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Analysis of Grendel
Interpretation of grendel by john gardner uk essay
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The people in the story view Grendel as a monster, but why does Hrothgar-Grendel’s father-want Grendel to be killed? Is he full of shame? What would happen if the Geats knew about Hrothgar and Grendel’s Mother’s secret scandal? Grendel’s sadness and loneliness, the courage to protect himself from what is hurting is why he is despised. As a monster, Grendel was trying to protect himself.
He shows no remorse for the violent crimes he commits and acts as the main source of what barbaric truly is to the audience. The author introduces him in the poem by writing, “Grendel was the name of this grim demon haunting the marches, marauding round the heath and the desolate fens; he had dwelt for a time in misery among the banished monsters” (Beowulf 101-104). He is the farthest thing from God and everyone that encounters him can immediately identify him as someone who has no morals. Grendel’s outright defiance of all that is good is what leads him to own his demise because he is the reason Beowulf comes to the Danes.
Up until the end of Chapter 7, Grendel’s actions are influenced by the dragon. He believes nothing matters, there is no good or bad, and everybody eventually dies. The people of Heort know Grendel as a monster and a killer and he lives up to his reputation.
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”
Grendel identifies with modern day monsters because both threatened the lives or safety of a certain society, both had some form of support from someone else, and Grendel and modern day monsters were both created by themselves. Grendel threatened the lives of the Danes by intruding their safe place, the mead hall, and slaughtering innocent Danes. Much like Dylann Roof, who stormed into a sacred place, a church, and
Grendel in the novel is very different from the monster in Frankenstein because Grendel wants to and enjoys to humiliate and kill people, the monster in Frankenstein wants to be able to socialize with people without them getting frightened by his appearance. They are alike because they are both alone, they both frighten people with their looks, and they are not welcome in the human world. Grendel in the novel knows he is a fright to people, he is danger. He doesn’t seem to have a problem with that, but at the same time is not proud of it, either. He does like the pain of others, preferably king Hrothgar and his men.
Debbie Park Mrs. Vandergrift British Literature H. 18 November 2014 Consequences of Evil The novel Grendel, by John Gardner circumstances around a cynical beast, Grendel. Grendel is a beast whose sole priority is to destroy mankind. However, John Gardner adopts Grendel, an inhuman monster, to simply depict the flaws in men. Furthermore, Grendel also represents the destructive nature of greed and jealousy that pertains to all humans. Although Grendel is depicted as a nihilistic beast, John Gardner creates instances in which the reader sees heroicness and benevolence in Grendel, ultimately showing the correlations between Grendel and mankind.
I believe John Gardner wrote Grendel, not to make us sympathize for Grendel, but to help us understand why Grendel has this dark, pessimistic view of the world. John Gardner did an amazing job narrating a back story from the monstrous point of view of Grendel. There are many people who disagree and say John Gardner wrote Grendel to make the monster of Grendel seem more monstrous, and barbaric, but I feel these people are not fully digesting the text. There is plenty of evidence that shows Grendel was written so we could better understand the mind of Grendel. John Gardner’s Grendel, is all in the monster
Grendel is delighted with his evil actions, cannot comprehend the pain he just inflicted upon the men. Grendel’s lack of empathy is the reason why he gave into his evil impulses. Grendel is unaware and unaffected by the pain and suffering which he causes upon others. He was born to “murderous creatures” (23). This means he was surrounded by evil his whole life, driving him to be and carry out acts of evil.
Pointless, ridiculous monster crouched in the shadows, stinking of dead men, murdered children, martyred cows” (Gardner 54). Grendel recognizes that it is the isolation that has turned him into what he is. He has seen how the humans have rejected him and tried to kill him, the first person viewpoint allows us to share this experience with
His violent nature grew so much that he became crazy with the need to kill the humans. Therefore, Grendel’s actions reflect that his existence has drifted away from its partially civilized nature and into the barbaric. Grendel had no choice in becoming more beast than human because external forces constantly push him towards that fate. Whether it was the dragon, the actions of the humans, or Grendel’s own unconscious tendencies, he never really had the opportunity to make a choice, human or beast. What Grendel said and thought always clashed with the situations he encountered until there was simply no possibility of becoming the good in the way
To be Evil or Not to Be Evil Throughout the story of Grendel, the deemed ‘monster’ ,Grendel, is shown as the villain most frequently due to his violent acts towards humanity. However, it seems Grendel’s savage ways are not due to his own cold heart but infact the cold hearts of the humans around him. His monster acts are only mimicking what he witnesses mankind do to each other. Grendel shows remorse, resentment, and loneliness which are all qualities shared not only by monster but also by man proving he’s no more evil than man itself.
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
It could be argued that he kills people who are at the hall because they are all having fun and socializing, but he isn’t able to do that so he punishes those who can. Readers see both sides of Grendel in his backstory because he is evil, but he is not evil for no reason, like
Forced to watch his own father die before him, leaving him with nightmares as indicated with Selma, “His name means grinder… Of teeth.” Troubled by terrible dreams, he terrorized the man who slew his father, Hrothgar. All through the movie, we thought Grendel to be the wrongful creature because of the men he murdered, but we had an inkling of doubt. As stated before, Hrothgar states why he killed Grendel’s father and suddenly we knew, Grendel was justified by his terror. He was just a terrified child angry at the man killed his father leaving him an orphan.