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Making the Monstrous: Examining the Monster Within and Without in Moby

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Making the Monstrous: Examining the Monster Within and Without in Moby MAKING THE MONSTROUS: EXAMINING THE MONSTER WITHIN AND WITHOUT IN MOBY-DICK AND FRANKENSTEIN A THESIS Presented to The Faculty of the Department of English The Colorado College In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Bachelor of Arts By Laurie James Laker May 2012 MAKING THE MONSTROUS: EXAMINING THE MONSTER WITHIN AND WITHOUT IN MOBY-DICK AND FRANKENSTEIN Introduction: The elements of terror presented within Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein are terrors that ripple outward beyond the confines of the novels themselves. Terrifying elements are present throughout the settings and landscapes of the two novels, specifically those relating to the Edmund Burke’s notion of the sublime. Such terror is further represented in the physical monsters of the texts, the Creature and the white whale, and lastly in the two chief protagonists, Ahab and Victor Frankenstein. The landscapes and setting, the Frankenstein Creature and the whale, in addition to Ahab and Dr. Frankenstein offer terror to us because they present fundamental components of the sublime experience, allowing total consumption and thereby eradication of the very things we cling to for our humanity. These elements, human or otherwise, drive beyond humanity into the realm of the supernatural and the sublime – a realm chiefly composed of a terrifying consumption of the individual’s mind, body, and soul. Initial discussions will cover the very foundations of these two novels, their environments and settings. These are the canvases upon which the characters and creatures can act, the backdrop for the actions of the novels. In Frankenstein, the environments change continually but there are some that are far more pervasive 1 and powerful regarding aspects of terror and monstrosity than others. Chief among these are of the forests, mountain and glacial regions, and iced oceans – with these three environments providing viable opportunities for situational readings and allocation of thematic elements of terror. In Moby-Dick fewer settings are used, but the constant presence of the sea is a continual reminder of the elemental sublime as a framework for this novel. Furthermore, the ship itself, the Pequod, is a microcosm of bastardized society, the realm of the monomaniacal Captain Ahab and his most unfortunate crew. The natures of the monsters themselves, the Creature and the white whale, in the texts are much debated between various schools of thought. Issues of creative agency, action control, and human vs. monstrous reason are the common focal points for debates surrounding these texts. The work of Carl Gustav Jung informs certain aspects of my analysis throughout the course of this essay, and I will utilize his studies on archetypes, dreams, and the manifestation of evil in relation to these two great texts. Focusing upon the two actual monsters from these texts, I use Edmund Burke’s study of the sublime experience, A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin oF Our Ideas oF the Sublime and Beautiful, to examine the elements of the sublime and beautiful. I will specifically focus upon the central idea of Burke’s work that the nature of the sublime “is the emotion of terror.” (Monk 87) Through my examination of what makes these monsters monstrous, what characteristics of body or action defines them as inspiring of terror in both their mirrored pursuers and 2 readers, I aim to draw out conclusions in relation to the external reflections of fear, presented in hideous and horrific forms. Lastly, and most crucially, I delve into the darkest aspects of the novels, the human elements, chiefly focusing upon the two protagonists of the novels – Victor Frankenstein and Captain Ahab. I believe that although the two men are terrifying characters within their respective novels, the real agency, the true source of terror and monstrosity, comes from the “barbarity of man” (Shelley 133). Jung’s thesis on the concept of the collective unconscious states that with regard to the individual unconscious, there “exists a second psychic system of a collective, universal, and impersonal nature which is identical in all individuals (Jung 43). Furthermore, and in reference to the two chief protagonists of the novels, Victor and Ahab, this notion of a “collective unconscious does not develop individually but is inherited” (Jung 43). Therefore it is reasonable to pair the two men together, given that this notion of collective unconscious, of collective shadow, is not an individual trait but a sweeping and overarching human one. The application and ascribing of agency from character to creature is a further reason that I believe the truer monsters lie within the human players of the texts – Ahab prescribing to Moby Dick the entirety of responsibility for his vengeful voyage and Victor being the