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Examples Of Subjectivity In Grendel

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One literary theory I observed throughout chapter 7 of Grendel is subjectivity. The definition of subjectivity is processing people’s opinions, desires, beliefs, and thoughts that determine why people believe different worldviews. One example of Gardner’s use of subjectivity is when Grendel creates this law about desire. He claimed, “There is no limit to desire but desire’s needs” (p. 93). He created an opinion that he needed to kill humans in order to satisfy his hatred against humanity. He became tired of their religious beliefs and their subjective on killing people. However, Grendel made this law because he realized that even if he killed every human on Earth, he will return to his nihilistic truth: life is meaningless. Therefore, killing all the Danes will finish his function in life, leaving him …show more content…

He exclaimed, “You’re crafty, lord of the Helmings. A king shrewd with the words can mount a great army on promises. The treasure you took from us could make all your swordsmen rich. You destroyed my house” (pg. 99). This is shift where Hrothgar has not only one threat [Grendel], but now, he has many enemies that threaten to destroy him and his kingdom. The readers see from Grendel’s perspective that Hrothgar is retaliating with violence also. Grendel had viewed humans as “violent-breasts” after encounter wars and the corpse. Now, in chapter 7, Hrothgar wanted war, but Hygmod surrendered peaceful. Even though morality of violence is commonly accepted in today’s world, it is clear that Grendel and humans has a perspective of violence differently: Grendel killed humans for his enjoyment while humans kill people because of fear, revenge, and deception. A final example of Gardner’s use of subjectivity is the event where Grendel tried to kill Wealtheow. Grendel loved to kill humans because they were always fooled by the Shaper’s false realities. Grendel replied, “I would kill her and teach them

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