Afternoon of Alterity - Nazareth College

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Monstrous Mothers andObjectified DaughtersSara CruzSay the words monster, monstrous, or monstrosity and the first wordsthat come to mind for most people will be large, scary, grotesque, orthreatening. Monsters have been included and often the main themeof literature prior to Medieval Era with stories such as Beowulf, SirGawain and The Green Knight, and Grendel. Ask someone to namesome words that come to mind when s/he thinks of the word femaleor woman and in most cases the words will be something flowery,light, sweet, and sensitive. Many will not see a connection betweenthe ugly monster and the beautiful female.Going back many years, the concept of the monster and thefemale were not only deeply connected but one and the same.Classic stories and poems such as The Faerie Queene, Paradise Lost,and Beowulf depict the female as a monstrous, demonic creature.There is no coincidence behind these monstrous creations. Forcenturies, the male gender has felt deeply threatened by the female’sability to reproduce and as such, have turned a natural gift into amonstrous burden for females to endure. The female charactersErrour from The Faerie Queene written by Edmund Spencer in 1596,Sin from Paradise Lost written by John Milton in 1674, and Grendel’sMother from Beowulf, author unknown; are presented as “physicallydisgusting or psychologically damaged” (Franscus) and demonized 81
ased solely on their reproductive threat to men. This socialconstruct still exists in the twenty-first century and while women areless likely to be labeled monstrous today, there is a specific societalrole that she must fill to balance out the authority she exerts dueto her biological capabilities. In patriarchal culture today, so thatmen do not lose their power, females must repress their sexualityand are objectified by men and even objectified by themselves. Thisobjectification also occurs in order for men to cope with the female’scloseness to nature or her ability to reproduce. Due to the biologicalnature that women posses, she has evolved from being considered amonster by patriarchal society to being objectified and sexualized bypatriarchal society.Females were not always labeled as dangerous and evil. ElinorGadon writes that in the Neolithic agricultural age in Europe andthe Indian subcontinent, the female was revered and considered theGoddess of her people. Called “the Great Mother,” she was honoredas the generative, pulsating, primal energy of people (Gadon). Itwas not until Western civilization’s influence came to refer to thefemale’s power as dangerous, evil, and in opposition to God, thatideas changed and the patriarchal culture began. These ideas werecarried by the monotheistic religions of Judaism, Christianity, andIslam. These religions began between the eleventh and thirteenthcenturies for the most part Palestine, Greece, and Rome (religion).Gadon writes that “Christian Theology demonized the female bodyand female sexuality, splitting the Goddess into the asexual, virtuousVirgin Mary and the carnal prostitute Mary Magdalene” (Gadon). Thefemale went from Goddess of her people to evil demon woman basedon the religious beliefs created by men most certainly to keep thefemale down as she threatened male’s manhood and authority. Thisis how misogyny and the patriarchal society began. Ruth Evans writesabout the legend of Albina, which originated sometime between thefourteenth and sixteenth century in Greece. In this legend Albina82 afternoons of alterity
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Afternoons of Alterity A Codex of t
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Table of ContentsFrom Medieval Mars
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From Medieval Marsh Monsters toFutu
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imagination, we must first attempt
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seed of monstrosity within themselv
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essence as a monster, it seems reas
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she bore two sons, one from the imp
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perhaps, anti-heroes) of the futuri
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to watch the murder and mutilation
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and modern audiences through their
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Works Cited“Bushwhacked.” Firef
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Projecting Otherness ontothe Disabl
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in any systematic structuration. An
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The idea of the monstrous’ vulner
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not us and are in the proximity of
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they want to be treated. The interv
Page 36: Monstrosity and theIrruption of Rea
Page 39 and 40: describing his fears of this place
Page 41 and 42: stained with sin” (Spearing 221).
Page 43: often and at will to show man somet
Page 46 and 47: What’s Love Got To Do With It?The
Page 48 and 49: story than as the beginning? What f
Page 50 and 51: It is textual content like this tha
Page 52 and 53: through the story as the Green Knig
Page 54 and 55: the first advocating voices for end
Page 56 and 57: “capable of seeing things objecti
Page 58 and 59: Darkness: The True Monster ofLitera
Page 60 and 61: the way they can make us feel, but
Page 62 and 63: not only closes out, extinguishes,
Page 64 and 65: and temptation, most especially for
Page 66 and 67: hours “led to the term ‘night
Page 68 and 69: specifically his relationship to da
Page 70 and 71: humanization of Grendel draws the r
Page 72 and 73: subconscious the message may be. Th
Page 74 and 75: Serial MonstrosityEmily Mastrobatti
Page 76 and 77: is clear that they are monsters and
Page 78 and 79: murderer that he once was. He has b
Page 80 and 81: of the killing, “When investigato
Page 82 and 83: ook “contains recipes from the bo
Page 84 and 85: asks Charles Manson to marry her, t
Page 88 and 89: and her sisters plot to kill their
Page 90 and 91: easons for “otherness.” On top
Page 92 and 93: The original ideas are still intact
Page 94 and 95: objectified creature. “Cultures o
Page 96 and 97: Works CitedAcker, P. Horror and the
Page 98 and 99: Grendel: A Manifestation ofMedieval
Page 100 and 101: ut never was his physicality hinted
Page 102 and 103: to wander in the darkness and the c
Page 104 and 105: Magic could not resurrect Grendel t
Page 106 and 107: Works CitedBeowulf. Trans. RM Liuzz
Page 108 and 109: The Monster Under the BedThe Creati
Page 110 and 111: to procreate but the accepted manif
Page 112 and 113: Cain had/killed his father’s son
Page 114 and 115: can, without a doubt, be placed int
Page 116 and 117: The vagina’s ability to function
Page 118: Ed. Barbara K. Gold, et all. Albany
Page 121 and 122: To understand precisely how states
Page 123 and 124: a strict delineation between each g
Page 125 and 126: monstrous and societal rules to fol
Page 127 and 128: Gawain is willing to accept his mis
Page 129 and 130: survive, challenge, and defeat. Esp
Page 131 and 132: governmental standards, then are we
Page 134 and 135: They Walk Among UsOccupational Viol
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sports and regard our members of th
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modern readers are not part of the
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otherness and disdain for humanity.
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are underpaid and for the most part
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Home and Spatial IdentityPhysical t
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closeness among the people that the
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Into the dark gorge I ventured; the
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the treasures that fill up their ho
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threatened by the very existence of
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and draped in damp, shaggy moss, an
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individual. Home resides within the
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Works CitedArmitage, Simon. Sir Gaw
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Afternoon of Alterity - Nazareth College

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