Grendel And The Dragon In Beowulf

Fiddlesticks
“’Fiddlesticks, that’s what I said,” he repeated. “Why not frighten them? Creature, I could tell you things…”’ (Gardner 61) Written in 1971, John Gardner takes a character from the epic poem of Beowulf and fully develops him from a new point of view: Grendel, the monster. Grendel is the Anglo-Saxon’s resident bad boy, or is he? Rather than the angry “monkey see, monkey do” type of savage found in Beowulf, Gardner turns Grendel into a philosopher and one who is infatuated with humans. Grendel is fascinated by how they act and how they kill just as much as he, though they are not seen as monstrous. Gardner’s novel, appropriately titled Grendel, is about Grendel’s journey with the humans and how his experiences shape him into the

In this time, the dragon was attempting to convince Grendel to terrorize the humans, since they are already scared of him. However, Grendel can’t even comprehend what the dragon is saying because he’s so scared of how he looks. Shmoop.com says, “In short, Grendel's dragon is elemental, massive, invincible—totally scary. In an ironic twist, Grendel can hardly pay attention to the "wisdom" that the creature wants to give him, because he's so entranced by sight of the dragon's body. It's another way in which Gardner is trying to play with the idea of the monstrous: Grendel is too afraid of the dragon to listen to anything he has to say, just as the humans are too afraid of Grendel to listen to anything he has to say.” (Shmoop) To be fair, this dragon is terrifying. As described by Grendel, “Vast, red-golden, huge tail coiled, limbs sprawled over his treasure-hoard, eyes not fiery but cold as the memory of family deaths... The color of his sharp scales darkened and brightened as the dragon inhaled and exhaled slowly, drawing new air across his vast internal furnace; his razorsharp tusks gleamed and glinted as if they, too, like the mountain beneath him, were formed of precious stones and metals.” (Gardner 57)

This is evident through the mental journey he takes to reach the dragon, the peculiar laugh he remembers from a previous experience, and from the imagination expertise from Maxwell Maltz. Why is Grendel imagining the dragon in the first place? “In his confusion and need for instruction, Grendel experiences a kind of "metaphysical" fall toward another monster: the dragon. This rancid reptile is nothing like Pete's Dragon or Puff—he's a classic Scandinavian myth come to life, the embodiment of materialism and cynicism.” (Shmoop) Many experts say that the dragon represents the darker, more cynical part of Grendel, and it’s his way of giving a reason for his violent actions. After all, the humans expect him to act like a scary monster, so what does he do? He acts like a scary monster. “’Fiddlesticks, that’s what I said,” he repeated. “Why not frighten them?”’ (Gardner