How Does Beowulf Tell Grendel's Story

Grendel’s story is not only from his perspective, but it also starts far before Beowulf enters the picture. Grendel does not even know of man’s existence before he encountered Hrothgar whom he starts to fear when he says “I knew I was dealing with no dull mechanical bull but with thinking creatures, pattern makers. The most dangerous things I’d ever met” (pg 27). His first encounter with these men left him wanting more. He spent most nights watching them in the shadows, trying to make sense of their actions. Grendel points out that these men started with the bare minimum and over time, with the help of more men, they began to build houses with walls that were “beautifully painted and hung with tapestries” and “food was plentiful” (pg 31-33). Grendel noticed a change though. These men started making threats to burn down other camps and take their

The Shaper is able to tell a story any way he would like. Grendel who tries to get advice from the dragon in chapter five mentions that the Shaper said “the greatest of gods made the world” (pg 74). This sticks with Grendel who has just learned that the men believe they are blessed and Grendel’s kind is cursed because of Cain. Grendel is obviously upset with this new knowledge because he had never heard of this “curse” before.

History has not and will never be told without bias simply because people like to add flair to their stories. The way one person sees an event is never going to be exactly like anyone else. While the stories of Beowulf and Grendel differ greatly, both could be somewhat true in that a great man named Beowulf once existed and helped save a village from being attacked by a “monster” that they named Grendel. Both stories have added flair because both mention a dragon and unfortunately, dragons never