Monsters as Allegory?

Monsters push us to consider the boundaries of what is real and always pose a hesitation of belief. Do these beings really exist, and if not, why do they affect us so much? Even in our more rational age, we still see a fascination with beings like Bigfoot or the Loch Ness Monster. We could also look at the recent surge in Marvel movies, which today almost enter the realm of the possible. Both attest to the desire and fear we as humans have for something beyond us. These same questions hang around theological texts. For instance, what are we to do with the imagery of the beasts in Revelation? They pose questions about whether the apocalypse literally includes physical dragons or are they mere allegories. To go a step further, if they are just allegories, are they still that interesting? To even begin thinking about monsters requires us to consider how they exist.

S. Isidore hispalensis episcopi…opera omnia (Etymologies)

Isidore of Seville (-636)

Rome: Antonii Fulgonii (1793)

1793 ISID, V. 4, p. 33

If you were compiling an account of the world and everything in it, where would you put monsters? This is a question Isidore has to answer when putting together his Etymologies about the origins of words. This page describes several monsters like cyclops, giants, and dog-headed humans (cynocephali). He has placed them in Book Eleven alongside humans, but has put them in a separate category. They are not humans, but portents. This also helps separate them from animals and beasts (like griffins) which he puts in Book Twelve. In his attempts at creating categories and classifying beings, we see the challenge belief in the existence of these beings poses.

Images from Revelation

1564 PSAL, p. 60; 1560 SOLI, p. G iv; 1704 BIBL C, p. 318; 1670 FONT, p. 523

The beasts of Revelation often raise questions about literal and allegorical readings of the Bible. Like Daniel, these beasts appear in a prophetic vision. As such, they sit at the edge of myth and reality. We have to ask whether this is imagery to convey the gravity of the message, like a sermon aid. Or are the beasts important in their own right? The illustrators who produced these images had to think about those connections and how it impacts their depiction. We answer the same questions today when we think about how to discuss Revelation in sermons.

Beowulf, photocopied holograph draft of translation

Seamus Heaney (1939-2013)

c. 1999

Stuart A. Rose Library, Seamus Heaney Papers (MSS 960)

Beowulf, likely written in 10th Century England, brings together a mixture of Christian and pagan imagery. This raises issues about how we interpret the poem's monsters, like the creature Grendel. In these notes from poet Seamus Heaney's translation of Beowulf we see his attempts to convey the nature of Grendel. On the fourth line, you can see where he has played around with denoting him as a “spirit” or a “demon.” We also see in these notes how the poem evokes the notion of monsters as “children of Cain." These questions of translation have an impact on the ways we read the text, either as allegory or living creatures.

Physiologus: A Metrical Bestiary of Twelve Chapters

Episcopus Theobaldus

London: J & E Bumpus (1928)

1928 THEO, pp. 36–37

Allegory was an important means of understand the Bible and art in the Middle Ages. As such, people also started to make allegorical interpretations of the world around them. This included finding allegories in the animals they saw everyday. In the process, whether an animal was real or not was not overly important. Instead, theologians were more concerned with what lesson they could teach. Thus, in this bestiary we find many common animals, like foxes and elephants. Alongside these, however, we also have a description of sirens, half-fish/half-human beings.

Sieben Köpffe Martini Luthers vom hochwirdigen Sacrament des Altars

Johannes Cochlaeus (1479-1552)

Leipzig: Valten Schuman (1529)

1529 COCH C, title page

Once a monster becomes an allegory, it is hard for people to imagine them as real anymore. Instead, they are symbols that are useful in making statements about the world around us. This woodcut offers an example of this idea. It is from a work critiquing Luther's deviation from Roman Catholic teachings. To emphasize the danger of Luther, the illustrator depicts him as a seven-headed monster. This would evoke the seven-headed beast of Revelation. As we interpret Revelation as allegorical, the beast is no longer treated as a real dragon. Instead, anyone can play the role of the beast, including Luther.