Defining the indefinable : the cultural role of monsters in the Middle Ages : an honors thesis [(HONRS 499)]

Abstract

Monsters appear in a variety of sources and from a variety of periods in the Middle Ages. That they laid so heavily on the medieval mind is evidence not that men of this period were ignorant and foolishly believed in fictional creatures, but rather that these frightening creatures served a vital cultural role. As the physical and cultural landscape of Europe underwent a number of changes in the Middle Ages, monsters aided Christian European men to define their relationship to the world around them. Monsters served as a counter example to humans, defining what mankind is by illustrating what it is not. But forming a comprehensive worldview is not an easy task, and while monsters could aide mankind in creating a cultural system, they could also tear it apart. In their very nature monsters are indefinable. They both form and deform man's worldview.