Monster
Monsters, as depicted in literature and folklore, are imaginary creatures often characterized by their frightening appearances and potential to cause harm. The term "monster" is derived from the Latin word "monstrum," which implies a warning. Throughout human history, monsters have reflected primal fears and contemporary anxieties, leading to their representation across various cultures and time periods. Ancient artworks, such as cave paintings, reveal humanity's fascination with half-human, half-animal forms, suggesting a deep-rooted concern about the dangers of the natural world.
Literary examples of monsters date back to ancient texts like the "Epic of Gilgamesh," where beings like Humbaba embody natural forces that heroes must confront. In different cultures, monsters have varied significance; for instance, dragons are seen as revered entities in Eastern traditions, while in the West, they often symbolize evil. The evolution of monsters also aligns with societal changes, notably in the modern era, where figures like Godzilla and zombies reflect fears stemming from warfare and societal collapse. This ongoing portrayal underscores how monsters continue to serve as metaphors for human fears, societal issues, and the darker aspects of the human psyche.
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Monster
A monster in literature and folklore is an imaginary creature with a frightening appearance believed capable of causing harm or death to humans. The term monster comes from the Latin word monstrum, which itself is derived from the Latin verb monere, meaning "to warn." Monsters have been a staple element in the human imagination for thousands of years, carving an indelible place in works of literature, legends, and myths. Scientists who study human behavior see monsters as both an expression of primal fears and a reflection of contemporary anxieties. As a result, almost every culture throughout history has created its own form of monster.
Background
Depictions of monstrous creatures can be found in some of the oldest surviving works of human art. Cave paintings made tens of thousands of years ago show images of half-human, half-animal creatures archaeologists have called therianthropes. Interpreting these images is difficult; they may represent shamanistic practices in which a member of a tribe dressed in animal skins performs a spiritual ritual. They may also have channeled an ancient view of a frightening world outside the safety of the cave. Either way, the fact that similar images have been observed from Europe to Africa to Australia suggests that Stone Age humans shared a common fascination with the animalistic side of the natural world.
Anthropologists believe that the human tendency to create imaginary monsters may stem from the primal fear of predators passed down through evolution. The possibility of becoming a meal for a larger creature was a reality of life for the earliest human ancestors. The nocturnal predators that hunted at night may have instilled a sense of terror in the dark; water-dwelling carnivores may have led to fear of deep or murky waters. These primal fears would have become survival instincts over the course of evolution, embedding a common dread of devouring creatures lurking in the dark places of the world. In time, these common terrors found their way into the myths and legends of human storytellers.
Overview
Monsters play a significant role in one of the oldest surviving works of literature, the Epic of Gilgamesh, a poem written in Mesopotamia sometime between 2000 and 1500 B.C.E. The epic tells of the god-king Gilgamesh who tames and befriends the wild man Enkidu. Together, they battle and defeat a monstrous giant called Humbaba, the guardian of a sacred forest. After Gilgamesh rejects the advances of a vengeful goddess, she sends the Bull of Heaven to bring disaster upon the land. Gilgamesh and Enkidu defeat the beast, once again bringing order to the world in the face of natural calamity. Like Humbaba and the Bull of Heaven, many monsters in ancient myths were considered forces of nature. Some were sent by the gods as divine retribution, while others were elemental forces subdued by the strength of humans or gods. In Greek mythology, the hundred-headed, serpent-covered giant Typhon was considered the father of the world's monsters. According to one myth, he fell in battle with the god Zeus and was imprisoned below Mount Etna, an active volcano on the Mediterranean island of Sicily.
As civilization and seafaring trade flourished among the Greeks, and later the Romans, they encountered other cultures, bringing stories of exotic lands and beasts back to their home ports. Partly through fear of these unknown cultures, legends began to incorporate tales of faraway lands containing hideous creatures and deformed cannibalistic humans, a combination of which may be responsible for the one-eyed cyclops of myth. Some ancient cultures believed that the eyes of monsters reflected their divine or demonic origins, with shining eyes demonstrating great supernatural power. The snake-haired gorgons of Greek mythology turned humans into stone with just a glance; Roman historians mention the basilisk, a large, reptile-like creature that kills with its gaze.
Throughout history, monsters have often taken the form of reptilian or serpent-like creatures. This common image is found across many human cultures and may stem from traveler's tales of crocodiles or lizards in distant lands, or from a primal fear of predatory animals. The most enduring incarnation of a reptilian monster is the dragon, a creature that takes on different meanings in different parts of the world. In Eastern cultures, dragons have been revered as powers of nature, controlling the world's rivers, winds, and volcanoes. In Western Europe, where Christianity flourished in the medieval period, dragons were seen as fire-breathing forces of evil. Tales of brave knights defeating rampaging dragons represented the symbolic victory of Christianity over Satan.
From about the fourteenth to the eighteenth centuries, the Western world underwent a transformative period of cultural and intellectual revival. This scientific revolution led to numerous discoveries and changed the way humans viewed the natural world. The newfound trust in science also spawned a backlash among those who feared its power, an anxiety that gave birth to one of the most famous monsters in literature. The title character in English author Mary Shelley's 1818 novel Frankenstein creates a living creature out of the remains of human corpses and other dead tissue, reanimating it through a scientific process. The creature struggles to understand its own existence and eventually rebels against its creator, becoming a warning against scientific arrogance and humanity's attempt to play God.
In the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, the rapid expansion of civilization, devastating world wars, and concerns about climate change and terrorism have created new forms of monsters. The two atomic weapons dropped on Japan to end World War II ushered in the nuclear age and led to a rise in films and books about giant, mutated creatures laying waste to human cities. The most famous of these monsters was the nuclear fire-breathing dinosaur Godzilla who first appeared on film in Japan in 1954. Another creature popularized in film, the flesh-eating zombie, has its origins in the creatures of several cultures, from Caribbean voodoo legend to undead ghouls of Middle Eastern mythology. While modern-day zombies began as a portrayal of the mindless pursuit of capitalism, they have evolved into a tool responsible for the collapse of civilization. The idea of zombies preys not only on the fear of death and being devoured but also on anxieties about global plague and the destruction of human society. Blood-sucking vampires and shape-shifting werewolves also remained popular into the twenty-first century in literature, films, and television shows.
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