Imagining Monsters
Miscreations of the Self in Eighteenth-Century England
- 357 pages
- 13 hours of reading
In 1726, an illiterate woman from Surrey named Mary Toft claimed to have given birth to seventeen rabbits, captivating England with her hoax that deceived physicians and citizens alike. Dennis Todd recounts this bizarre incident, revealing how it reflects eighteenth-century beliefs about imagination and personal identity. The acceptance of Toft's outrageous claim stemmed from a prevalent notion that a pregnant woman's imagination could deform her fetus, potentially creating a monster. Todd draws on previously unexamined sources from medicine, embryology, philosophy, and popular monster exhibitions to illustrate how fears surrounding monstrous births highlighted anxieties about the imagination's ability to blur the line between mind and body. Through his analysis of the Toft case, Todd uncovers deep-seated concerns regarding the threat posed by this transgressive imagination to the concept of a stable, coherent self. He connects these themes to the works of Pope and Swift, demonstrating how they addressed similar issues in their writings. Detailed discussions of "Gulliver's Travels" and "The Dunciad" showcase their use of monstrosity to explore human identity. The analysis also considers Pope's later work, reflecting on his physical deformity and the societal belief linking a deformed body to a deformed character.
