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A Character Analysis: Grendel's Illuminating Incident

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Jonathan Han Ms. Marchand AP Literature & Composition 2 May 2023 Grendel’s Illuminating Incident Grendel’s very first encounter with the human world can be seen and defined as an illuminating incident for the novel. Grendel originally hopes to befriend the humans, as he is filled with joy at the human’s proposition of feeding him pigs when they find him hopelessly lying down in the forest and in need. However, the human’s misinterpret Grendel’s efforts at communication as signs of anger and irritation which leads to the human’s attacking and wounding Grendel. These acts of hostility and violence towards Grendel lead to him feeling lonely and isolated as he proclaims that “‘the world resists me and I resist the world’ . . .’ The …show more content…

When Grendel hears the Shaper’s harp and stories, he is so overcome with emotion that he enters the mead hall and “sank to [his] knees, crying, ’Friend! Friend!’” (Gardner, 52). The Shaper was singing of the divide between darkness and light within the word, and Grendel associates himself with the darkness of the world and the rest of the world with the light of the world. Because of this, Grendel feels intense desolation as he feels separated from the human world. Grendel tries to close this separation by entering the mead hall and attempting to communicate to the humans that he wishes to be their friend. His desperation is shown by him sinking to his knees, indicating that he is begging for the humans to show kindness and affection towards him. This desperation demonstrates Grendel’s intense longing for connection and friendship with the humans, which is not returned by the humans as they respond by attacking and chasing him away back into the forest. Grendel later attempts to reestablish contact with the humans, but this time in secret. Grendel approaches the blind priest Ork in the middle of the night and “declares that “‘It is I’ . . . ‘The Destroyer,’” (Gardner, 130). Because Ork is blind and …show more content…

Grendel ultimately ends up resorting to intense and gruesome acts of violence after his failed attempts of friendship with the humans. When Grendel launches his first raid on the humans, he is delighted as he feels “as if I’d made some incredible discovery, like my discovery long ago of the moonlit world beyond the mere,” (Gardner, 80). Grendel is delighted at his murderous actions upon the humans, so delighted that he compares it to his discovery of the human world itself. Grendel’s thrill of killing is derived from his failed attempts at establishing any meaningful connections with the humans, so he redirects his frustration and anger towards killing them instead. He is so aggrieved by the human’s lack of fondness towards him that he himself begins to reciprocate the same lack of fondness towards them. However, unlike the humans, Grendel acts on these feelings by choosing to raid and attack them. The fact that Grendel is ecstatic after his first raid also indicates he is more than content with his bloodthirsty actions and lacks any remorse for the humans at all. In one of Grendel’s multiple encounters and raids on the humans, he brutally chooses to “seize up a sleeping man, tear at him hungrily, bite through his bone-locks and suck hot, slippery blood,” (Gardner, 168). Grendel’s extreme

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He also explains that they destroy nature and that animals cower in fear of them. This is interesting because it can be considered a parallel to the relationship between Grendel and the humans, as Grendel considers himself steps ahead of the idiotic humans, who cower before him. Similarly, humans consider themselves superior to the animals, and would be considered their tormentors. In addition, during his many thought processes, Grendel explains how humans treat each other and mentions their murderous ways or how they partake in several apparently mindless acts of violence. In this way, humans also embody many characteristics that could lead to their classification as

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Throughout John Gardner’s novel Grendel, the protagonist, Grendel, is seen eating people, fighting people, and other actions that the human population believes to be evil. However, Grendel acts this way not because he wants to, but because he has no other choice. Overall, Grendel has good intentions but is left with no option other than doing evil actions. The rejection he receives from the civilians turns him to evil. Grendel’s main goal is for the human community to accept him.

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He is portrayed in the poem as a horrendous beast with human characteristics, but looking closer to the text, he is a human out-casted and raised to be a monster. Although Grendel is written as a monstrous villain who kills with no remorse, he is actually a complex human with a repressed anger exploding in bursts. Grendel is often described in a negative way. He is reffered to as a demon in the text “from Beowulf”

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For instance, in chapter four, Grendel talks about how “innocently” the humans are enjoying themselves at a party, when he finds a dead man’s body throat that had been slit and his clothes had been stolen. The humans may think that everybody around them, which are humans, are on the good side of the world, whereas humans can commit the same violence crime. The reason they refer to Grendel as a monster in their land is to compare themselves to Grendel and appearing to be more civilized, having morals, and blameless for their actions compared to

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Grendel in the novel is very different from the monster in Frankenstein because Grendel wants to and enjoys to humiliate and kill people, the monster in Frankenstein wants to be able to socialize with people without them getting frightened by his appearance. They are alike because they are both alone, they both frighten people with their looks, and they are not welcome in the human world. Grendel in the novel knows he is a fright to people, he is danger. He doesn’t seem to have a problem with that, but at the same time is not proud of it, either. He does like the pain of others, preferably king Hrothgar and his men.

