Humanity is a raging river. People persist, caught up in their own problems and lives. Society is ever-changing, always trying to adapt to new ways of life. Humanity plays a great role in how Grendel changes. Grendel is a beast that watches how humanity develops overtime; he notices how destructive and cruel humanity has become. Despite this, he attempts to get along with the people, but they regard him as a monster and try to kill him. Eventually, he gives into and becomes what the people believe him to be: a savage beast. However, Grendel was never originally evil. In Grendel by John Gardner, the anti-hero Grendel is misunderstood by humanity even though he attempts to socialize; has clear, lucid thoughts; and feels love, but humanity continuously …show more content…
Grendel is not a brainless beast like the people think he is; he knows exactly what he is doing although it may not always be ethical. “I picked him [Unferth] up gently and carried him home. I laid him at the door of Hrothgar’s meadhall, still asleep, killed the two guards so I wouldn’t be misunderstood, and left” (Gardner 90). Grendel makes the rational choice to spare Unferth out of his own will, despite Unferth begging Grendel to kill him. In addition, Grendel realizes that he could be misunderstood by the people if he brings Unferth back alive and unharmed, so he makes the wicked decision to kill the guards outside the hall. Grendel does this based on his own thoughts and actions; furthermore, he is misunderstood by the people to be a savage beast only capable of killing, but Grendel obviously has thoughts of his own. “I decided to kill her [Wealtheow]. I firmly committed myself to killing her, slowly, horribly…and nothing alive or dead could change my mind! I changed my mind” (Gardner 109-110). Despite the will Grendel had that wanted him to kill Wealtheow, Grendel goes against his mind and his instincts and spares her. He decides to spare her after realizing that it would be meaningless to kill her, that he would gain nothing from killing her, and that killing her would not solve any of his problems. This goes …show more content…
“I bellowed for help… ‘Mama! Waa! Waaa!’ I bellowed to the sky, the forest, the cliffs, until I was so weak from loss of blood I could barely wave my arms” (Gardner 18). The love Grendel feels for his mother helps show that Grendel is not an angry beast, that humanity misunderstands Grendel, and that humanity is one of the reasons why Grendel acts the way he does towards them. Anytime Grendel is in trouble he always calls out for his mother because he loves her, and he knows that she will come to save him. Grendel is not emotionless; he has various emotions just like a human would. “She [Wealtheow] was beautiful, as innocent as down on winter hills…My chest was full of pain...and I was afraid I was about to sob” (Gardner 100). When Grendel meets Wealtheow for the first time, he thinks she is graceful and beautiful; however, eventually, after watching over her for a while, he gets agitated with her because she does not speak her thoughts and lives a terrible life away from her family. Despite this, she is one of the few people who can provoke different emotions from Grendel just by being alive. Despite feeling different emotions and expressing said emotions, humanity always turns against him. Grendel does not understand why humans would treat other humans like garbage, and the foolishness of humanity
the men as the "beasts" and Grendel as the victim. & nbsp; Another aspect of the humans in the story that Grendel defines is their concept of a hero. Not only does he allow for heroes to exist he gives them their purpose in life. Grendel is the monster in the darkness. that every loyal thane would defend his king against. Without Grendel this unique situation would not exist. On the other hand, Grendel has the ability to humiliate and cause a man to be named a coward. He does. this to none other than Unferth. Unferth is treated like a hero because he would defeat the "monster" Grendel, or die trying. When Grendel does not. allow him to complete this task he is shamed by his fellow thanes. Grendel realizes that by killing the man he will be defining him as a hero in the eyes of the humans. Considering the way Grendel was treated by Unferth. and others like him, it becomes easy to sympathize with him extracting this.
