After reading Moby Dick, one of the things that really interested and stuck with me was the mention of Moby Dick’s “whiteness” and how it made the whale all the more terrible. Melville writes “this elusive quality is, which causes the thought of whiteness, when divorced from more kindly associations, and coupled with any object terrible in itself, to heighten that terror to the furthest bounds.” This reminded me of a recent discussion from another English class about Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein as well as Asma’s discussion on monsters.
Things that are white are considered clean and pure, and whiteness is seen as symbol of virtue and nobility. This is the reason why it’s customary to wear a white wedding gown; it’s considered a physical representation of one’s sexual purity. Purity, nobility, and virtue are all considered to be qualities of a good, morally balanced person. These are qualities that people strive to achieve, a code that people hold themselves to. They represent a part of earthly life that is specific to us. Animals can’t be pure or noble or virtuous, they have reactionary minds. They don’t have the capabilities of humans for more elaborate brain functions such as desire, creativity, and rational thought. To have these qualities tied to an animal, especially an extremely intimidating, violent animal, in any way is a very frightening thought because it is placing similarities between “monster” and humanity.
During Asma’s talk “Monsters, Dreams, and the Moral Imagination,” he discussed “hybrid fusion” monsters. These are monsters that are a combination of the familiar mashed with the unknown. These monsters are more human-like. They have qualities that we can relate to, and this makes them all the more terrifying. A perfect example of this is the story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Dr. Jekyll is a normal, upstanding person who sometimes turns into the ugly, evil, murderous Mr. Hyde. What makes Dr. Jekylls’ alter ego so terrifying is that he exemplifies the idea, the possibility that inside each of us is a potential monster.
This brings me to the discussion we had the other day in my Dilemma of Existence class about Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. We were discussing the physical description of the monster in the novel and how the monster is portrayed in film adaptations. More specifically, we were comparing the representation of the monster in James Whale’s 1931 film Frankenstein to that of Kenneth Branagh’s 1994 film Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Whale’s monster, portrayed by Boris Karloff, is made to look like a giant, with a huge bulbous head and bolts sticking out of either side of its neck. This is the basic, stereotypical Frankenstein monster we see every year on Halloween decorations. This monster looks almost robotic with its neck bolts and abnormal head, and there’s a definite separation between “human” and “monster.” Robert DeNiro’s portrayal of the monster in Branagh’s film, however, is much more sinister and much more frightening. The interesting part is, that what makes DeNiro’s monster so much more terrifying than Karloff’s is that it’s so much more human. DeNiro is covered in gruesome scars and jaggedly stitched up skin –including what could be thought of as the shaved head of a convict. But other than that, the creature still very much resembles a man. Branagh also apparently decided to leave out the bit about the monster being giant, which only added to its humanity.
To be able to see yourself in a monster and to know that you have the potential to become one yourself is the scariest thing of all. Moby Dick’s “whiteness” made the whale a hybrid fusion, a terrible beast whose coloring allowed it to be associated with qualities familiar and specific to humanity. Frankenstein’s monster is a creature that is made to resemble a person, was supposed to be the ULTIMATE person. Stephen Asma wisely said, in his book On Monsters, that “to be a monster is to be an omen,” and how true that is. These hybrid fusion creatures are a warning to humanity that we’re not as far off from monsters as we’d like to believe.
