What Makes A Monster English Literature Essay

In this essay I will attempt to define what it is that is truly monstrous within 19th Century gothic literature. I have decided to look at; Dracula by Bram Stocker; Carmilla by Le Fanu and briefly at She by H Rider Haggard and Arthur Conan Doyle’s The hound of the Baskervilles. While on the surface, the monsters in these books seem obvious I will attempt to show that the “Monsters” are not always what they seem to be and sometimes the most grotesque behaviour is acted out not by the “monster” at all.

The word monster is defined as “an imaginary beast…usually made up of various animal or human parts,” (Collins English Dictionary- Dictionary.com) such as a griffin or a mermaid. However, it is also described as “a person, animal, or plant with a marked structural deformity” and “a cruel, wicked, or inhuman person.” The Hound in The Hound of the Baskervilles is seen as a traditional monster in the first sense of the word. In the Novel, Watson described it as:

An enormous coal-black hound, but not such a hound as mortal eyes have ever seen. Fire burst from its open mouth, its eyes glowed with a smouldering glare, its muzzle and hackles and dewlap were outlined in flickering flame. Never in the delirious dream of a disordered brain could anything more savage, more appalling, more hellish, be conceived than that dark form and savage face which broke upon us out of that wall of fog. (Conan Doyle 149)

This description of the “hellish” hound makes it seem supernatural and otherworldly. Conan Doyle chose to use such words as “Smouldering”, “Fire” and “Savage” to make us think that this hound came from Hell. Conan Doyle’s contemporary audience were largely a very Christian society and so this idea would play heavily on their minds and create the sense of fear gothic novels are famous for.

However we find out at the end of the novel that the hound was a man made monster and Stapleton is the creator and the criminal. He bought the “strongest and most savage” (158) hound he could find from London and used “artificial means to make the creature diabolical” and it was his ambition to own the Baskerville estate that turned him into a murderer. This suggests that monstrosity lies at the heart of man rather than in any supernatural form and that through giving into ambition a monster is created.

On the surface, the vampires and Renfield, a man seemingly under Dracula’s control, are the only monsters in Dracula; however, this is not quite the case. It is True that Dracula is a described as a degenerate (Gorny, Eugene. Degeneration Theory), his description adheres to Lombroso’s description of a criminal man (Gothic Literature, 112). Jonathan Harker notes that his face is “a very strong aquiline, with high bridge of the thin nose and peculiarly arched nostrils…his eyebrows [are] massive” with a “fixed and rather cruel looking” mouth (16, 17). His actions are also monstrous, he tries to invade London so that he can have more people to prey upon, he turns Lucy into a vampire and ends up murdering Renfield. The idea of degeneration is important here as it shows that Stoker’s society was trying to use science to understand what makes a monster. This is echoed in the novel as the vampire hunters use modern techniques such as keeping records and holding meetings when trying to defeat Dracula. The novel becomes a partial celebration of the ideas of the bourgeois professionals and suggests that modern ways will eventually defeat the old ways and through that a safer, better world will be created.

This idea is somewhat challenged by Harker’s character. He is a stereotypical bourgeoisie professional- a middle class “pen pusher” with good prospects but also suffers from fainting fits and a general lack of manliness. Throughout the novel, Stoker seems to suggest that it is only through imitating the Count that the hunters will actually defeat him. Harker needs to become a man of action and the novel follows his journey towards the moment when he finally is able to end the Count’s life (314). The Vampire hunters become monstrous on their quest and they engage in acts of vampirism to save Lucy’s life. Van Helsing says that she “wants blood and blood she must have or die” (101). He then performs the first of three blood transfusions. This bloodletting is an act of vampirism in itself and helps to further suggest that the Bourgeoisie professionals are becoming degenerate and therefore more like Dracula. That the operation is not strictly medical is shown when Van Helsing warns Dr Seward to not tell Harker as it would “at once frighten him and enjealous him”. This suggests that Van Helsing knows that the transfusion could be seen as sexual and therefore deviant from their restricted middle class respectability.

The count is a foreign intruder into the streets of London, and this shows the negative feeling at the time towards “foreign” types. Britain was scared of invasion and this anxiety is shown in Dracula through the fact of the European Count travelling to London and feeding off the people there. This suggests that the idea of “Monster” had deeper-seated meaning for Bram Stoker and his contemporary audience to mean anything foreign, different or of a degenerative nature.

