Monstrosity in Literature - Essay Example

of Affiliation MONSTROSITY IN LITERATURE Monstrosity has been an aspect of literature that has been used since time in memorial to create gothic or horrific feelings in stories. Derived from the word monster, monstrosity is basically a representation of unnatural, strange, supernatural, or frightful objects that cause harm to other animals but more so humans. Several authors of English literature have belabored themselves in exploiting this aspects of writing and have effectively touched the emotions of their readers through vivid description of events as well as representation of characters. Cases in point is in Jacobs W.W. “Monkey Paws” and Doyle’s “the Hound of the Baskervilles.” By radical comparison of the two literatures, I conclude that the monstrosity is a dreadful quality of literature that is enhanced by characterization which employs first person narration rather than third person narration. Monkey Paws’ monstrosity atmosphere is cautiously and tightly fabricated, starting with the external environment at the White’s house. The game of Chess, which Mr. White and her son Herbert are playing ends on “fatality” as the former makes “a fatal irreversible mistake. Taking into account the plot of the story, the various sections of W.W. Jacobs’ story have been skillfully combined to create a rising mood of tension, anxiety, panic, and fear which, all combined, amplify the monstrosity of the story. Jacob uses literal devices such as imagery created through careful description to create a feeling of monstrosity in his story the “The Monkey Paw.” Firstly, just after losing the Chess game to his son, Mr. White creates a mental monstrosity when he bawls out in anger saying, "Of all the beastly, slushy, out-of-the-way places to live in, this is the worst. Pathways a bog, and the roads a torrent.” The imagery created in readers mind is that of an isolated region experiencing extreme weather conditions such as strong winds and heavy downpour. The mentioning of “beastly”, as well as asserting that it was the worst of all the places to have ever lived in, served to enhance the horror feeling. Also, Jacob’s description of Mr. Morris’ arrival builds on the tension created earlier by Mr. White to create a feeling of a gigantic figure approaching the gate. For instance, the author describes that “the gate banged to loudly and heavy footsteps came toward the door.” Sergeant Major Morris is “tall burly man, beady of eye and rubicund of visage.” His arrival seems to have been awaited through with a great uneasiness. For instance, Herbert is quick to raise an alarm that “there he is.” The monkey paw itself creates emotional feeling of monstrosity. Major Morris, despite being a soldier, is evidently so scared of the paw that he would rather throw it in the fire than to hand it over to Mr. White. He goes further to warn White that he should not blame him in case he suffers the consequences of keeping the object. In the readers mind, the strangeness of the object is evident as even Morris is unsure if he would make further wishes if at all it permitted him to make them. Furthermore, when Mr. White makes a wish for two hundred pounds, the outcome is not pleasing. Instead of rejoicing in gladness after making the wish, Mr. White is disgusted that the object moved. He could hardly believe the strangeness of the object that was by then laying on the floor. Further on, Herbert creates a horror feeling when he tells his father that, "I expect youll find the cash tied up in a big bag in the middle of your bed…… and something horrible squatting up on top of the wardrobe watching you as you pocket your ill-gotten gains." The scene where Herbert is left alone sitting at the fire place is horrific. As he gazes into the fire, all he sees are faces. One of the faces was “horrible and simian” triggering to make a move for a glass of water so that he could pour on it. Unfortunately, instead of grasping the glass, he found himself holding the Monkey Paw, a situation that must have frightened him so much. The author effectively uses suspense and horrendous feeling when he says that Herbert wiped his hand on his coat and silently went to bed. The emotional stage that Jacob sets up here is monstrous and horrific. As all members of the Whites family head to the bedroom, readers are left wondering what is awaiting them. The monkey paw is so strange that all of them seem to be running away from it. The last section of the Monkey Paw story uses emotional appeal of the characters to enhance monstrosity. Sadly, the two hundred pounds that Mr. White wished from the paw was granted through the death of their only son, Herbert. A somber mood engulfs this old family and Mrs. White demands that they