Share your ideas from today's class. What do you think one of the monsters from Beowulf means in light of Cohen's first thesis?
Alex
9/27/2014 01:58:00 am
According to Cohen's first thesis, monsters are representations of people's fear and fantasy. Hence, I thinkg Grendel is representing a frightening aftermath of excessive drinking, for Grendel's assault occurred when everyone fell asleep after drinking very hard.
Kori Kang
9/27/2014 12:07:49 pm
Cohen states that monsters' bodies incorporates fear, desire, anxiety, and fantasy. His idea is well reflected in Grendel in "Beowulf". First of all, Grendel has the strong desire to kill the Danes, while feeling anxious of God's wrath. Also, he shudders in fear when Beowulf gets hold of him. Grendel, an unrealistic character, is a monster that only exists in humans' fantasy rather than in a real world. Therefore, Grendel conveys Cohen's thesis: the monster's body is a cultural body.
Ariel
9/27/2014 08:32:20 pm
According to Cohen's thesis, monters represent a warning. In the poem, men party and drink like there is no trouble, no death, but only peace. Thus, in this situation, Grendel warns the war that may come soon if those men continue to live like this. If they do not spend more time in maintaining a better society, something will break down and something evil will ruin the town.
Nick
9/28/2014 12:38:46 am
I agree with Ariel's view that Grendel is a warning to the human society. Peace depraves human, because people no longer have the same enemy. In addition, greed and selfishness take over us. So, i think that Grendel represents the evil part of human nature.
Belle
9/28/2014 12:12:32 am
I think monsters represent a lack of forgiveness and human’s stupidity. In Beowulf, all fights started with the purpose of revenge. When one fight starts, as a result, another fight will begin. Revenge continues forever. People fight for what they have lost already, instead of doing something else that can make their lives better. And this revenge last until one finally learns how to forgive, but when that happens, they already lost more than they needed to.
Steve Kim
9/28/2014 01:55:33 am
I agree. The monster is created by people's innate ill will. If we think about the overall plot, we can elicit the conclusion that Beowulf was only fighting to demonstrate his strength and seek revenge, which is a selfish reason to use violence.
Steve Kim
9/28/2014 01:53:04 am
In today's class, I learned that monsters were shaped by a culture's distinct interest. If there is fear, the monster would be a creature that brings fear. If there is an ominous sign or change, the creature would bring a disaster or a big altercation in society. Likewise, monsters are created in regards to the people's current attention.
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Discussion Board
_Assignment: Students are expected to participate in the
class’ online discussion forum hosted at shrubber.weebly.com.Questions related to assigned readings will
be posted by the teacher each week.Students are expected to post a minimum of one original response per
week.When more than one question is
posted by the instructor in a given week, students may choose to which of the
questions they respond. Students are also expected to comment on at least one
other student’s response to the question.Although these are the minimum requirements for the homework grade,
students are encouraged to engage in further discussion with their classmates
using the forum. These additional responses are OPTIONAL. However, commenting will benefit your participation grade if you did not participate during our whole-class discussion on the day when you post your comment. You DO NOT have an opportunity to make up credit lost for lateness, lack or preparation or violation of classroom/school rules.
Student posts should NOT exceed 100 words.
All responses will be graded on content, organization and grammar.