The Role of Human Beings in the Creation of Monsters

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The Role of Human Beings in the Creation of Monsters
Introduction
In Stephen King’s words, “Monsters are real, and ghosts are real, too.” A number of people take this ‘reality’ as a physical existence, only. Ghosts do exist and they are real but they have another existence too, a different one. It is their existence in the thoughts of people which helps creation of a monster. Different authors, like Arthur Conan Doyle and Stephen King have written about monsters and ghosts and have presented other supernatural concepts based on the idea that humans and sometimes their feelings, are the actual creators of monsters. Reading great texts like ‘The Hound of Baskervilles’ and ‘Shining’ by the authors mentioned above are exemplary and evidential of the argument drawn in the essay. The characters and their feelings, habits, internal and external conflicts, settings, the gloom and isolation of the settings, which give them the position of ‘characters’ have all played their instrumental and concrete role in creating the monsters. A close reading, comprehension and comparative study of these texts reveal that the gothic and other literary elements in the novel have also contributed to prove the physical, emotional and psychological existence of the monsters.
Existence of Monstrosity – A Comparative Analysis
Both of the texts, The Hound of Baskervilles and Shining are set on isolated places, gloomy, where one could enjoy solitude and seclusion. The Baskerville Hall at the dartmoor and the Overlook Hotel are dark places with eerie atmospheres and present weird conditions. Contextual evidence from the text describes the eeriness of the Monstrous, haunted hall using these words: “The longer one stays here the more does the spirit of the moor sink into one’s soul, its vastness, and also its grim charm” (Doyle). “Sometimes human places, create inhuman monsters” (King).  
In both of these novels, the monsters are created by human beings directly, e.g the hound was a fictitious monster created by Stapleton. In the same novel, Henry didn’t become a victim of the monster since he had control over his feelings and his nerves, but Stapleton couldn’t help himself and involved other minor characters too.
On the other hand, they are created psychologically by human feelings, also classified as inanimate elements, e.g. Jack turned into a ghost and his nostalgia, anger, frustration, anxiety and alcoholism contributed to his creation. The nature of Jack’s job: winter caretaker also represents a situation of loneliness, sadness and gloom. “This inhuman place makes human monsters” (King).  
In the other text, inanimate objects like gloom, grimness, isolation, seclusion and solitude, greed and hunger for more wealth and societal power compelled Stapleton to create a monster, or become one on his own. It can be commented that the feelings and the monsters arising out of those feelings directly represented the mental, emotional, psychological and social conditions of the human beings.
Creation of Monsters in ‘The Hound of Baskervilles’
The Hound of Baskervilles is a classic novel written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It gets classified under different categories of the genre; mainly is a gothic fiction with horror and supernatural factors. Inanimate objects, like a curse, gives birth to the novel’s legend, a ‘hound’ which is described as luminous and spectral. The creation of the monster starts when the character, Hugo Baskerville and a maiden, kidnapped by him are found dead by Hugo’s aggressive friends. In the beginning, people have cited its existence, seen its footprints and heard him howling during the days when Charles Baskerville was also killed. However, in the climax, it is found that Stapleton had bought a dog from Fulham Road, carried him to the home town on foot, and lurked with it at the moor during dark nights so that his footprints stay. The whole plot is created in a way that the protagonist keeps searching the ‘human being’ who created the monster. “Was there a human agency in the matter?” (Doyle). Further, he used to take the hound on a walk every night to inform people of his existence and that’s how people had heard it, howling. The following night, Charles Baskerville was murdered by Jack Stapleton and the news of his death by a supernatural hound spread like fire in Devonshire. Inanimate objects like a manuscript, which helps the plot progress while informing about the curse, the footprints, the curse, and the howling all helped create a monster.
Role Played by Mr. Stapleton
Stapleton played an important role in the physical and literal creation of the monster. A number of contextual evidence and thesis produced by Dr. Watson in the first half of the novel strongly support the argument. “But now we have to prove the connection between the man and the beast” (Doyle). In the 14th chapter, Stapleton is found to be the actual murderer, who himself belonged to the Baskerville family and killed Charles Baskerville so that nobody could stand between him and the huge Baskerville estate. He later found out from Dr. James Mortimer that there was another heir to the property, his cousin, and Joh...