Grendel ': Retelling Of The Epic Poem Beowulf'

John Gardner’s Grendel is the retelling of the epic poem Beowulf from the point of view of the antagonist, Grendel. The main difference between the two literary works is represented by the values behind their writing. The ancient epic poem is the perfect example of the tales of a hero, Beowulf, the storyline is flat and characters are static because they are constructed around the heroic code to fulfil a specific role. Grendel, in the homonym novel, is a dynamic character with a post-modern, existentialist vision of the world in the constant search for his sense of life. Despite some similarities with humans that make him in some way relatable to us, Grendel present some significant differences with human beings. The biggest amongst all is

The need for a purpose is the result of Grendel’s search for truth and the loneliness he feels because he is unable to communicate with anybody, even though he can understand and speak the human’s language. Grendel observes with attention human beings but while on one side he is attracted by these intelligent, organized creatures, on the other side he thinks their actions are pure madness, a vain attempt to create an organized society in the chaos and absurdity of the universe. Things changes when Grendel hear the Shaper for the first time, a man that thanks to the power of art and poetry is able to shape reality, “the man that had torn up the past by its thick, gnarled roots and had transmuted it, and they [the Danes] who knew the truth, remembered it his way – and so did I” (Gardner, 43). The shock arrives the Shaper place Grendel in its tales on the evil side, as the god-cursed monster descendent from the Cain’s clan. Confused, Grendel goes to the dragon to find out if that is how things really are but the dragon, besides avoiding a strait forward answer, essentially confirms Grendel’s purpose received by the Shaper in two ways: Grendel is violent by nature and the dragon gives him invulnerability from weapons to encourage him to try his purpose: spread terror among the Danes. After his first raid Grendel feels so well to have satisfied the role he has received that he calls himself

This purpose has dragged Grendel down an abyss of violence and brutality where the only spark of life was given by the act of eating the victims of a massacre until the threshold of tolerance was so high that Grendel found himself even more alone. This feeling of loneliness is broken by Beowulf’s arrival and eventually by Grendel’s death that ease the pain of trying to understand the functioning of the world and the universe, something that is designed by nature to overwhelm us when we try to analyse it and leave us amazed or depressed. As the philosopher Alan Watts says “black implies white, self implies other, life implies death — or shall I say, death implies life — you can conceive yourself”, Grendel has conceived himself through the consequences of its actions and not by the action