Throughout the story Grendel has a hard time finding himself. Grendel travels on a journey and eventually become a nihilist. His journey to nihilism eventually was destroyed by Beowulf, however all and all he still followed the path of Existentialism. It is the believe that a person should make there own choices and find there own meaning in this world. From the fact that Grendel was unable to find meaning in this world he turned to nihilism and ultimately perished. Early in the book Grendel begins his like as an existentialist. After leaving his mother's cave, he discovered a confusing and difficult world to understand. With his new grown freedom Grendel establishes existentialism as his philosophy. Grendel is initially confused about …show more content…
In this particular part of the story existentialism is also put into play because Grendel chooses to stay in the Dragon’s lair. In the story the Dragon is presented to be the ultimate nihilist, he knows "The beginning, the present, the end. Everything You now, you see the past and the present. All time, all space. We see in one instant the passionate vision and the blowout.” (On Pages 62 and 63). The Dragon also follows the path of existentialism as a philosophy because he believes in meaningless, that all things in the universe will come to an end. Grendel leaves the Dragon's lair with a renewed confidence in himself. He now believes that the Dragon's words to be true, Grendel finds no reason to hold back on his inherently destructive desires. Grendel proceeds as a terrible monster, fulfilling all of his evil fantasies. The Dragon’s final advice to Grendel was to "seek out gold and sit on it" (Page …show more content…
Beowulf who is coming to kill Grendel from Hrothgar’s kingdom is the killer of nihilism in the book. After Grendel experiences nihilism he goes on a rampage of meaningless death and destruction, he eventually represents death and destruction. On the other had Beowulf is represented as a hero, so he mainly represents regeneration and goodness in the world. The Dragon did instal in Grendel that all things in the world are meaningless, however Beowulf with his armed fist teaches Grendel that “"where the water was rigid there will be fish" and "the world will burn green, sperm build again,” (Page170). Beowulf’s philosophy on regeneration and goodness is amplified after Beowulf destroys Grendel. Grendel has brought a lot of death to the world, because of that Beowulf promised to himself that he will kill