In opposition to this idea, in She, H. Rider Haggard introduces us to the Amahagger and although Holly describes their features as “Aquiline” (75) and says that there “was a cold and sullen cruelty stamped upon them that revolted [him] and which in some cases was almost uncanny in its intensity.” At first glance, the Amahagger race seems to be what would be called a degenerative race. The word “cruelty” suggests a brutality that would not be found in the civilised world. Holly describes Billali, the head of the Amahagger as having eyes as “keen as a snake’s.” This reference creates a link between the Amahagger and animals, suggesting that they are not as evolved as Western civilisation. The choice of animal is also relevant as to a Christian audience the snake would create connotations of the serpent in the Garden of Eden who tempted Eve to sin (Genesis 3, New Living Translation Bible pg4). This makes it likely that the audience will believe that the Amahagger are degenerative and “evil”. However as we go through the novel Holly enlightens us to the fact that the Amahagger have customs and traditions that suggest they are far more civilised than we first thought. They have a marriage custom and Ustane “marries” Leo with a kiss “on the lips” (78). Holly remarks that;

It is curious to observe how the customs of mankind on this matter vary in different countries, making morality an affair of latitude, and what is right and proper in one place wrong and improper in another. It must, however, be understood that, as all civilised nations appear to accept it as an axiom that

HOLLY- ANIMAL + INTELLECT= BABOON!

ceremony is the touchstone of morality, there is, even according to our canons, nothing immoral about this Amahagger custom, seeing that the interchange of the embrace answers to our ceremony of marriage, which, as we know, justifies most things. (80)

This shows that Holly is starting to understand the Amahagger and does not find them quite so monstrous because of it. Traditional values were important at the time of first publication and although Haggard was a colonialist, She seems to search to understand different types of people rather than treat them as savages. The author shows through relating their customs to ours, that even if at first glance this race of people seem foreign and therefore monstrous, if you look deeper They are not so different after all.

This idea is further supported by the character of Holly. He describes himself as; “short, thick-set, and deep chested” and has “deep set grey eyes” and “a low brow half overgrown with a mop of thick black hair (16). He seems physically intimidating to the point of deformity, relating back to the second definition of monster.” Billaili calls him “My Baboon”(132) which would be related to Charles Darwin’s The Origin of Species by Haggard’s contemporary audience and so he offsets that with the fact that Holly has great mental strength too. He studies at “Cambridge” (16) and is praised by Ayesha for having “a thinking brain” (171). The author does this to challenge the reader’s perception by connecting both degenerative physical attributes with an intellectual brain. He does this to make his reader’s question their views on the idea of degeneration and to encourage them to open their minds on the subject of what makes a monster.

In Carmilla the monstrous nature of the vampire is hidden behind a beautiful disguise. She is described by Laura as having a “solemn but very pretty face” (The Penguin book of Vampire Stories 84) and by Madame Perrodon as “almost the prettiest creature I ever saw…so gentle and nice” (83). This description suggests beauty and innocence- the opposite of her vampiric nature. The words “gentle” and “nice” are used to hide her true self from the reader. We find out that Carmilla is determined monster who will stop at nothing to get what she wants. The description of her beauty is contrasted to that of the Mountebank on page 93. He is described as having “sharp lean features that generally accompany deformity” and is showing his “white fangs”. This shows the Mountebank is physically grotesque however; he manages to notice something the other character’s in the story do not and offers to file down Carmilla’s “sharpest tooth”. This exchange not only foreshadows the action in the short story but also challenges the reader’s perception of whether monstrosity is physical or mental. Haggard also uses this passage to explore whether the idea of a monster is made up of class prejudices. Carmilla is upper class while the Mountebank is lower class and she says that her father would have “flogged [The mountebank] with a cart whip” when all the mountebank was trying to do was offer a service. The severity of Carmilla’s reaction suggests that the traveller has at least guessed some of the truth about her. This sixth sense could work in two ways; the Mountebank recognises the grotesque nature of Carmilla because either he himself is grotesque, or it is because he is a good person who has not been put under her spell- the reader is left to decide.

Throughout this essay I have