How Does Gardener Present Grendel As Evil

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Throughout the novel, Grendel, by John Gardener, the narrator Grendel, is searching for his meaning in the world. This monster from Beowulf is perceived only as a cold-hearted killer, but in Grendel, he shows the readers a better understanding of who he is. He shows that he is struggling to understand what his purpose in life is. In this novel, Grendel is guided on a path struggling to search for his understanding of himself. The more complex approach taken in this novel shows the real struggle that Grendel has while trying to figure out his purpose. Grendel was raised as “evil” and does not know how to be good. His childhood revolved around being extremely lonely with only his mother around, who couldn’t even talk. He envies the humans because they have each other and show feelings of love and care towards each other while Grendel does not have that. The fact that he seems to desire those feelings are a sign of potential goodness in Grendel. These “seeds” of goodness are …show more content…

For one, he was raised in a cave at the bottom of a lake with his mother who is also a monster. He was brought up only knowing evil. He never was given any chances to become good. He also gets angry when he hears pleasure or joy from others and is completely unconscious of the pain he causes others. Unlike other evil figures, he is unaware of the suffering that his actions bring others. The fact that he was only taught evil makes it where he only knows how to be evil. While Grendel does identify himself as being a monster, he does not exactly see himself as being evil. In a way, he feels he is doing what is normal because this is all he knows how to do. He has no problem killing people, yet Gardner uses personification to make Grendel appear more human like because he can think and has feelings just like anybody else. The constant war with the humans is frustrating to Grendel because he wants to be

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