariest of the scary monsters in literature to find which one is the most terrifying. 3. And many of our great, genre-defining monsters come from books: there's Dracula and Mr. Hyde, Cthulhu and Pennywise and the Invisible Man. There's Dr. Frankenstein's large adult son. Julian E. Fleenor (Montreal: Eden, 1983), pp. 10 Ways To Kick-Start Your Horror Story. Download it once and read it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. When Frankenstein accuses the Monster of murdering his brother William, the Monster cleverly deflects the accusation. One of the more obvious monsters of nineteenth-century literary tradition, and one which has frequented most A-Level English syllabuses, is Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818) – a useful starting point when navigating the monstrous. As a result to that feeling, he betrayed nature and created the Monster. Ramona Quimby, Ramona Quimby Series. To spot one in the daytime, look for your upside-down reflection in their eyes. Rukma Sen began her fascination with female monsters in medieval literature during a class on Beowulf, which describes the Swedish warrior Beowulf, who battles the monster Grendel and eventually takes on both Grendel's mother and a dragon. But it’s the very fact that film and literature are strewn with the bodies of dead girls makes the killer woman so attractive—she’s not only escaped victimhood but stepped into the role of the aggressor, and thus fully reversed her fate. Those things differ from person to person, but when we were children there was a common pattern of translating our fears into creatures; More specifically, into monsters. The Alien. The griffin is a tragically underused … 29 in. The word can also be found scribbled faintly and scratched out on pages of the novel itself. Elizabeth Lee, inA Literature of Their Own, summarizes that Elaine Showalter shows how women’s literature has evolved, starting from the Victorian period to modern writing. Zimmerman’s essay collection, Women and Other Monsters, takes female monsters from Greek mythology and explores their grotesqueries as patriarchal metaphors. After 1660, female actors were allowed on stage in England, and sexual intrigue became the staple of the theatre. Featured in the ancient Finnish epic The Kalevala, she is the blind daughter of the god of death. From Circe to Carrie, this list of female literary monsters features books from Stephen King, Anne Rice, Susan Hill, and more. They can also shine a stark, unyielding light on injustice. For me, this theme was particularly present in Asian folk tales about monster women. Whether the story was about mountain hags or demons or serpent women, there was always two layers to it—the initial horror of the monster woman, and then the question of: Why is she a monster? $25.00. Many critics have defined female monsters in other ways, yet I seek to examine the female monster as she often appears in Gothic literature of the nineteenth century. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson. In the cabalistic literature the "piercing leviathan" and the "crooked leviathan" (Isa. The Woman Writer and the Nineteenth Century Imagination. Feminine anger, sexuality, ambition, and other hungers manifest as dog-crotches, whirlpools, talons, and bird-bits. This is another classic in gothic … Dracula. They are closely … 2 1 For more on the historical dynamic of monsters see Lorraine Daston and Katherine Park, Wonders and the order of nature, 1150-1750(New York: Zone Books, 2001); Peter G. Platt, Wonders, marvels, and monsters in early modern culture (Newark: University of Delaware Press, 1999); and Jeffrey Cohen Monster theory: reading culture (Minneapolis: University of … 10 Ways To Kick-Start Your Horror Story. The women in Odyssey are unique in their personality, intentions, and relationship towards men. This was how women used to be treated before women had equal rights to men; so that was how they were portrayed in horror films. Nelson George, Samuel R. Delany, Major Jackson and others tell us about some of their favorite works of literature. Despite his own conservative values, D.H. Lawrence writes sexually liberated female characters. The Faculty (1998) Director: Robert Rodriguez. For too long the monster world has been dominated by terrifying men, with female monsters reduced to being defined by their relationship with male monsters who monster-splain to them constantly. A Lion, […] The book “Men, Women and Chainsaws” by Carol J Clover supports this “The functions of monster and hero are far more frequently represented by males and the function of the victim far more garishly by females. