If you’ve been around any sort of artistic medium, chances are you’ve probably run into something you may have considered disturbing, weird, or morbidly fascinating. There is a sea of these images in the horror genre, such as the Last Apprentice series by Joseph Delaney, Silent Hill, and Resident Evil. These images can be seen on Halloween, or on your friend’s phone for when they want to gross you out. Still, where did these types of images come from? Why do we find it so fascinating to look at, despite how unpleasant it may be? And what do they have to do with literature?

The images first appeared in ancient Rome in its architectural framework, known as arabesques. They appeared as tiny animal and human figures, and though they were quite common, they were eventually dismissed by Vitruvius, a Roman architect who described them as illogical and meaningless. However, these images appeared again in the Piccolomini Library in 1502. Raphael Sanzio, alongside his team, who developed what was known as the grottesche. The decorations mirrored that of classical times, and since then, many periods, such as the Mannerist movement, the Baroque era, and the Victorian period incorporated schemes involving the grottesche, as shown in the Emblemata by Andrea Alciato. The grotesque also began incorporating teratology, or the study of monsters, which reflected society’s growing interest in science.

The grotesque encompasses different faces with weird expressions. It contains fantastic or bizarre appearances that evoke unpleasant curiosity in its audience. Artists such as Leonardo da Vinci utilized the grotesque, and according to Thomas Browne, a Baroquian writer, there is no such thing as a grotesque in nature. The grotesque was utilized in German art between 1920 to 1933.

In literature, the grotesque can be utilized in characters, when they can evoke both disgust and empathy in the audience. This can be a physically disgusting monster who embodies good moral traits, or a character who struggles to combat their darker sides. Examples of this may include Victor Hugo’s Hunchback of Notre Dame, J.R.R Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, and Shakespeare’s The Tempest. The grotesque is also mentioned in The Essays of Michel de Montaigne and is used in tragicomedy, an interesting combination of comedy, tragedy, and satire. It can even illustrate pain and grief, as it does with its earliest depictions in Homer’s Odyssey, Hesiod’s Theogony, and Ovid’s Metamorphoses. In British literature, The Faerie Queen by Spenser portrays the grotesque as a world. Interestingly enough, many gothic writers also incorporate grotesque characteristics into settings and writing styles.

Nowadays, the grotesque can be found in various mediums of art. Gargoyles have peered from different buildings and churches throughout time. Postmodernism has incorporated aspects of the grotesque, and many beloved classical works have included grotesque themes in the pages. It’s a detail that forces the audience to see the beauty within what may have otherwise been horrifying. It challenges readers and writers to see in the dark and to accept it for what it is and its potential.