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Foils In Beowulf

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“He keeps on coming. I am suddenly annoyed, no longer amused by his stupidity. The mere belongs to me and the firesnakes. What if everybody should decide the place is public? “go back down, goat! (Grendel,139).” A goat is climbing the mountain and Grendel doesn't want it to because he thinks its stupid. When in reality is just the nature of goats to climb mountains. Grendel tries to look for his reason to be on the Earth because everyone else has one then why not him. He decided to become the monster the humans saw him as after the dragon put the spell on him. John Gardner uses foil characters in Grendel to describe how those who don't have a place or connection with society are alienated, while in Beowulf foil characters are used to show how a hero defends society by defeating those who are labeled a monster by society itself.

John Gardner uses foil in Grendel to enhance the idea on how those who don't have a connection to society are outdated. Wealhtheow the queen of the Danes …show more content…

When Grendel is first introduced in Beowulf “Out of the night came the shadow stalkers, steady and shift (Beowulf, 47).” Grendel is the ugly hairy beast that is in one's nightmares. He is the the face of the evil in the world. The people in Beowulf believe that the looks of someone and their background is all that's needed to know in order to mark a person as a threat or friend. On the other hand, when Grendel first tell the Danes why he has traveled so far, to fight grendel, “Hrothgar, the helmet of Shieldings, spoke: “‘Beowulf, my friend, you have travelled hare to favour us with help and to fight for us (Beowulf, 31).” Unlike Grendel Beowulf is a human who is wealthy and is his father was known throughout the world for his actions. Beowulf has everything a normal person in Beowulf would want, but Grendel is the symbol of evil and hate to

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730 Words | 3 Pages

Grendel the “Monster” Do not underestimate the power of a human being. Monsters are everywhere near and far. The sources that will be discussed are Beowulf (2007) film, Printed Cantos and textbook, and the Grendel Excerpt by John Gardner. The portrayal of Grendel in the movie differs greatly from the cantos and excerpt because in the readings he comes off as such a greedy monster, but in the movie he is lonely and in need of help.

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330 Words | 2 Pages

He is portrayed in the poem as a horrendous beast with human characteristics, but looking closer to the text, he is a human out-casted and raised to be a monster. Although Grendel is written as a monstrous villain who kills with no remorse, he is actually a complex human with a repressed anger exploding in bursts. Grendel is often described in a negative way. He is reffered to as a demon in the text “from Beowulf”

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870 Words | 4 Pages

Grendel was a being sung about in the songs of the shaper, who twisted tales to fit his own means. In the song Grendel was made out to be a wretched monster, without intellect, who only sought to kill. This wasn’t the case entirely. Grendel was determined to enter society, to be a part of their gatherings, instead at every turn he was chased away, cursed, and attacked. He was only a monster to those in the mead hall, a beast who could never be a part of them.

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836 Words | 4 Pages

At this point he still struggles with his destiny and role in life as the villain. Beowulf is insane because everything he does seems mechanical. He kills with eagerness and lives for the pain of his kills. In page 171, the novel says, “Grendel, Grendel! You make the world by whispers, second by second.

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1785 Words | 8 Pages

Both authors paint a grotesque picture of their creations and how they both desire to destroy beauty; Aesthetic Iconoclasm, that is shared between the two figures. However, both authors present their monsters separate to one another in philosophy; with Grendel being a mindless savage and the Monster being more contemplative and questioning the nature of its own creation. ‘Monster’ characters have always been a target of both folk tales and pagan myths since the dawn of humanity, the very concept of a monstrous creature harkens back to the primal fear instinct of facing a dangerous predator that presents a danger to humanity. Grendel from Beowulf is the perfect example of this hysteria and

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703 Words | 3 Pages

This is the beginning of Grendel falling directly into the role that the dragon said he would need to fill. Grendel’s murderous tendencies completely reflect the monstrous side of his personality and the more he kills the more he grows insane, separating from rational, humanistic thought. “I am swollen with excitement, bloodlust and joy and a strange fear that mingle in my chest like the twisting rage of a bone-fire... I am blazing, half-crazy with joy” (168). It is clear that, by the time Beowulf arrives, Grendel has embraced the fact that he is required to be evil, despite the fact that he previously claimed he would oppose that destiny.

