What is monstrosity? According to the Oxford Dictionary, monstrosity is “something very large, ugly, and frightening.” In literature we have encountered many characters fitting this description, but only a few have been referred to as monsters. Two famous examples would be Shakespeare's Caliban in The Tempest and Victor's "monster" in Merry Shelley's Frankenstein. Caliban is from the island Prospero encounters, which is physically distorted; while Victor's "monster" is Victor's creation which is also physically deformed. Both Caliban and the monster are excluded from normal society and considered the Other. The only thing that distinguishes them from human beings is their deformity. Their distorted appearance is easily explained by their unnatural origins. Caliban is said to be the son of a witch and a devil; while the monster is cobbled together from corpse parts. They are also similar in the sense that both are misunderstood and mistreated by everyone, but especially by the person who is closest to them. For example, Prospero keeps Caliban as a slave, while Victor dislikes his creation. Despite their appearances however, both characters can be eloquent; Both Frankenstein's creature and Caliban display high levels of learning, while also expressing their own desires. For example, they both want to mate and reproduce. Would a monster want love? This brings us to the question: what makes a human human? Well, according to the Oxford Dictionary, a human is “a man, woman, or child of the species Homo sapiens, distinguished from other animals by superior mental development, articulate speech, and upright stance.” Based on this definition, Caliban and Frankenstein's creature are both middle of the paper. The example above defends Brooks' claim to the extent that even Victor has conflicting thoughts about his creation. Through his knowledge, he, the creature, acquires, he “discovers himself as different, as a violation of the laws” (Brooks, 376). However, by comparing himself to someone like Adam and Eve, he demonstrates that the monstrosity actually lies in the eyes of the beholder and is not solemnly on the beholder. This brings us to our conclusion and the new question that needs to be answered is: is one born a monster or is one defined as a monster based on their subsequent actions? Based on the evidence provided above through Caliban and Frankenstein's creature, it can be said that being born physically deformed does not make someone a monster, but rather being labeled as different, therefore, being treated differently will ultimately result in monstrous acts..