Punishment In Grendel By John Gardner

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In the novel by John Gardner, Grendel, a monstrous creature with human-like thoughts and an existentialist outlook on life, lives in the forest surrounding the mead hall of the mighty Hrothgar, king of the Danes, after being rejected by the king’s people, which forced him into isolation and a dark place in his heart. This rejection sets Grendel into a spiral of crimes of monstrosity or in other words, murder. It is evident that Grendel committed these crimes, but were they justified or intentional? His crimes were intentional because he posses control over his actions, made his crimes a joke, was in no way an act of self-defense, and he killed purely for his own personal pleasure, much like man. Grendel, unlike animals, has complex thoughts much like man, which also allows him the power to control his actions. “It was one thing to eat one from time to time….but it was another to scare them, give them heart attacks, fill their nights with nightmares, just for sport.” This shows that Grendel has complete control over his actions because for the first half of the story he lived his life with this in mind (Gardner, 61). This idea soon faded after his encounters with the old dragon and he found joy in killing the Danes for sport. “As if casually, in plain sight of them all, I …show more content…

“The dragon had put a charm on me: no weapon could cut me. I could walk up to the mead hall whenever I pleased, and they were powerless.” (Gardner, 76-77). This charm and Grendel’s awareness of it made all of his killings past this point completely intention and more so the fights he go into with guards were unfair because of it. So, there was no real reason for these raids and if anyone can claim self-defense it would be the

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