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1219 Words | 5 Pages

Whereas, Beowulf’s encounter with the dragon. He knows that the dragon was truly a monster without any human characteristics. Whereas, Grendel possess human characteristics such as a human form and share mutual values such as a place to meet, meadhall. Grendel simply represent an alternative darker side of humanity, which is reflected in his underwater sea cave. Compared to the dragon, Grendel is more human than monstrous.

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451 Words | 2 Pages

Grendel was this grim beast who haunted the moors and secluded fens; this troublesome one had long lived with monsters since the Creator had declared his exile. Grendel had been punished and separated from the company of man and God through the sins of Cain. Being a descendant from Cain, Grendel is full of evil and deceitfulness. This fuels his hatred, and a desire to destroy goodness from the world of which he can have no part in. His first night of violent attacks was describe as “The unholy creature, grim and ravenous, was ready at once, ruthless and cruel, and took from their thirty thanes; thence

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968 Words | 4 Pages

Readers can learn some things about Grendel in Beowulf but in order to dive deeper into the character and who he is, people go to the book Grendel. The book takes a closer look at Grendel and how he discovers the order and disorder of people and the world (Sanchez). Grendel is thought to symbolize the dark side of humanity, or the sins of man (Farrell). It’s easy for readers to sympathize with Grendel at points because he is a natural outcast of society. He is said to be the son of Cain and because of that he was labeled from day one (Sanchez).

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1285 Words | 6 Pages

In the poem Beowulf, there is a contrast between good and evil. This distinction is presented through the monsters Grendel and his mother, in parallel to the hero Beowulf. The themes of evil and monstrosity are therefore used in the story, as a way to create the notion of Grendel and his mother as monsters. Beowulf therefore appears as a character representing good. Although Beowulf shows traits of abnormal power, like Grendel and his mother, his motifs are interpreted differently.

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1144 Words | 5 Pages

This time however, he is swept away by a person name the Shaper, who Grendel is ultimately scared of, because of the fact that the shaper is very good at changing the view of people very easily. During this same period, Grendel started to become more violent as well, first by attacking the humans. Grendel didn’t like the way Hrothgar lived and made the Mead Hall and in response, Grendel started to attack it at night. He killed anyone and everything that came into his sight, and even ate the humans. Grendel now became a real threat to the humans, which inevitably changed his status from sinister to pure

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1008 Words | 5 Pages

Thus allowing the reader to interpret the tone better because of how Grendel expresses his feeling. On the other hand, Beowulf gives the reader a generalization of how he sees society. Plain and simple. Beowulf only sees the world as good and evil, black and white, there is no gray area, causing the tone to be bland and boring due to no detail or unexpected turns. Beowulf overlooks society as a horrible place that only " the vicious raids and ravages of Grendel, his long and unrelenting feud, nothing but war...young and old were hunted down by the death shadow" (line 151-160).

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752 Words | 4 Pages

Grendel in both stories is described as a vicious "Monster", but is viewed differently. The character of Grendel, in the novel by John Gardner, portrays a different visualization than that of Grendel in the epic poem Beowulf. In the novel the story is told in first person point of view which gives Grendel human qualities while Grendel in Beowulf is told in third person point of view not giving Grendel his standpoint. In both works, the authors give two different perspectives of Grendel. Grendel in the novel is not seen as a "Monster", but as a human that has emotions and is very sympathetic about everything that comes his way.

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503 Words | 3 Pages

This make the hero face a challenge and the beginning of change. When Beowulf had heard about Grendel he got a ship and sailed

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868 Words | 4 Pages

Even though the differences and similarities between Beowulf’s battles are rather interesting and abundant, they are not the only things that should receive all the attention. The symbolism of Grendel, Grendel’s mother, and the dragon are just as

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