should use the same paw to make another wish for their son to resurrect. This is scary. Mr. White dreads the idea but does it against his wish. After sometime, the knocks at the door grows into a crescendo frightening Mr. White. The reader is kept in a horrific suspense not knowing what to expect at the door. Similar to Jacob’s Monkey Paw, Doyle’s also effectively uses supernatural imagery created through character description to enhance the quality of monstrosity. Descriptions such as blood-chilling noise of animals in their death throes, moonlit and foggy night, a flaming-mouthed hellhound, and a dead body of villain lying at the depths of the Grimpen Mire, all of these serve to amplify the gothic image of the story. Dr. Watson’s reactions and descriptions of these moments send chilling shivers down the spine of the readers. For instance, a situation arose where that he describes as, “I was standing in front of him, when I saw his eyes fix themselves over my shoulder and stare past me with an expression of the most dreadful horror.” His irrationality momentarily brings a sense of realism to the superstitious beliefs about the monstrous and murderous nature of the moorlands. Logic forms the fundamental principles in Sherlock Holmes reasoning. As such, he endeavors to attach logical explanations to everything happening his environment. For instance, having an understanding that fear is a manifestation of the mind on matters that do not have sufficient facts, Holmes tackles fear as mystery that needs to be solved. In The Hound of the Baskervilles, the only aspect that appears to send shivers down Holmes is whether or not Sir Henry will go unscathed in his attempt to piece up the plot of the personality surrounding the hound. At the end, Homes manages to withstand the emotional element of the story and search for logic. The case is however different for Dr. Watson who, supposedly, takes the position of a reader within the story. In his characterization, the monstrosity quality of the story is exemplified. Similar to most people both in the story and even readers, Watson is hyper-reactive to both situations and fear. There is hardly any moment in which he takes his time to make logical perspective of events. Nonetheless, through logical reasoning, he is able to see the once fearful things at latter time and therefore eliminate the fear that engulfed him. For instance, in The Hound of the Baskervilles, Watson dreads the dog and the legend to be truthful. Just like most of the other persons, he is intensely afraid every moment he hears the cry of the hound. Evidently, Watson is so emotionally sensitive to his fears and often relies on these fears and beliefs before regarding the logic behind them. Doyle effectively uses the character of Dr. Watson as a superstitious individual to bring out the monstrosity of the Hound of the Baskervilles. Deeply engrossed into superstitions, Watson’s immediate reaction to any event in the environment is to try to create a linkage to the hound in the moor. For instance chapter twelve of the book talks about the sudden scream coming on the moor that sends the detectives into investigation. Preliminary investigation reveal a body of supposedly Sir Henry. However, after a keener look it turns out that the clothes were for Sir Henry but the body was for the convict to whom Barrymore delivered those clothes. It is immediately concluded that the hound had sniffed Sir Henry’s stolen boot and tracked down the person bearing the clothes before killing him. While in that discussion and trying to connect the dots as to why the hound had to attack the convict, Stapleton arrives and immediately concludes that the body is for Sir Henry. Watson is quite interested to understand the reason as to why Stapleton was quick to make that conclusion. From this piece of the story, is undoubtedly clear that the characterization of Watson, unlike Holmes, was to exemplify the superstition, and therefore monstrosity of the story. Jacobs W.W. “Monkey Paws” and Doyle’s “the Hound of the Baskervilles” have evidently shown how the quality of monstrosity is enhanced by characterization that employs first person narration rather than third person narrations. In both cases, the characters are presented to be in a real-time environment where they are beleaguered by frightful events. Through internal monologue or a discussion to another characters, the monstrosity of the story is amplified by the emotional appeals that is passed over to the readers. In conclusion, the two pieces of literature have effectively utilized monstrosity. Work Cited Doyle, Arthur C. The Hound of the Baskervilles. London: John Murray, 1971. Print. Jacobs, W W. The Monkeys Paw. Auckland: Floating Press, 2011. Internet resource. Read More