One of the most common types of stories that is told all throughout fiction, and sometimes non-fiction, is the battle between good and evil. Growing up, people began with reading stories about the prince saving the princess from monsters and villains, but as they grew older the fantasies died off, but the plot of good versus evil continued on. Its’ most common form is to view the story from the protagonist side, but what isn’t seen is how the antagonist develops. These types of stories don’t usually include the background as to why they became wicked, but instead focus more on the hero. The classic struggle of good versus evil is taken from a different perspective in John Gardner’s Grendel where the readers are able to become a part of the …show more content…
People define evil as something that is “profoundly immoral, corrupt” and usually battles against the hero during the story. What many don’t realize is that to have the good side, there must also be a bad side because they are only identifiable in their contrast to each other. There would be no concept of good if there was not evil, and vice versa. Parallel to this, the prince would not be a hero if there was no beast or villain to save the princess from. Another part of evil is that it is created by how the person, or in this case monster, is treated, therefore Grendel cannot be completely blamed for who he has become. The people gave him no chance to fit into society, and immediately assumed that he meant to do harm the first time they saw him. Although at first he was curious about the humans, he did not believe in their morals and ethics as a tribe. He was disgusted that they would kill others for pure power, and slaughter their animals to cause even more havoc for other civilizations. This is best …show more content…
Through multiple unfortunate events in Grendel’s life, he quickly becomes the monster in the eyes of the Danes, although they were the ones who led him to that point. It’s only until the Dragon shares a bit of knowledge that Grendel is the source of their goodness and purpose in life. To parallel this, it can be seen that good and evil heavily rely on each other because one may not exist without the other. Grendel accepted his role for the Danes because he understood that he was able to bring the excitement and fight that stimulates them, therefore producing good out of his evil