What Keeps You Up at Night?

When one thinks of the things that inhabit their nightmares, torment their minds, and drive them into deep states of fear, what does that thing look like? In order to truly strike fear into a reader or viewer, one first needs to understand the ways in which to build a perfect villain, or in most cases, a monster. This is one of the key elements that gets analyzed in “Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics.” Beowulf itself is one of the first key stories that portrays a monster in its most terrifying way. Grendel, Grendel’s mother, and the dragon are terrifying to the reader, but why? One possible answer is that monsters are mystical and mythical. But a rebuttal to this notion is that in reality monsters are so terrifying to humans because of their earthly traits, not their mystical ones. For example, let’s examine Tolkien’s dragon Smaug in The Hobbit, or There and Back Again. Smaug, unlike some of Tolkien’s other dragons who may have some redeeming or even nonviolent character traits, is a true incarnation of evil and terror amongst those in his domain. Smaug made his home in the lonely mountain, feeding into his greed and desire for power by claiming all the gold, jewels, and precious metals left behind in the mine. Smaug slaughtered the previous dwarven inhabitants, slaying almost all members of Dale and sending those few who did escape into exile (many of whom found a new home in Lake Town), below the mountain. This is the background that is given to readers of The Hobbit, or There and Back Again. But still the question persists, why are we so terrified of Smaug?

In truth, what makes us so terrified of these dragons is the combination of their appearance and their raw and seemingly never ending power. In regards to his appearance, Smaug is so terrifying because as a dragon, he appears to be semi-realistic. Dragons look as if they could be a part of the reptilia class on Earth. Dragons have scales, snake-like eyes, claws like lizards and a tongue like a snake. But what separates them and makes them so truly terrifying is the inclusion of non natural characteristics, which in this case are a dragon's wings. Coupling the introduction of wings with the size of the dragon is what gives it the necessary characteristics to be deemed a monster. A similar monster that Tolkien introduces is Shelob, the giant spider that attacks Frodo and Sam on their journey to Mordor. Since for many people who experience arachnophobia spiders are already terrifying enough, all Tolkien had to introduce to make Shelob the perfect mythical monster was to dramatically increase the size. Through not only reading about the characteristics of Shelob, but also seeing the monster in the movie adaptations of the books, it was easy to be terrified of Shelob.

There are other ways in which to make a monster not only terrifying but intimidating as well. Tolkien demonstrates this through his creation of Orcs. Orcs take on a demonic representation of the human figure. They are ugly, large, dirt, and intimidating versions of humans. Though some overlook them as just pawns in The Lord of the Rings they too are also fearsome monsters. One of the key characteristics of all of these monsters found not only in The Hobbit, or There and Back Again but also in The Lord of the Rings is their unnatural appearance, and thus they become hard for the mind to grasp and understand. It is this that makes them so terrifying. Things that the human mind cannot grasp is what terrifies it the most. So, creating monsters that flirt with that line is extremely powerful. They are earthly enough and contain real world characteristics that make them seem realistic, while also having features that make them seem majestic and otherworldly. Through this dichotomy that was first explored in Beowulf, Tolkien creates his own monsters that dominate the stories and haunt the nightmares of not only the characters but the readers and viewers. 

Monsters and heroes have been prevalent through almost all stages of humanity and storytelling. For example, monsters are deeply rooted in the Christian faith. Many times in the Bible, especially in the book of Jobe, there are depictions of saints and angels fighting demonic monsters and thus saving not only themselves but others. Almost every time in Christian writing, monsters represent sin, and it takes a hero to fight off this sin. Sin is such a powerful tool in the Christian depiction of monsters because for many people who practice the Christian faith, sin and committing sins is something that is greatly feared. Thus, one can even see how Jesus Christ himself is a monster slayer. This epitomizes how drawn humans are to the monster slayer stories, and just like in Tolkien’s stories, the Christian faith has many dragon slayer stories. Take for example St. George and St. Michael, both of whom have stories written about them slaying dragons and becoming a hero. So, what does it take to become a hero? Is the destruction of a monster necessary? These questions have persisted throughout fantasy writing and were closely examined by Tolkien in note only his personal notes and books.

TJG