Monsters
are commonly stereotyped as horrible and grotesque creatures. But in Frankenstein and The Island of Doctor Moreau, Shelly and Wells both delineate some
complicated but meaningful monster characters. These monsters’ features and
natures represent their creator’s intention and purpose. In bothtexts,
monsters are ugly but benevolent, while their creators are eccentric and
monstrous. The relationship between men and monsters allows us to view the
definition of humanity from a more critical and objective perspective.
References
[1]
Wells, H.G. (2005) The Island of Doctor Moreau, Penguin, London.
[2]
Taneja, P. (2013) The Tropical Empire: Exotic Animals and Beastly Men in The Island of Doctor Moreau. ESC: English Studies in Canada, 39, 139-159. https://doi.org/10.1353/esc.2013.0034
[3]
Tyner, J.A. (2022) The Monstrous-Feminine, the Colonial Body, and Dr. Moreau: Transhumanism, Racial Capitalism, and the Speculative Fiction of Motherless Birth. Gender, Place & Culture, 30, 1240-1260. https://doi.org/10.1080/0966369X.2022.2075328
[4]
Shelly, M. (2022) Frankenstein. W.W. Norton & Company, New York.
[5]
Rauch, A. (1995) The Monstrous Body of Knowledge in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Studies in Romanticism, 34, 227-253. https://doi.org/10.2307/25601114
[6]
Brooks, P. (1978) Godlike Science/Unhallowed Arts: Language and Monstrosity in Frankenstein. New Literary History, 9, 591-605. https://doi.org/10.2307/468457
[7]
Bernatchez, J. (2009) Monstrosity, Suffering, Subjectivity, and Sympathetic Community in Frankenstein and The Structure of Torture. Science Fiction Studies, 36, 205-216.