He kills people because he enjoys it. Evidence of this can be found in an abundance throughout the novel. “An evil idea came over me-so evil they it made me shiver as I smiled-and I sidled across to the table.” (Gardner 83-84) This is the point in the story when Grendel is torturing Unferth. He's enjoying himself, smiling. The one time it would have been merciful for him to kill he refuses to do so. This scene can without a doubt prove that Grendel’s intentions are not for the best. He's not terrorizing the humans to “improve their lives”. He's doing it because it's fun to him. The reader can already see that Grendel doesn't care about the humans, so why would he ravage their town to improve their society? The only reasonable answer as to why Grendel does what he does is because he enjoys
Grendel, as a character, has a much more complex identity than just a monster and a human. Some, such as Ruud, classify him as a mixture of three different characteristics, but alone, they tend to conflict with each other. By making the connection that Grendel represents immorality, the previous idea makes more sense, while simultaneously incorporating more aspects of the character into the analysis. In either case, Grendel represents much more than meets the eye, and provides a fascinating insight into
In order to save her brother and her kingdom, she willingly became queen to King Hrothgar, and thus was named as the “holy servant of the common good” (Grendel 100). She seemed so enchanting that even Grendel described her as “beautiful, as innocent as dawn on winter hills” (Grendel 100). To all, Wealtheow seemed to embody all the good of humanity- she was strong, innocent, and kind. At least, until Grendel decided to challenge that belief. In a fit of rage, he bursts through the meadhall door, and pushes aside anyone in his path towards the queen. Once he has her, surrounded by a circle of unsure guards, he describes her “unqueenly shrieks” as if they were the “squeals of a pig” (Grendel 109). As he contemplates what to do next he notices the acts of those around him. “No one would defend her, not even suicidal Unferth” he explains, even after she calls for help, yet they were all willing to pray to their “dead stick-gods” to save her (Grendel 109). The gods do nothing. In his single act of threatening the queen, Grendel reveals that the queen is no angel, that Unferth is no hero, and the gods no help to the humans.
Grendel watches the humans commit unnecessary acts of violence, and he uses them to justify his war with Hrothgar. He watches human tribes fight with one another, and is appalled by how they waste livestock, burn villages, and slaughter people. He finds himself “sickened, if only by the waste of it.” (Gardner, 36) Grendel doesn’t understand why the humans kill unnecessarily, but he is viewed as a monster when he kills for his own survival. Hrothgar becomes the most powerful king in the land, and Grendel has watched him waste and sin more than anyone else. Grendel sees himself as better than Hrothgar, which justifies attacking him for punishment. A similarly influential event occurs when Grendel steps on a dead man one night while listening to the Shaper sing. The Shaper says a
He even manages to witness a few attacks from certain villages on others during the nights. “With luck, I might see, on a soft summer night, as many as three halls burning down at once.” (Gardner, 37) Another variable to Grendel’s madness at the end of the book, may have possibly been his witness to human sabotage between villages and tribes, leading to him thinking violence is acceptable. He even has a few encounters with the humans, and kills a couple when he is attacked, as they are threatened due to his appearance and monstrosity. When he eavesdrop on The Shaper, he is comforted by his kind words, and he tries to make peace with the Danes. “He sang how they’d fought me. It was all lies. The sly harp rasped like snakes in cattails, glorifying death.” (Gardner, 54) However, when he is attacked and chased out, he realizes that everything The Shaper has said was all comforting lies, he is astounded and furious with the whole situation. After fleeing the scene, Grendel comes across a mighty dragon who deemed the world as pointless and torments Grendel as Grendel himself torments the humans. ““Like a rabbit!” he brought out. “Nyee he hehe! When you’re scared you look--nyee hehehe--exactly… (gasp) exactly…”” (Gardner, 59) After Grendel had gotten a taste of what fear is from a force larger than him, he realizes that his torment on the humans was
In conclusion, Gardner has Grendel use vivid imagery and personifies him to convey the idea misinterpretation may lead to isolation throughout Grendel’s self-journey. Imagery that spares no detail of the repulsive reality Grendel creates for himself is used. Also, Grendel is given humanlike characteristics to increase the likelihood of an emotional response from the audience and to add dimension to his character. Grendel is the result of the isolation he encountered his entire life from the inability to communicate his thoughts. He was treated like an animal instead of the thinking and rational creature that he is and because of this, embraced his animalistic side and murdered humans whenever the urge arose. {"The world
At first, Grendel is not even remotely hostile towards the humans, and he even asks, “Why can’t I have someone to talk to” (Gardner 59)? He is obviously very alone and desperate to reach out to someone; every person in this world needs another to talk to. He simply wants to at least observe the humans and watch their march of progress go on. Eventually though, he becomes stuck in a tree, and without any prompting, the humans immediately try to kill and torture him. This obviously has a lasting effect on Grendel, and from Grendel’s point of view, “there are plenty of men who, because of their craziness or insanity, are objects of derision” (Sanchez 47). They are evil and wicked to him without cause, and they deserve his scorn. He perhaps justifiably begins to hate the humans. The final nail in the coffin comes, however, later, when Grendel makes one last stab at forming a relationship with the humans. After hearing the Shaper’s tale, Grendel becomes an emotional wreck, and in desperation, runs toward the humans hoping they will accept and embrace him. Instead, they again turn him away without a moment’s hesitation, and Grendel’s last hope at happiness is snuffed out. This rejection fills him with hate once more, and he now has no one in life to turn to. His hate of the humans is complete. At that point, it is almost understandable where
Finding a mate is hard for Grendel, especially because he’s the last of his species. However, he still has the same emotions as humans when it comes to love. He first encounters these unfamiliar emotions when Hrothgar is given a wife named Wealtheow. Grendel thinks she is beautiful, and starts to rethink his war on the humans when he contemplates killing Wealtheow, saying to himself “It would be meaningless, killing her. As meaningless as letting her live. It would be, for me, mere pointless pleasure, an illusion of order for this one frail, foolish, flicker-flash in the long dull fall of eternity.” (108). Even though he is a monster, he still feels the same emotion of love that humans do.
