ABSTRACT
Monsters are unique historic and epistemic cultural products. According to Stephen T. Asma, the word “monster derives from the Latin word monstrum, which in turn derives from the root monere (to warn). To be a monster is to be an omen” (13), a portent. However, according to David Wardle the term comes from Cicero’s verb monstra, to show or to demonstrate (75). In this sense, monsters work both as omens and signs. They are never culturally silent, as they “speak” aloud about the conditions and communities from which they emerged and lived. For the most part, monsters terrorize, repulse, scare, and haunt our existence, but they also fascinate and attract us. They can bring out the best and the worst of human beings.
