Up until the end of Chapter 7, Grendel’s actions are influenced by the dragon. He believes nothing matters, there is no good or bad, and everybody eventually dies. The people of Heort know Grendel as a monster and a killer and he lives up to his reputation.
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”
John Gardner's Grendel provides a fascinating penetration into the ineluctable mystery of order and chaos, good and evil, hero and monster, claiming throughout a place for the monster's point of view. Order and chaos can be shown how Grendel causes chaos for his own entertainment whereas the humans try to kill him calm the chaos down and good and evil can also be shown how Grendel views the human’s actions and how the humans view themselves compared to Grendel. The hero and monster reference can be found when Unferth tried to kill Grendel, declaring himself a hero to the land. In Chapter six page seventy-six, Grendel admits he creates chaos for his own pleasure.
Grendel was a being sung about in the songs of the shaper, who twisted tales to fit his own means. In the song Grendel was made out to be a wretched monster, without intellect, who only sought to kill. This wasn’t the case entirely. Grendel was determined to enter society, to be a part of their gatherings, instead at every turn he was chased away, cursed, and attacked. He was only a monster to those in the mead hall, a beast who could never be a part of them.
When talking about Grendel, he pretty much goes through a few stages as a little kid and to how he is at the moment. As a kid, Grendel was mostly innocent when he pondered and wandered around his own world that was also an unknown for him, such as the universe. In his “prime”, he discovers a lake of fire snakes, that is full of danger and just treacherous. When he crosses this lake, it shows that he is going into adulthood, pretty much. Also how the encounters has been making impacts on Grendel and changing his personality.
At the end of Chapter 12, Grendel’s last words were “Poor Grendel’s had an accident … So may you all.” (Gardner 174). Such words are meant as a curse to affect mankind. To start off, Grendel’s relationship with humans are not great.
When Grendel is first presented, he is described as
During these times in winter, humans lose their perseverance and interest in defying Grendel and resort to a more peaceful state. Grendel, although he does not usually raid in the winter, refuses to give them the freedom of not acting and seeks his own entertainment. By mocking the priests beliefs (93), Gardner demonstrates that humans hold on to unrealistic and unreliable faiths in dire situations and are willing to sacrifice their lives for these. Eventually, Grendel knows that he is in fact conquerable by humans and needs to accept their strength and determination. As he does get defeated, it becomes clear that all monsters can be destroyed with the will to do so, and humans have
In the novel Grendel by John Gardner, Grendel’s largest internal conflict is whether or not he can overcome his predestined status of monster. Throughout the course of the story Grendel is influenced by both sides, human and beast, through the dragon and the Shaper. Although Grendel initially wants to align himself with the humans, no matter how he tries to communicate with them as an equal they will not accept his company, causing him to become lonely and angry. Grendel’s anger turns to violence, which makes the humans turn further against him and, as he is alienated from any sense of humanity he ever had, he eventually discovers that he has no choice and must fulfill his role as the enemy to humans. Initially, Grendel’s free will
Pointless, ridiculous monster crouched in the shadows, stinking of dead men, murdered children, martyred cows” (Gardner 54). Grendel recognizes that it is the isolation that has turned him into what he is. He has seen how the humans have rejected him and tried to kill him, the first person viewpoint allows us to share this experience with
Therefore, ultimately resulting in the use of violence and brutality to restore order and peace once again. Grendel whole existence is shrouded in darkness and mystery, which foster widespread fear among the mass due to their inability to control or comprehend
Throughout the novel Grendel by John Gardner, Grendel comes across as a ruthless monster who takes pride in murdering others. His actions give the impression that he is an evil figure, but in hindsight he is not as evil as he appears to be. Gardner makes the readers feel sympathy for Grendel because Grendel lives a lonely life, is consistently treated poorly, and attempts to make peace. If Grendel was truly evil, readers would have difficulty having sympathy for him. Therefore, Grendel is not evil and is no different than the rest of humanity.
To heighten the conflict between Grendel and religion, Grendel is described as “forever opposing the Lord’s will” (Heaney 28-29). In Anglo Saxon Culture, every aspect of society is focused around God. To be anti-religious is to go against all aspects of their society. Grendel is almost a physical manifestation of the devil, and nothing is able to “quench his lust for evil” (Heaney 52-53). The parallel between Grendel and one of the seven deadly sins strengthens his connection to sins against God, and thus more monstrous toward the Danes.
Readers can learn some things about Grendel in Beowulf but in order to dive deeper into the character and who he is, people go to the book Grendel. The book takes a closer look at Grendel and how he discovers the order and disorder of people and the world (Sanchez). Grendel is thought to symbolize the dark side of humanity, or the sins of man (Farrell). It’s easy for readers to sympathize with Grendel at points because he is a natural outcast of society. He is said to be the son of Cain and because of that he was labeled from day one (Sanchez).
This reinforces the idea that Grendel’s mother is also a monster, since put in the same position as the prior one. The two monsters, Grendel and his mother are also associated with the night as a time for action. This reinforces their animal-like behavior, and the monstrosity of their actions because they are not giving fair warning to the humans. The monstrosity of Grendel is also seen through his savagery when killing the men. He is carnivorous and feeds on human flesh.