John Gardner’s Grendel portrays a monster searching for his purpose in life. The characters know the meaning of their lives, but Grendel tries to discover his role and what life has to offer him. Grendel discovers his identity through other characters’ actions and beliefs. In Grendel, John Gardner illustrates the contrasting views of each character to show their view of society and the influence they have on Grendel.
The first reason why Grendel is not inherently evil is because he was disliked by many people and animals. In the text, the author writes, “Till the monster stirred,
Grendel himself did not have much confidence. He saw himself as an almost evil curse sent to live among the humans. He believes the harp when it describes him as “the terrible race God cursed” (51). He recognizes how he related to the humans and his closeness to them but sees himself as the evil within them. He even describes himself as “an alien” or a “rock broken free of the wall” (23). This clearly shows the reader that he has confusion and disappointment within himself. Therefor, this affects the way he knows the people see him and causes his mind to have thoughts of depression and evil.
Grendel sometimes does seem to be more compassionate than some of stubborn humans in Grendel. Grendel has a variety of, almost human-like, approaches to life, especially when he says “I picked him up gently and carried him home. I laid him at the door through Hrothgar's meadhall, still asleep, killed the two guards so I wouldn't be misunderstood and left." (Gardner, 90) While he did kill those guards, he did do that because he prefers the reputation that he has and that can be interpreted as simply being egotistical. Though he does have compassion for Unferth. Grendel is shown as more human in his perspective, instead of the cold hearted monster in
Although Grendel is depicted as a hideous bloodthirsty beast because he eats the Danes at Heorot continuously, he has some characteristics of a human gone wild. Grendel possesses the ability to feel human emotions such as envy and fear. When the Danes were having a feast in Heorot, Grendel “had dwelt for a time in misery among the banished monsters, Cain’s clan, whom the creator outlawed and condemned as outcasts”(104-106). He feels envy towards the Danes for making him an outcast of society. He was jealous of the Danes that were having a great time together while he had to live a life of misery alone. Grendel feels fear as well as envy because “he was overwhelmed, manacled tight by the man who of all men was foremost and strongest in the days of this life”(787-789). During the battle between Grendel and the hero Beowulf, Grendel was unprepared for Beowulf’s fighting tactics. He, who usually is victorious after each attack in Heorot, did not expect to be defeated by Beowulf, which is shown because “his fingers weakened; it was the worst trip the terror-monger had taken to Heorot”(764-765). When Beowulf leaves his weapon and decides to wrestle Grendel, Grendel realizes that he is no match for Beowulf’s strength. He feared death just as human are afraid of death. An ordinary person would want to flee if he or she was being wrestled to the ground and about to die. Grendel felt like fleeing but Beowulf did not want to lose any opportunities to kill the villain and thus does the deed in one go. When he realizes that his end was near, “the dread of the land was desperate to escape, to take a roundabout road and flee to his lair in the fens”(761-763). Just as humans in their psychoanalytic development, Grendel had a fight or flight response. When he knew that he was going to die he immediately chose the flight response in which he could not do because Beowulf was much more powerful and aggressive. He does not let Grendel escape. Grendel’s pain is all the more acute because he is brought so close to mankind and yet always kept at an unbreachable distance from society.
The one thing that Grendel can do besides kill people without mercy is create fear and chaos wherever he is and more importantly where is not. Grendel has this presence about him as well as a reputation that causes people to naturally fear him. For 12 years he has been terrorizing Hrothgar’s mead hall, killing people every night, not even being seen at all. This kind of person will plant fear in anyone causing them to fear the unknown. The people of Hrothgar dread Grendel, they know that it always could be their last night in that mead hall.