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Analysis of beowulf and grendel
Literary analysos of grendel in beowulf
Beowulf and grendel similarities
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There are differences between Grendel in the novel, Grendel, and the Grendel from Beowulf. Grendel from the novel is into philosophy, teaches himself of human characteristics, and has deep thoughts of on the events on the events in his life. Grendel in Beowulf, is animalistic, cruel, and is thoughtless. Even though both the novel and the epic poem deal with the same character, the differences are great between them. The similarities between both Grendels are that they both are bloodthirsty, and described, but that’s where they typically end. This could be because the author of Grendel, John Gardner, decided to have the character from the poem, but wanted to have his own ideas on why Grendel is the way he is. Seeing as Gardner made Grendel different, Grendel has deep thoughts on philosophy. Grendel is a believer in Solipsism. When Grendel is hanging from a tree, waiting out the bull, he finally, “Understood that, [he] …show more content…
He acts like an animal raised in the woods, which he most likely was. This would most likely affect his personality. “Killing, as often as he could, coming. Alone, bloodthirsty and horrible. (Lines 80-81)” This was quoted from Beowulf. This Grendel is alone, but he is a predator, trying to control his bloodlust. The other Grendel is more civilized in a way. He killed people, but he did it in a way where he wasn’t caught at first. “[They] would send [a drunk] out to the forest to live [because he was stealing], at times I would try to befriend him… in the end, I had to eat them. (Gardner 32-33)” In the beginning of young Grendel’s life, he didn’t have that bloodlust but that grew with his hatred. Grendel was trying to be civilized with his victims as first, but had to eat them in the end. With him being civilized, it could be because of his mother. But the Grendel from Beowulf is thought to always have those animalistic
In both works, Beowulf and Grendel, Grendel himself is generally given the same connotations. He is given kennings, called names, referred to as the evil spawn of Cain, and even viewed as a monster; but why? Why in both books is he a wicked, horrible, person who is harshly excluded from everyone? After stumbling upon John Gardner's book, it was halfway expected that some excuse would be made for Grendel; that he wasn't really the inexorable monster the thanes in Beowulf portrayed him as. But all it really did was make him worse. What is the message we are being sent about Grendel?
It bears mentioning that Grendel was strongly influenced by the idea of nihilism, which means that he believed that nothing has meaning and everything in life was an accident. “Nevertheless, it was
Our first character, Grendel, is an exceptionally diverse character. It is implied that in both book and poem, Grendel is a blood-thirsty monster. All Grendel does is go through meadhalls and kill the drunk, often asleep people. But when narrated through the eyes of Grendel, the true nature of this beast is discovered. The author of Grendel entails that Grendel is a depressed and misunderstood monster, restrained to the confinements of his own underwater cave. He is a lot like the monster in the book Frankenstein. Both Grendel and Frankenstein are born with no real purpose to life, going off of what they hear other people say and taking it as the truth. Both monsters, knowing that everyone detests them for being unattractive and different, retaliate by way of murder and mayhem. From the perspective of the people in the stories itself, Grendel is exactly how the narrator in the poem Beowulf makes him out to be. The people, or the thanes, of Hrothgar’s kingdom see Grendel as a demon from hell, representing all that’s evil in the world. He’s a supernatural creature and in this time period anything supernatural that wasn’t human was considered a spirit, a god, evil or, in Grendel...
For ages, humanity has always told stories of the classic struggle between man and monster. The battle between Beowulf and Grendel is a prime example of this archetype, but is Grendel only purely a monster? In his article “Gardner’s Grendel and Beowulf: Humanizing the Monster”, Jay Ruud makes a point that Grendel is a hybridization of both monster and man, particularly in John Gardner’s novel Grendel. In the poem Beowulf, Grendel is depicted as a purely evil monster who terrorizes Hrothgar and his people, but the novel provides a more humanistic backstory to the fiend. Throughout the novel, Grendel tells of his internal struggle between his thoughts of filling the role of the monster versus attempting to make amends with the humans. This conflict
Whether one watches the movie and then reads the poem, or does the opposite, it is almost too easy to spot the differences in the story and the two cultures. Beowulf is very descriptive but at the same time leaves a lot to the reader to imagine. It can also be considered, in some ways, a tall tale, as no human being can swim while carrying 30 pieces of armour. “But Beowulf's prodigious gifts as a swimmer guaranteed his safety: he arrived at the shore, shouldering thirty battle-dresses, the booty he had won.” Narrator, 2359-2362. The Beowulf in the poem is also materialistic, greedy, and ruthless. The Beowulf in Beowulf and Grendel isn’t slaying monsters for the gold and fame. He is also sympathetic to Grendel when he realized that he, to, had feelings and a family. At the end of the movie he lights a funeral pyre for Grendel as Grendel’s son watches from a distance. The story was more than likely changed to fit the likes of today’s audience, as we can relate more to compassion and realism than we can heartlessness and
One aspect that was the most apparent was the fact that he was such an outcast. In Beowulf, Grendel was “…living down in the darkness, growl[ing] in pain…” because he knew that he did not belong with the Danes and other human beings at all (Raffel 6). Similarly, in Grendel, as interested as he was with the humans and their way of life, he still found himself “…back[ing] away till the honeysweet lure of the harp no longer mocked [him]” (Gardner 4). Grendel was constantly distancing himself from the human beings because he knew he did not belong and they were not willing to give him the gift of acceptance into their group. However, this outlook carried through with Grendel between the two stories to portray just how monstrous and estranged he
In Grendel, by John Gardner, there is considerable disquietude, but there are also moments of pleasure as well. The cause of these contrasting feelings is most often Grendel himself. As he changes from a purposeful and almost kind creature to a very cruel monster that scorns hope, we find ourselves feeling both pleased and upset at different times. In this element, though, lies a much greater purpose than simply good literature - it helps the reader understand the importance of human values.
