"MONSTERS" AND THEIR SUPERIORITY TO MANKIND In the desert I saw a creature, naked, bestial, Who, squatting upon the ground, Held his heart in his hands, And ate of it. I said, "Is it good friend?" "It is bitter-bitter," he answered; "But I like it Because it is bitter And because it is my heart." -Stephen Crane This reflects how both Grendel and Frankenstein must have felt during their lonely lives. "Seeking friends, the fiends found enemies; seeking hope, they found hate"(Neilson back page). The monsters simply want to live as the rest of us live. But, in our prejudice of their kind, we banish them from our elite society. Who gave society the right to judge who is acceptable and who is not? A better question might be, who is going to stop them? The answer, no one. Therefore, society continues to alienate the undesirables of our community. Some of the greatest minds of all time have been socially unacceptable. Albert Einstein lived alone and rarely wore the same color socks. Van Gogh found comfort only in his art, and the woman who consistently denied his passion. Edgar Allen Poe was "different" to say the least. Just like these great men, Grendel and Frankenstein do not conform to the societal model. Also like these men, Grendel and Frankenstein are uniquely superior to the rest of mankind. Their superiority is seen through their guile to live in a society that ostracizes their kind, their true heroism in place of society's romantic view, and the ignorance on which society's opinion of them is formed. Grendel, though he needs to kill to do so, functions very well in his own sphere. Grendel survives in a hostile climate where he is hated and feared by all. He lives in a cave protected by firesnakes so as to physically, as well as spiritually, separate himself ...
