Gender Monster Essay

Focus: Please make sure your entry is focused; instead of discussing ‘sirens’ as a broad category of monsters, for instance, choose a specific example from a text or other cultural object (film, painting, sculpture, etc.) such as Homer’s Odyssey.

Image and/or brief description of the monster: Please make sure the image – when used – is relevant. For instance, if your entry focuses on the representations of the sirens in Homer’s Odyssey, make sure your illustration reflects the source (do not use a random picture of a mermaid!), and that your entry engages with the image as an illustration of the monster you have chosen to discuss.

Source: Where does the monster appear? Who wrote/painted/made the film/created the monster? Make sure your entry provides details and quotes from the actual source. For instance, if your entry focuses on the sirens in the Odyssey, your entry should quote from this text. Your entry will need to demonstrate your deep engagement with the source through a close analysis of its text/visual imagery.

Historical Context: When and where does the monster appear first? Does it re-appear in other contexts? Is it different when it re-appears? For instance, if you are talking about an adaptation of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, you may wish to reference the original text – and its historical background – and compare it to the later adaptation (i.e. Jeanette Winterson, Frankenstein) and its later historical context.

Analysis: In to demonstrate your critical skills, rather than describing the monster or summarising the plot, you will need to analyse it. This means interrogating the text, and answering some questions will help you to delve deep into your analysis.  Here are some examples: Is it a visual or a written monster, or both? What are the aspects that make it monstrous? What is the relation of the monster to its cultural and historical context? What function is the monster serving and how is it conveyed? Is it a sympathetic or a negative representation? Are there any theoretical ideas (Cohen, Kristeva, Freud, etc.) that can be related to it? Here you will find Cohen’s framework particularly useful, so make sure you engage with this in this entry.

Structure: Although it does not have to have a formal introduction and conclusion like an essay, each entry should be logically structured and not presented as an unfocussed series of unrelated points.

Theoretical Framework: Besides Jeffrey Cohen’s ‘Seven Theses’, which should be used as a useful framework to analyse the monster, your entry should also demonstrate engagement with other relevant theories such as Sigmund Freud’s ‘The Uncanny’ and Julia Kristeva’s ‘Abjection’, where relevant.

References: All sources should be properly cited and there should be a bibliography for each entry.