Tomorrow is Mary Shelley’s birthday, and we’ve decided to fête the famous author by getting a head start on Hallowe’en and defending the top five misunderstood monsters in literature. Mary Shelley, the daughter of feminist philosopher Mary Wollstonecraft, wrote The Modern Prometheus (a.k.a. Frankenstein) in 1818. The Gothic novel, and the monster it describes, has gone on to be a staple in horror lore. However, along with featuring one of the most misunderstood monsters in literary history, the book itself is often greatly miscalculated!
1) Frankenstein’s Monster, in Frankenstein
First of all (unless you want to get all philosophical about the ethics of cloning and genome experimentations), Frankenstein is not even the name of the monster in Shelley’s classic novel, it’s the name of the scientist! Dr. Victor Frankenstein’s monster, born out of the scientist’s selfish and short-sighted desire to create human perfection, is manufactured from the body parts of deceased criminals. Really, what sort of result was he expecting? The monster is ugly beyond words and possesses superhuman strength and speed, so when the rest of Frankenstein’s family reacts in fear and disgust and Frankenstein turns his back on his creation, it should have been no surprise that the monster begins behaving unpleasantly towards those who abandoned him.
2) Quasimodo, in The Hunchback of Notre-Dame
Like Frankenstein’s monster, the hunchback Quasimodo is shunned and feared by his neighbours due to his physical deformity. However, unlike Shelley’s misunderstood baddie, Quasimodo does not let the cruelty of the outside world taint his true character and opts to live in isolation. Because this “monster” stays purely good, he is for a time able to live in the sanctuary he sought. However, because this is a Victor Hugo novel and nobody lives happily ever after, he also finds true love that is only fulfilled through his death.
3) Grendel’s Mom, in Beowulf and Grendel
Sure, her son was a pretty standard, non-misunderstood bad guy, but a mother’s love is unconditional. So when Beowulf comes roaring into town, rips off her son’s arm, kills him and keeps the arm as a trophy, can we really blame her for being upset? Unofficial Viking law allowed retaliation killing, so did Grendel’s mother really deserve to have her head paraded around town because she killed one Danish soldier as payback for her son’s death?
4) Severus Snape, in the Harry Potter series
Seriously, this guy was dealt a tough deck. He was in a love with a married woman and felt responsible for her death. In order to protect his beloved’s orphan son and keep magical goodness alive, he aligned himself with the evil Voldemort. The good guys hated him for being so evil; the bad guys hated him for being so close to their leader. Even in death, with his true motivations revealed, it’s hard to forget that he spent seven books tormenting Harry, killed Dumbledore and was generally a miserable wizard.
5) The Dragon, in every fairy tale
The dragon exists for one reason in fairy tales: to keep the knight in shining armour away from the beautiful princess. The better the fire-breathing reptile is at its job, the more maligned it becomes. Talk about unfair!
With the exception of Quasimodo all of these “monsters” have actually done some pretty bad things. However, they’ve all been deemed social outcasts simply because they possess some less-than-pleasant physical characteristics and behave antagonistically towards the more relatable characters. Perhaps on this, the 216th anniversary of Mary Shelley’s birth, we can take some time to rethink our preconceived notions about those we fear and avoid.
Who is your favourite literary villain? Was he or she misunderstood or rightly maligned as an evil character?
I believe the misconception of dragons stems from the Judeo-Christian association of the Devil with snakes (reptiles). I think there is also something going on with the fire-breathing and a deep-seeded fear that another being can harness elemental energy in a way we cannot. Heat and energy are essential to life, but it can quickly go out of control, i.e. the wildfires in the American West or the burning of 17th century London or 19th century Chicago. This is hard enough to deal with as an act of God, but as an act of hostility, it’s terrifying.
That’s a really interesting perspective, Robert! With the devastating wildfires currently sweeping through Yosemite, as well as all the terrible fires and floods in the news lately, I can definitely see how having this natural element used as an act of aggression would be especially frightening.
I think the most misunderstood villain that isn’t included is Javert from Les Miserables. He is just trying to do his job (i. e. Bring order from Chaos and enforcement of the law). He is so consumed by his desire to do his job that he ignores all human feeling and emotion.
That’s a really good point, Ben. The “monsters” in our stories aren’t always actual monstrous creatures. Javert definitely qualifies as someone who is often viewed as the absolute bad guy but when when we look closer at his motivations it’s easy to see how ended up playing the role he did.
What about Larry???
We aren’t familiar with Larry… what story is he from?
Larry is from a movie come play and his purpose is to find a friend. he is from a story called misunderstood monsters but for some reason we can’t find the real story on the internet. He is summoned by loneliness and the technology and electricity is his window and the story is his door… finish the story and he will be able to come to our world and take a friend to live with him for the rest of there life.
Interesting, thank you for sharing! The movie wasn’t released when we published this article, but it sounds like Larry makes a good addition to the list.
Of course in Frankenstein the real monster -is- Frankenstein himself.
– He gets consumed by his egoistical desires, creating another creature (mind you, the creature is never called a ‘monster’ directly, only by Frankenstein himself);
– then when that creature comes alive, physically a grown man (mind you, according to the book he is terrifying, but very, very beautiful and not ugly at all!), but mentally an infant. Frankenstein suddenly has second thoughts, and actually abandons an infant. Not only abandons an infant, but one in a grown body, so expected to know his way around;
– then when this creature, in his beautiful but terrifying (in a ‘this looks too good/strong/perfect to be true’) way, gets shunned because he is weird without anyone helping him all the effin’ time, he wants to get Frankenstein’s attention in the only way he is taught. Mind you, his murders at this point could have been prevented if Frankenstein had not abandoned him as a babe in the first place. The only thing the creature wants is someone like him, so he is not lonely anymore;
– Frankenstein promises to end the loneliness (which would likely have stopped the murder spree), but changes his mind;
– meanwhile Frankenstein lets an innocent girl be hanged for a murder she did not commit, to save his own skin. Because he knows it is actually him who is to blame;
– to save his own skin he tells no one, and being still his egoistical, egocentrical self, he thinks the monster is after him instead of after the ones he loves out of revenge until the very end.
So yeah, who is the villain here? The one who tries to get his father’s attention the only way he knows how, or the egoistical, egocentrical man who abandons a baby and leaves everyone hanging (some literally) because to him the world revolves around himself and his whims only?
Oh and then I’ve not even begun about Snape, who was a death eater close to Voldemort before Lily was killed, and who could have prevented the death of Harry’s parents – and who only helped the good side because it was his incel obsession who was killed, instead of Neville’s mom. Then he goes on to abuse children under the protection of being a spy. Ugh. Nothing endearing about a nazi incel doing the bare minimum of not being all bad.