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Grendel As A Monster In Beowulf

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What Makes A Monster A Monster?
What makes a monster a monster? In movies and stories of today, the monsters seen are ghosts, ghouls, vampires, evil spirits, and so much more. People know them by their ugly appearance, savage actions, and evilness. What many don’t know is monsters of today are much like monsters back then in the Anglo-Saxon times. A specific monster of those times is Grendel, an antagonist in Beowulf that is bent on killing and eating people. In this epic, Beowulf is a well renowned hero that has great strength and abilities. He is sent to defeat the monster Grendel that has been wreaking havoc on the Geats, located in present day Sweden, for 14 years, murdering and eating their people. Grendel is portrayed to be a typical …show more content…

These monsters are aggressive and love murder. The qualities expressed above are evident in the following lines: “Grendel snatched at the first Geat / He came to, ripped him apart, cut / His body to bits with powerful jaws, / Drank the blood from his veins, and bolted / Him down, hands and feet; death / and Grendel’s great teeth came together” (30-35). In this quotation, Grendel has found his first victim at the Hall of Hrothgar and it describes the details of the monster’s violence. The previous lines are exemplary of exactly how murderous and violent Grendel truly is, holding true to the monster archetype. The antagonist is vicious as he rips the Geat apart and drinks his blood, as well as chewing him up for consumption. Grendel’s behavior of murder and violence leads the reader to be less likely to feel any sorrow for him when Beowulf defeats him. Because he is portrayed to be thirsty for blood and death, he fits being an Anglo-Saxon monster, while also being very relatable to modern monsters. In movies like Insidious or Lights Out, the leviathans of today kill in horrific ways, much like Grendel, just for the sake of killing. Monsters of Anglo-Saxon epics are extremely violent and capable of cruel and murderous behavior, not very different from contemporary …show more content…

If a reader looks close enough, they will find that monsters back then are much like monsters of today with their qualities. The question that stands even after the realization of what it means to be a monster in the stories is what it means to be a monster in real life. Who are the monsters of reality, knowing fully well that there are none hiding in the closet or under the

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