Looking across the Romantic era, Victorian period, and the modern era in British literature, the theme of “otherness” has consistently been present, but portrayed in different ways. At times, it aims to establish a social hierarchy and deem one group as superior and the other as inferior. Other times, it just generates an us-versus-them mentality that large groups adopt. While both may be true, it’s clear that this concept of creating an “other” in literature is a consistent one, and one that doesn’t seem to be going anywhere. Whether it’s through appearances and personality, or embedded into a society’s social structure, there seems to always be an innate need to identify those who are different.

Images in this Exhibit

The Transatlantic Slave Trade Route

This image depicts triangular trade and the transatlantic slave trade as it was known in the 1500s through the 1800s. As seen in the picture, Europe exported Gold, ivory, and spices to the continent of Africa where those goods were bought in exchange for enslaved persons. Those people were then shipped off to the Americas where they were, again, sold for the exchange of goods such as lumber, iron, and tobacco that would eventually make its way back to Europe. As opposed to other depictions of triangular trade,…

What Frankenstein's Creature May Have Looked Like

Photographed by Derrick Tyson, the subject has their makeup done in order to depict a novel-accurate representation of what Frankenstein’s creature may have really looked like. Tyson was very methodical in the portrayal of the creature, stating that the makeup took three hours to complete and even cited passages from the novel that reinforce the appearance (something Tyson notes that many get wrong nowadays). From Chapter 5 of the novel, he references the creature’s “yellowing skin,” his “lustrous black” hair, and…

Strange Mr. Hyde

This is a visual representation of what Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde could have looked like; Dr. Jekyll is a seemingly normal man while Mr. Hyde is unusual in appearance, but is also seen hiding behind Jekyll. Though his “otherness” can also be characterized through his appearance, I argue that Hyde’s odd personality and complete disregard of social cues are what make him an “other.” In the image, he could have been depicted as a simple shadow standing behind or next to Jekyll, but his literal hiding and frankly creepy…

Oscar Wilde and Sir Alfred Douglas

Pictured on the left is Oscar Wilde and the right is Sir Alfred Douglas. Wilde sued for libel when the Marquess of Queensbury accused him of being a homosexual – a condemned quality in Victorian era England as homosexuality was criminalized. While he denied it heavily, he did have a close relationship with Douglas and Queensbury retaliated with charges against Wilde for “gross indecency.” Despite his success as an author, people classified Wilde as an “other” because of his sexuality and following his release from…

British Troops on the Western Front (World War I)

As with most wars, especially World War I which was on such a global scale, there is an us versus them mentality clearly established. WWI was cemented as a great global conflict between the Allied Powers (France, Great Britain, Russia, Italy, Japan, U.S.) and the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, Bulgaria). Each of these sides characterized the other as the ultimate enemy, leading to an immense number of casualties. The characterization of opposing sides as an enemy, or an “other,”…

England’s Eton College

Boarding schools are typically considered elite, mostly because of their high price tag, with the wealthiest of families being the ones who can afford for their children to go. While home to many in-country students, the school is also attractive to wealthy foreign families because their children are likely to have successful careers by attending an elite school. Eton College is one of the most prestigious boarding schools in all of the U.K. and is located in Windsor, England.

 

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MSSU ENG272 - Spring 2026