Grendel's Monsters In 'Beowulf'

Beowulf’s Monsters Have you ever heard a story about a fire breathing dragon? The story of Beowulf gave birth to the concept of these stories. These stories were made by the Anglo-Saxon people but to them these stories were real and a cautionary tale to others. These Anglo-Saxon monster represented all the things they feared and the consequences of breaking their laws. The first of these monsters is Grendel. Grendel represented the Anglo-Saxon fear of the night but also the consequence of murdering your own family. The story says “He was spawned in that slime/ conceived by a pair of those monsters/ born of Cain…/ punished forever for the crime/ of Abel’s death…” (“from Beowulf.” ln. 19-23). This quote shows how Grendel was punished by God for murdering family just as Cain did to Abel. Murder of your own kin was one of the worst crimes that you could commit and I think this monster was created to deter this crime from happening. The story goes on to state “The shadow of death hunted in the darkness/ stalked Hrothgar’s warriors…” (“from Beowulf.” ln. 74-78). Grendel would watch them celebrate at night and when they fell asleep he would attack. I think since they could not see at night it made since to them when someone died at night it was a monster that killed them. Grendel was not the

The story says “…angry because a thief has stolen a jeweled cup/ from the dragon’s hoard of gold, is laying waste to the Geat’s land…” (“from Beowulf.” pg. 28). This shows the dragon was hoarding gold which was a crime to the Anglo-Saxons. I think this quote was to encourage warriors and kings not to be selfish. Like Grendel and Grendel’s Mother the dragon was a human that committed a crime and broke rules that were important to keep order among the tribe so they were sentenced to repeat their action for end of