To Take On the Nature of Wild Animals: Elements of Biological Horror in the Fourth Branch of the Mabinogi

Abstract

Jason Colavito describes biological horror as a branch of horror fiction which deals with “uneasy feelings related to the physical body and its relationship with the natural world” (113). Those narratives often emerge during times in which there are social anxieties related to the unchecked expansion of science and the defiance of moral values is at play. In this article, I propose a reading of the tale of “Math, son of Mathonwy” which explores the possibility that this story depicts aspects of biological horror. By looking to the social and historical context of the medieval manuscript Y Mabinogi (The Mabinogi), this study goes over the scientific developments of twelfth-century Britain and correlates them to the instances of bodily transformation and physical punishment within the fourth branch of the Mabinogi. The analysis takes particular attention to the metamorphosis of the character Blodeuwedd, who is permanently altered in her physicality as judgment for her moral actions. Ultimately, the fluid nature of bodies within the tale does depict some aspects of biological horror which seem to echo some of the questions which monastic scholarly introduced during the Middle Ages.