Monstrosity Essays

Winter Quarter of 1996, when I was at Utah State University, I enrolled in an honors class which was a study in the use of monsters in literature throughout human history. As part of the class, we were to read classic works, such as Beowulf, The Tempest, The Strange Case of Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde, Dracula, Frankenstein, and several others. We also had to write essays and short papers on different philosophical and ethical subjects regarding each book, and how the monster was used to convey a type of "message". Well, these are some of the essays I wrote, with a final term paper on Circus Freaks. Enjoy.

Count Dracula vs. Common Discourse

Short essay on how Count Dracula was defeated not by a wooden stake, but by language.

Human Gender Roles as Represented in Two Versions of Frankenstein

Short essay on the changes in the role of the woman Elizabeth in the origional Mary Shelly work and the classic (or campy) 1931 film. Feminists may enjoy.

Freaks!?! Exploited or Exploiters?

This is my final paper on, well, freaks. Take a look.