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading Women and Monsters. It is easy to see that the horror genre is a male dominated field of cinema. They rated each monster by Appearance v Powers v Evil Intent. Granted, a lot of them are just allegorical representations of our own fears of the darkness of the human soul and the knowledge of our own powerlessness in an expansive, indifferent universe, but still! (Even today, the name “chimaera” sometimes refers to a genetic puzzle.) Women in Frankenstein. Framing the female protagonist as a monster, however, indicates a fear of her potential to disturb and destroy. Invisible Monsters is a 1999 novel by Chuck Palahniuk about a beautiful fashion model. women, especially their presence in ‘the City,’ frequently called up the rhetoric of separate spheres in the Victorian press" (Henry, 2007: 112). The established canon of literature largely overlooked female writers, but two at least from this period are now taken seriously: Emilia Lanier (1569-1645) Aphra Behn (1640-89) Women on the stage. Here you will find grouped together articles and features about witches, fairies and monsters in British folklore. In a fit of anger and guilt, Victor destroys the half-finished creation in front of the monster and tells the monster he will not continue. Send any friend a story. Tolkien suggested the significance of Beowulf s monsters while delineating a mythic pattern in the rise and fall of the hero, thereby establishing a basis for most subsequent structural studies of the poem ("Mon-sters and Critics"). There are different theories, and one of them holds that Lamia has the upper body of a woman, but the lower half of a snake. She’s her own monster with her own horrible accomplishments! 19. The worst villain is the one who knows you best—the one you might even love. Ah, Evil Earth! Women and Monsters - Kindle edition by McDermott, J. M. . English 388. After following Victor and Henry through mainland Europe and England, the monster comes near Victor's workshop in Scotland to see his mate. The good doctor has been keeping Dracula at bay since his debut in Bram Stoker's original novel in 1897. The female body has been at the centre of definitions of the Female Gothic since Ellen Moers coined the term in 1976, describing it as ‘the work that women writers have … This paper focuses on the way in which Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein (1818/1831) engages and rewrites the main tropes and notions of female genius in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. So, with that said, here are 13 types of female monsters, who may look like regular gals but are anything but. Harpies are also creatures with the head of a woman and the body of a bird, but compared to Siren, they are known to be much more horrid and evil. Moers feels Radcliff’s power over her reader comes from her, “incantatory prose style, her artful stretching of suspense over long periods of novelistic … The Purpose of Monsters In Literature. The scariest motive is the lack of one—what Coleridge called Iago’s “motiveless malignity.”. Murphy supports this stance, writing, “the strong-willed and forceful women of the [Icelandic] sagas have been much written about, for they are strikingly different from the women in most other medieval literature. Rebecca Solnit is the author of more than twenty books, including the memoir Recollections of My Nonexistence and the nonfiction A Field Guide to Getting Lost, The Faraway Nearby, A Paradise Built in Hell, River of Shadows, and Wanderlust. BY AMY ADAMS. literature; however, she feels one of the shining female Gothic authors was Hazlitt Ann Radcliff. Humanity, Steve is called a “monster” by the Prosecutor at the beginning of the novel and Steve grapples with the question of whether or not he is monstrous for his actions in the robbery. In the year 1612 at Lancaster gaol, ten people were hanged for the crime of witchcraft. Hidden behind the meaning of every line, females of this novel are seen only to provoke, encourage and strengthen the development of the male characters. Mermaids, vampires, shape-shifters, sexual deviants, and madwomen fill the pages of these works with emotion and movement, harming their victims while seducing them. Details about the traits of this character are explained in a bid to draw parallels between him and human behaviors. Whenever an author revealed a creature’s sex, it was 73% more likely to be male than female. George Levine and U. C. Knoeflmacher (Berkeley, Los Angeles, and London: Univ. 10. Despite her awful past and family difficulties, "Daisy St. Patience" continues to be widely successful, and even holds down a relationship with a handsome detective. These are some of the most terrifying monsters and beasts in all of literature! She appears in stories written by the Greek playwright Aristophanes. All future quotations are based on Swanton’s edition translated into modern English. Lamia, one of the lesser-known demons of classical mythology, is a bit of a shapeshifter. Some of my favorite female vampires aren’t even overtly sexual, though a lot of female vampires tend to be. The established canon of literature largely overlooked female writers, but two at least from this period are now taken seriously: Emilia Lanier (1569-1645) Aphra Behn (1640-89) Women on the stage. 