After reading “The Penguin Book of Mermaids” introduction, I got a deeper understanding of the topics we spoke about in class on Thursday. The introduction dives into the idea of mermaids being monsters and what that really means. The introduction also speaks on the feminity of mermaids and how that was perceived differently by different groups throughout time.

This reading intrigued me greatly because it explains beauty as a dangerous or even monstrous trait. Mermaids are typically depicted as gorgeous women on the top half of their bodies. This beauty is something that has been said to allow them to lure men in and take power over them, which in return makes them dangerous. The reading refers to the definition of a monster as “a portent or prodigious being that defies what is commonly found in nature and thus elicits both fear and awe” (Bacchilega and Brown, xii). This definition derives from the Latin language and sparked a personal interest for me. Monsters are typically thought of as something that is only scary and insights fear. This definition helps explain that a monster, such as a mermaid, can also be looked at in awe.

The reading elaborated on the idea of the fear of mermaids through their environment. Mermaids are creatures of the ocean, an environment humans don’t know much about. While one might think we know a lot about the ocean, only 5% of it has been discovered. Humans tend to fear the unknown, making a creature who is part human and inhabits an environment we don’t know much about scary. I find this extremely interesting and it is a topic I hope to dive deeper into. It intrigues me how we do not know if these creatures are real or what is real about them because we truly know so little about where they reside.