Creation of Monsters

Bryon’s poem suggests two points, which relate back to Cohen’s theses. The first of which is the idea that Prometheus is both man and god. The poem declares, “Like thee, Man is in part divine[.]” As Cohen describes monstrosity in his fourth thesis, “The Monster Dwells at the Gates of Difference,” monsters are described as being formed part man, yet part obscurity. The obscurity arises from a public/general fear of the unknown or different. This difference, whether it is cultural, racial, political, sexual, and/or economic, creates the monstrous or “scary” portion of the creature. Similar to Prometheus, monstrosity is formed of two main subjects.

Secondly, Bryon’s poem describes Prometheus’s eternal punishment of torture: “[w]hich torture where they cannot kill.” As Prometheus is immortal, so are the monsters according to Cohen’s second thesis, “The Monster Always Escapes.” In this thesis, Cohen describes monstrosity as adapting to culture’s fears. He uses the vampire creature to articulate this idea. Cohen argues that throughout time vampires have represented various fears in culture, such as homosexuality and AIDS. These vampires (which can be generalized to all monsters) escape as suggested by the title of his thesis; yet it is only to come back once again, encompassing a new fear of the modern culture.