Differences And Similarities Between Frankenstein And Grendel

The majority of the characters in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and John Gardner’s Grendel comprises of men, often travelling or going on adventures while the women stay at home and wait for the men to return. The passive role of women is offset by the more aggressive nature of men in Frankenstein and Grendel, but the perceived submissiveness of the women does not necessarily detract from their strength and stability that they provide to society. In fact, both novels are full of the men’s oversight that consequently leads to devastation, revealing the idea that women make up the foundation of society.
In both novels, women are the ones to soothe conflicts. In Grendel, women settle external conflicts, with Queen Wealtheow as the main peacemaker

In Grendel, the titular character notes the tragedy of how women are traded between men. As Grendel watches the trading of Wealtheow for peace, he remarks that “… she was beautiful and she surrendered herself with the dignity of a sacrificial virgin. My chest was full of pain, my eyes smarted, and I was afraid--O monstrous trick against reason--I was afraid I was about to sob” (Gardner 100). Families marry off women in order to prevent war, so the women give up their own desires in order to protect their old families as well as their new families. The willingness of women to lay down their lives for those they hold dear, as demonstrated by both Wealtheow and Grendel’s mother, is also commendable. Grendel acknowledges that his mother “would gladly have given her life to end [his] suffering--horrible, humpbacked, carp-toothed creature, eyes on fire with useless, mindless love. Who could miss the grim parallel?” (Gardner 102) Even though they are not of the same species, both females share the instinct to guard their loved ones from

After the Shaper in Grendel dies, a messenger informs a middle-aged redhead woman who “sits by lampside listening, as [the Shaper] did, for footsteps… when he sang of heroes… he sang the song for her. Nothing came of it. She would leave the hall on her husband’s arm: the Shaper would bow politely as she passed” (Gardner 144). Grendel observes this woman with reverence, noticing her faithfulness to her husband as well as her bounty of civility. The fact that the messenger notifies the woman that the Shaper loves about his death establishes that she means a great deal to him. Grendel does not observe the notification of any of the Shaper’s male