Without even realizing it, monsters have crept their way into our daily lives and managed to influence our culture. The entertainment industry is bursting with stories of monsters, new ones, and retellings of old ones. Some of the most popular book genres are fantasy, true crime, and thriller, which often explore different kinds of monstrosity. Every October thousands of people choose to dress up as monsters to celebrate Halloween. There are myths, folktales, and religions built on ideas of monsters and their existence virtually everywhere in the world. Humanity seems to be incredibly fascinated by these creatures, but why? Why do monsters exist and what can they reveal about us? The answer isn’t as straightforward as it may seem. We have been telling stories of monsters since the beginning and their meanings have changed and evolved with us.
The first monsters were tools used by early humans to help them make sense of the world. These monsters played off their deep fears of the unknown and were used to explain existential questions people had about the universe. They were often imagined to be outside the human realm. Monsters have always represented a kind of “othering” from the perceived natural order of things. This culminated in creatures marked by little human resemblances or deformities and thought processes that differed from the “correct” way humans thought and saw the world.
Earliest representations of monsters were often found within religions to explain “ultimate unknowns” like mortality, morality, and signs of divine wrath. Monsters in ancient mythology embodied all those things. For example, the Chimera, a fire-breathing hybrid creature made of different parts of other animals represented chaos and how the natural order of things could be easily disrupted. Heroes were often depicted defeating the Chimera which represented how ancient Greek civilians could defeat the unpredictable chaos of life. Cerberus the three-headed dog from Greek mythology stood at the gates of the underworld to welcome in the newly deceased and make sure they could not return from the afterlife. This creature embodied the fear people had of death and its permanence.
Monsters in the early modern period were seen as signs from God. Phenomena that deviated from what was considered “normal” like human deformities or natural disasters laid on the line between the natural and supernatural. These things could be seen as monstrous and would be considered a sign of how humanity was prospering within God’s plan. If a woman were to give birth to a child with deformities, it would be deemed monstrous and a punishment from God for the mother’s sins. If people were to encounter something considered monstrous at this time, it would cause them to question whether their community or themselves were living in alignment with God.
Monsters also represented real-world unknowns and “othering” when it came to early exploration. If you look at an old map you might notice something interesting. These maps were teeming with all sorts of monsters. Monsters on maps were the dividing line between the known and unknown world. For all these explorers knew, there were probably scary creatures living in these places. Once they began to map and discover new places, many of the creatures and people they encountered were considered monstrous to them because they went against their preconceived notions of the world and what it looked like according to the European mind. The idea of monsters as “other” plays into how interpretations of these creatures and humans as monstrous led to justifications for extermination and colonization.
As time went on and the world became more known, our ideas of monstrosity began to move from outside our human sphere to within it. Monsters started to come from inside us. One interesting result of this is how monstrosity began to intersect with science. Rather than being born a monster, they were created. Many of these monsters found their beginnings when civilization was beginning to push the boundaries of scientific innovation. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is considered one of the earliest examples of this. The idea of monstrosity brought by way of science is still a popular concept today. Jurassic Park explored how our own creations could turn on us. Similarly, we now fear technology like AI and how it could evolve beyond our control and take over humanity. They reflect the fears that come with modernization and how our hunger for continuous advancement could come back to haunt us. Science can blur the lines between what is moral or ethical. These monsters make us question our humanity and the limits to our need for success.
One of the more modern depictions of monsters today explores this form of “othering” from within us. These monsters are usually either human or have aspects of humanity within them and are often projections of our own internal darknesses and reveal deeply rooted fears we have about ourselves. For example, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde explores the good and evil within us and what happens when we lose control and give in to our darkest desires. Another popular example of this would be the werewolf. The werewolf explores the struggle between the human desire to be good and civilized and the fear of succumbing to your primal instincts and becoming something “monstrous.” It can represent the conflicting aspects of our identities or explore the parts of ourselves we repress. These types of monsters can be an interesting tool for self-reflection and evaluating how we see and move through the world.
Monsters and how they have evolved over time tell us a lot about ourselves and what our biggest fears were at different points in history. Monsters force us to examine the world around us and ourselves. They force us to question and explore our anxieties, desires, and fears of the unknown.
Lily Brye is a second-year journalism major. They can be reached at [email protected].