creator and unwilling father of the Creature. Lastly, the intentions of the two main characters provide further insight into their monstrous natures – Ahab the man who would “strike the sun if it insulted me”, and Victor for whom the “world was to me a secret, which I desired to discover” (Melville 140; Shelley 66). Ahab’s intention is but to appease his “vengeful 3 ghost” and slay Moby Dick, thereby striking back at the “unknown but still reasoning thing” that continually torments him (Melville 248; Melville 140). Victor’s intentions, on the other hand, lie simply in his desire to create and control new life and discovery, having always been a revealer, seeking “that passion, which afterwards ruled my destiny” from a very young age (Shelley 67). However, in the pursuit of both noble, yet foolhardy, goals – things go horribly awry. 4 An Environment of Terror - First, to the prominent settings of the two novels and how they serve not only as a continuous backdrop for the terror that unfolds within them, but also as terrifying elements of the novels on their own accord. The elements of the sublime shown in landscape and environment make a significant impact in both Frankenstein and Moby-Dick, purveying a large amount of situational and plot-based information while simultaneously complimenting the textual actions to great effect. “Power is there” – Frankenstein’s Settings: Three different environments stand out as vital in the reading of Frankenstein, serving as locations for crucial events to unfold. The first of these environs is the De Lacey cottage “of neat and pleasant appearance”, and an accompanying “low hovel, quite bare” with its surrounding woods, where the Creature spends his formative seasons (Shelley 132). Initially of note in this situation is the Creature’s ability to glean skills by observing and imitating, very much as a young child adopts new tools and utilities. Taken by an early fascination with fire, “overcome with delight at the warmth” he draws from it, the Creature endeavors to learn the “operation of the fire” (Shelley 130). Through trial and error, he maintains a flame and furthermore adapts his foraged foods with his newly mastered skill – showing animal survival instinct and human creativity simultaneously. The fire is his lifeline, assuming this role ironically, given that this particular utility, is so readily “left by some wandering beggars”, much like the 5 Creature himself (Shelley 130). The association of the Creature’s survival with fire offers a strong link to the subtitle of the novel, The Modern Prometheus. Although the subtitle refers to Victor, his creator, in his acquisition of fire, the Creature has perhaps a stronger literal link to the Promethean myth. The novel reinterprets the myth, and a significant change is that the stealing from the gods is now to steal from man – that same species that gave rise to this incredible darkness through their own designs and desires. Man’s darkest creature learns in the flickering light of his brightest creation, fire. With further regard to his initial environments, the De Lacey cottage provides the Creature with the central location for his formative learning of human skills, such as language, the “godlike science” capable of producing “pleasure or pain, smiles or sadness, in the minds and countenances of the hearers” (Shelley 137). The Creature learns French through human contact and “great application”, ironic on multiple levels because of its dual associations with romance and the Enlightenment period of reasoned humanity (Shelley 138). Furthermore, the irony extends itself to the speaker of this language, the Creature. The Creature is an entity utterly devoid of Enlightenment concepts and romance, and therefore his speaking the French language is a bastardized usage of this otherwise most noble of human dialogues. However, the knowledge and interactions that the Creature is able to acquire at the cottage is of great benefit to him for his formative seasons, his refutation at the De Lacey house in “general tumult” provides him with recognized agony, “overcome by pain and anguish” (Shelley 160). This rejection drives him to the woods, where he 6 “gave vent to my anguish in fearful howlings” as “a wild beast that had broken the toils” (Shelley 160). For the Creature, the woods offer primal refuge and a place for clarification of thought. His first place of learning is the woods, and because of this he seems to associate that locale with self-discovery and the unearthing of crucial information necessary for his survival. It is in the woods that the Creature resolves to avenge himself upon “my father, my creator” for “to whom could I apply with more fitness than to him who had given me life” (Shelley 164). The woods are, therefore, formative in many ways for the Creature – from his discovery of language at the unknowing knee of the De Lacey family, to his initial (and only) readings of “Paradise Lost, a volume of Plutarch’s Lives, and the Sorrows of Werter [sic]” (Shelley 152).
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