Mirrors of monstrosity: the representation of the outcast in Benjamin Britten's Peter Grimes and Death in Venice

Abstract

The figure of the monster is at the heart of Benjamin Britten’s operas. By orchestrating and dramatizing various outcast figures from the world of literature, Britten and his librettists have illustrated that the monster is uncomfortably close to common human experience in our modern world. This dissertation seeks to combine the sociological and philosophical definitions of monstrosity with an analysis of dramatic and musical elements of Benjamin Britten’s first and last major operatic works, Peter Grimes and Death in Venice. This will establish the ways in which the monstrous characters found therein raise questions about the formation of social parameters regarding innocence and experience, the fragility and lamentable nature of the outcast, and the ways in which monsters function as vital foils to modern society.