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Summary Of Grendel By John Gardner: Consequences Of Evil

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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. John Gardner depicts Grendel as a pompous and deplorable beast who is, however, akin to humans; Gardner indicates that Grendel is essentially human in form. Based on …show more content…

By inserting human emotions and empathy into Grendel, John Gardner, once again, portrays the correlations between Grendel and the humans. When Grendel first witnesses Wealhtheow, the Queen of the Danes, Grendel depicts her as “Beautiful, as innocent as dawn on winter hills... She tore me apart as once the Shaper's song had done” (100). Grendel claims that Wealtheow stirred an unknown emotion in him which could have been love, jealousy or admiration, all central characteristics of humans. In addition, Grendel portrays his human characteristics when he describes the Shaper. Grendel proclaims, “Yet he, the old Shaper, might make it true, by the sweetness of his harp, his cunning trickery. It came to me with a fierce jolt that I wanted it” (55). The Shaper confuses and eventually enrages Grendel when the Shaper produces a meaning behind life. Like all humans, Grendel wants to obtain meaning for his life; however, because of his nihilistic beliefs, he refuses to admit that there is a greater purpose in

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Grendel Essay- Process Paper In the novel Grendel by John Gardner, Grendel is the main character in the story. He is seen as a murderous monster who has antagonized the Danes for 12 years. Grendel takes the role of the outcast in the human's world and becomes a menace to King Hrothgar and his men. In Grendel's perspective, he faces rejection from every corner.

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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”

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“Gardner explores many philosophical themes within its stream-of-consciousness narrative, and the novel may best be seen not as the clash of hero and monster, but as a clash of visions — the creative artistic vision of the Shaper, who sees the world as ordered and meaningful, and the nihilistic vision of the Dragon, who sees the world as disordered and meaningless.” Describing the philosophical class of beliefs between Grendel, the reason for his acceptance of nihilism can be easily understood. The Shaper kept Grendel from accepting nihilism. Once the Shaper died so did any hope for a positive outlook on life from

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Everyone describe Grendel from his physical appearance. For example, "When a man-eating beast meets an epic hero (Coleman 24)" was the title of an play. The title described Grendel as a beast because of his appearance and the way humans looked at Grendel. Grendel

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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.

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During these times in winter, humans lose their perseverance and interest in defying Grendel and resort to a more peaceful state. Grendel, although he does not usually raid in the winter, refuses to give them the freedom of not acting and seeks his own entertainment. By mocking the priests beliefs (93), Gardner demonstrates that humans hold on to unrealistic and unreliable faiths in dire situations and are willing to sacrifice their lives for these. Eventually, Grendel knows that he is in fact conquerable by humans and needs to accept their strength and determination. As he does get defeated, it becomes clear that all monsters can be destroyed with the will to do so, and humans have

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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

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In the novel Grendel by John Gardner, Grendel’s largest internal conflict is whether or not he can overcome his predestined status of monster. Throughout the course of the story Grendel is influenced by both sides, human and beast, through the dragon and the Shaper. Although Grendel initially wants to align himself with the humans, no matter how he tries to communicate with them as an equal they will not accept his company, causing him to become lonely and angry. Grendel’s anger turns to violence, which makes the humans turn further against him and, as he is alienated from any sense of humanity he ever had, he eventually discovers that he has no choice and must fulfill his role as the enemy to humans. Initially, Grendel’s free will

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John Gardner gave Grendel emotions that the reader was able to see and hear through his own words. Grendel told tales of his childhood causing the reader to become invested in Grendel’s past giving the feeling of a connection. As in the way he describes instances of his imaginative play, “I use to play games when I was young…explored our far-flung underground world in an endless wargame of leaps onto nothing…quick whispered plottings with invisible friends” (Gardner 15). Consequently, this information gives the feeling of sympathy for Grendel, for his lonely childhood and circumstance. Gardner continues to play on the sympathies of the reader after Grendel’s first interaction with the Danes.

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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

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Throughout the novel Grendel by John Gardner, Grendel comes across as a ruthless monster who takes pride in murdering others. His actions give the impression that he is an evil figure, but in hindsight he is not as evil as he appears to be. Gardner makes the readers feel sympathy for Grendel because Grendel lives a lonely life, is consistently treated poorly, and attempts to make peace. If Grendel was truly evil, readers would have difficulty having sympathy for him. Therefore, Grendel is not evil and is no different than the rest of humanity.

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Grendel in both stories is described as a vicious "Monster", but is viewed differently. The character of Grendel, in the novel by John Gardner, portrays a different visualization than that of Grendel in the epic poem Beowulf. In the novel the story is told in first person point of view which gives Grendel human qualities while Grendel in Beowulf is told in third person point of view not giving Grendel his standpoint. In both works, the authors give two different perspectives of Grendel. Grendel in the novel is not seen as a "Monster", but as a human that has emotions and is very sympathetic about everything that comes his way.

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