WEREWOLVES: THE OUTSIDER ON THE INSIDE IN ICELANDIC AND FRENCH MEDIEVAL LITERATURE

The contemporary viewpoint of the werewolf is mostly dominated by a horrific image of a misshapen beast that must be slain. This narrow view of the Monster as always Monstrous is incorrect. The werewolf was never meant to be an irredeemable thing and to distance ourselves from it as an audience is to miss the point of the metamorphic creature. Through examining two Medieval texts, the Völsunga Saga and Bisclavret, I show that the shape-shifter always had a chance for redemption. It is the actions of the Monster within the culture it originates from that shows it to be an individual that might be recovered from the margins of society. By placing a cultural understanding around the violence done by these creatures, their actions can be seen through the proper lens and their location within their society, as insider or outsider, can be determined.

Grantor dc:publisher

Wake Forest University

Year dc:date.issued

2018

Author dc:creator

• Modugno, Steven

• Beast

Language dc:language.iso

en

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/10339/90707

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:wakespace.lib.wfu.edu:10339/90707