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In Grendel by John Gardener, the author describes a humane-minded monster’s, Grendel, struggle to find a purpose due to his isolation with the world. Gardener uses exuberant techniques of diction and sensory imagery to depict the theme. The utilizations capture every single detail of Grendel’s thoughts and struggles for existence. The beginning of the novel introduces the readers to Grendel’s past and his uprising conflicts with humankind due to their unacceptance of him. Grendel and his mother are unable to communicate and he feels the “shocking separateness” between them.

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For example, when Grendel went to the hall to bring the dead body he found, “drunken men rushed me with battle-axes .. I sank to the my knees, crying, “Friend! Friend!” (Gardner 52). Such can imply that Grendel’s relationship with humans is like battling in war.

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In the novel Grendel by John Gardner, written in 1971, there are numerous concepts of the human nature portrayed and discussed. With the progression of the novel, the humans become develop to be described as increasingly careless, vicious and futile. Starting with Grendel 's first encounter with the humans to the death of the protagonist, Gardner illustrates an unusual view of the humans and their interactions with one another. Grendel begins as a creature similar to the people he observes, with many shared characteristics and thoughts, even though not all of the their actions are understood. His lasting wish is to be accepted into their society, as they accompany each other and he suffers of loneliness.

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Grendel loved to kill humans because they were always fooled by the Shaper’s false realities. Grendel replied, “I would kill her and teach them

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Using a monster to help us examine what it means to be human is how the novel helps readers to make that distinction between humans, and monsters. Indeed, aside from Grendel’s horrible appearance and nasty eating habits, very little actually separated him aside from the humans such as Hrothgar or Wealtheow. Even his extreme brutality was not unique. The author, John Gardner, stresses man’s inherent violence many times throughout the novel. Additionally, Grendel’s ethical journey was a very human one, its urgency intensified by his status as an outsider.

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His violent nature grew so much that he became crazy with the need to kill the humans. Therefore, Grendel’s actions reflect that his existence has drifted away from its partially civilized nature and into the barbaric. Grendel had no choice in becoming more beast than human because external forces constantly push him towards that fate. Whether it was the dragon, the actions of the humans, or Grendel’s own unconscious tendencies, he never really had the opportunity to make a choice, human or beast. What Grendel said and thought always clashed with the situations he encountered until there was simply no possibility of becoming the good in the way

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To begin with, Grendel’s last words are “ Poor Grendel’s had an accident,” I whisper. “So may you all” (Gardner 174). Grendel is cursing the animals around him. For instance, when Grendel illustrates that he doesn’t like animals. This is when he has several incidences with the animals.

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John Gardner gave Grendel emotions that the reader was able to see and hear through his own words. Grendel told tales of his childhood causing the reader to become invested in Grendel’s past giving the feeling of a connection. As in the way he describes instances of his imaginative play, “I use to play games when I was young…explored our far-flung underground world in an endless wargame of leaps onto nothing…quick whispered plottings with invisible friends” (Gardner 15). Consequently, this information gives the feeling of sympathy for Grendel, for his lonely childhood and circumstance. Gardner continues to play on the sympathies of the reader after Grendel’s first interaction with the Danes.

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In response, Grendel runs to the hall and shouts “Mercy! Peace!” (51). His willingness to ask for peace shows the remorse he feels for his actions. He realizes his actions have resulted in him being viewed by others in a negative

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Grendel in the novel displays the idea that he is far more superior than mankind. He mentions, "I am swollen with excitement, bloodlust and joy and a strange fear that mingle in my chest like the twisting rage of a bonfire" (Gardner 167-168). Grendel knows that that the people fear him because he is different and he uses that to his advantage. The "Monster", Grendel, seems to be fascinated in attacking Meadhall and is not frightened at all. Although he is brave in the novel, Grendel in the epic poem is described in being scared and weak on the attack at Meadhall.

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