77-87. of 20th-Century British Literature Dusty A. Brice East Tennessee State University Follow this and additional works at:https://dc.etsu.edu/etd Part of theFeminist Philosophy Commons,Literature in English, British Isles Commons, Modern Literature Commons,Other Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons, and the Women's Studies Commons Lamia's main vice is: stealing and eating children. Oxford University Press, 1985), pp. She crosses the boundaries of masculine/feminine, dead/undead, attraction/repulsion, and reality/imagination, etc. Passive Women. {90} A baby at birth is usually disappointing … Yale. Today we see the novel as a prime cautionary tale of nature versus nurture. The emergence of a gendered notion of genius by the end of the eighteenth century, exemplified and articulated in Denis Diderot’s essay ‘On Women’ … 10 Examples of Monster Literature 1. of California Press, 1979), pp. Definitions of the monster, he adds, change over time and with each generation. 19. Monsters and Madwomen: Changing Female Gothic Karen F. Stein In The Female Gothic, ed. In her novel Frankenstein, Mary Shelley portrays all of her female characters from both positive and negative perspectives. Although we learn with Peter that Female vampires are just as deadly as their male counterparts. The Greek mythological creatures: John William Waterhouse, Ulysses and the Sirens, 1891, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia. This is a … They are one of the guardians of the Underworld – the realm … Be very, very ware! Aswang Philippines Shape-shifting monster that devours unborn babies. In “The Female Gender and Its Significance”, Tan elucidates women’s elevation to parity with men’s social roles, successfully setting the stage for the New Woman to break out of her socially-imposed limiting confines. Taylor. The Greatest Monsters In Children’s Literature according to Flavorwire. For a novel written by the daughter of an important feminist, Frankenstein is strikingly devoid of strong female characters. Even if everything that surrounds SWMBO (or “Ayesha,” to the re-incarnated lovers she lures to her den) reads as faintly dumb or familiar by modern standards, Ayesha is an amazing character and, unlike most female monsters of the period, is depicted as formidable, self-possessed and eloquent even if desire does proves to be her undoing…at least until the … These are some of the most terrifying monsters and beasts in all of literature! This essay will introduce women and their roles in Beowulf , giving examples that clarify the centrality and prove the importance of female characters in the poem. Rukma Sen began her fascination with female monsters in medieval literature during a class on Beowulf, which describes the Swedish warrior Beowulf, who battles the monster Grendel and eventually takes on both Grendel's mother and a dragon. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. Nevertheless, we can see traces of such female influence even in a poem as unfeminine as Beowulf” (105). The monster’s next lesson comes from another female close to Agatha. Picture Books With Monsters, a Goodreads list. From classic horror stars like Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff and Lon Chaney, through to iconic horror movie characters like Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees, Classic Monsters is rich in facts, trivia and scares from the world of horror cinema. Swift's Cassinus and Peter is a poem about two friends, under-graduates, who meet to talk about love and literature. Whenever monsters are depicted in a text, the creators are often interested in bringing out the fears of the people in a given society. To this end, the author of this paper examines Frankenstein, a monster. 13. He abandoned the Monster, leaving a void in the Monster's life. But it’s the very fact that film and literature are strewn with the bodies of dead girls makes the killer woman so attractive—she’s not only escaped victimhood but stepped into the role of the aggressor, and thus fully reversed her fate. 3 The Balrog The Lord of the Rings, by J. R. R. Tolkien Hard to say which is more horrifying, the Balrog, or Shelob, the giant spider (or Ungoliant, from The Silmarillion). Beyond the Classroom. Cassinus bemoans a crime committed by Caelia that had led him to a very literary and inflated sense of inconsolable woe. The Gorgons. Beware! “All men hate the wretched; how, then, must I be hated, who am miserable beyond all living things!”. Moers feels Radcliff’s power over her reader comes from her, “incantatory prose style, her artful stretching of suspense over long periods of novelistic … In the following artwork by Peter Paul Rubens, you can see the encounter of Scylla and Glaucus before the horrid events ensue. https://nordicwomensliterature.net/2016/10/12/female-gothic-monsters
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