Frankenstein And Grendel Research Paper

Grendel and Frankenstein Paper Grendel, the savage beast from John Gardner’s Grendel, and the Monster, the murderous creation from Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, seek companionship but ultimately turn to violence when they are rejected, suggesting that all beings need love. Although the two actively seek it, companionship eludes Grendel and the Monster, leaving them terribly alone and desiring someone to love and be loved by. The most notable example is his reaction to laying eyes upon Wealtheow, where he practically falls apart inside with lust. He “could see [himself] leaping from [his] high tree and running on all fours through the crowd to her, howling, whimpering, throwing myself down, drooling and groveling at her small, fur-booted feet”

Grendel decides to further harass and slaughter the Danes, justifying it to himself with the question “why should I not? Has [Hrothgar] made any move to deserve my kindness? If I give him a truce, will the King invite me in for a kiss on the forehead, a cup of mead?” (Gardner 122). Herein Grendel believes that he should offer no peace or respite to those who have supplied him only pain when he seeked friendship, using sarcasm to emphasize that there will be no peace even if Grendel offers it. This reinforces the idea that Grendel would be open to friendship if only the Danes were. Unlike Grendel, the Monster struggles to justify his actions; he is beyond remorseful, asking if Walton thought “that the groans of Clerval were music to [his] ears? [His] heart was fashioned to be susceptible of love and sympathy; and when wrenched by misery to vice and hatred, it did not endure the violence of the change” (Shelley 164). By stating that his heart was brought to vice and hatred by misery, the Monster implies that no life would have been lost had he been given a companion with whom he could be happy; with a mate he could have remained a being of love and sympathy. This is reinforced by the rhetorical question that serves to convince Walton that the Monster hated having to turn to violence. In both situations, a friendly and accepting hand could have led both monsters to happiness and kindness, but the lack thereof sparked the violence. Grendel and the Monster from their respective works, Gardner’s Grendel and Shelley’s Frankenstein, find themselves with no companionship, nobody to share in their joys or sorrows, which leads to violence being taken out on those who rejected them; if those victims had initially accepted and loved Grendel and the Monster, this would not have