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Essay Comparing The Green Knight And Grendel

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The Green Knight and Grendel are two characters that represent the face of evil and horror. Grendel is the typical monster. He is massive and malicious. On the other hand, the Green Knight is innovative and capable of living decapitated. Both being similar in the fact that they are meant to portray the same type of character (antagonist), they are different in the way they challenge the protagonists and how they grow as characters. Grendel was this grim beast who haunted the moors and secluded fens; this troublesome one had long lived with monsters since the Creator had declared his exile. Grendel had been punished and separated from the company of man and God through the sins of Cain. Being a descendant from Cain, Grendel is full of evil and deceitfulness. This fuels his hatred, and a desire to destroy goodness from the world of which he can have no part in. His first night of violent attacks was describe as “The unholy creature, grim and ravenous, was ready at once, ruthless and cruel, and took from their thirty thanes; thence he …show more content…

The Green Knight believes no one will ever be able to be better than him. He appears in Arthur's court at Christmas and issues a challenge: anyone can try to cut off his head. Gawain tries to do so; in failing, he is called to face the green creature in one year to give the Green Knight his opportunity to take Gawain's head, as a part of their agreement. He is impatient and rude in his challenge to the court, calling them mere children and telling them that if he had come to fight, no one could stand against him. Just alone his appearance made him a villain. His strange color and his marvelous ability to live without his head marked him as an unearthly creature. He is enormously tall and strong, almost a giant. The villain of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is most definitely the Green

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