The deeds one does leave an impression on the people for a lifetime, a person is remembered by what he did, no matter what the situation is. Thus, in the same way Beowulf is defined as being a hero and Grendel as a monster. For instance, Grendel killed a lot of men in the kingdom of Hrothgar but, on the other hand Beowulf killed Grendel for the sake of his people and his honor. Furthermore, this tells us that a person is defined by the deeds he does for his people. And as we can say Without defeating Grendel, Beowulf would have never been considered a hero. Therefore, Beowulf would have been deemed as a liar for his whole life and he would have never been made the king of Geatland.
Grendel also expressed his emotions throughout the story. For example, Grendel says “I looked at the foot in anger and disbelief” (Gardner 18). This clearly shows that Grendel has emotions and feelings in him. If Grendel was
While Grendel may possess a brute strength, his lack of wit and logic is what ultimately leads to his downfall and demise. In Beowulf, the actions and character that of Beowulf, or an Epic Hero, define the perfect Anglo-Saxon warrior. Epic heroes are indicated by a variety of traits, including that they, “must look like a hero, they must be noble, famous, strong, courageous, humble, prideful, thick-skinned, self-sacrificing, faithful, focused, be a leader, and have a tragic flaw” (Jones 3). Unfortunately, aside from the ‘tragic flaw’ and ‘strong’ categories, Grendel’s character is antithetical to all characteristics of an Epic Hero. This makes him quite the villain, and a generally despicable character. “Suddenly then, / the God-cursed brute creating havoc: / greedy and grim, he grabbed thirty men”
The majority of John Gardner's Grendel revolves around a monster-like character named Grendel. The reader is allowed access to Grendel's subconscious and inner monologue, giving one the sense of a very close relationship with the main character. This tends to beguile one into sympathizing with him and thinking of him as a protagonist because historically in literature the main character of a novel has always been the "good guy." However, he proves himself to be very much the anti-hero in the novel many times over. Grendel's social contact with the world is extremely limited, but his persona is greatly influenced by each brief encounter with another character.
John Gardener’s Grendel is another version of the epic Beowulf, except in a differing perspective. This story is retold from the viewpoint of Grendel. Gardener wants us to empathize with Grendel through his own thoughts and emotions. The way one sees the monster in Beowulf is completely different than how one would think of him in Grendel. One is forced to view someone else’s opinion versus getting to form an opinion for oneself.
“Do not think my brains are squeezed shut, like the ram’s by the roots of horns” (Gardner 6) In other words, Grendel believes that he is more knowledgeable that animals like the ram and because of this, Grendel decides that the other animals as they are not superior enough for him. This is the starting point of Grendel’s isolation with the other creatures that will eventually lead to his malicious ways. The tragic ironic part about this is that ultimately, the animal’s stupidity in the eyes of Grendel will lead to their demise and that this will be the most interaction with other animals that Grendel will ever have. Overall, due to Grendel being surrounded by non-intellectual animals unlike him, he is driven to isolation in which he only will get attention from harsh acts including killing the other animals which will be the start of Grendel developing into pure
Gardner wanted Grendel to be viewed as a psychopathic killer, something without empathy and remorse. Grendel’s intelligence is demonstrated when he infers what is going on around him when he goes back into Herot and sees that “The Geats are stones, whether it’s because they’re numb with terror or stiff from too much mead, I cannot tell.” (167). There are clear signs of a thought process that Grendel expresses, the purpose of this is to show that he does understand what he is doing and to him he has a reason for doing it. Signs of emotions that normally are not connected with a murder spree is revealed when Grendel shared with the reader that he is “...swollen with excitement, bloodlust and joy and a strange fear that mingle in my chest like a twisting rage of a bone-fire.
The difference between Grendel’s intellectual curiosity in the book and movie is drastic. In the book Grendel is always questioning why certain situations and events happen, and why people act the way they do. Grendel is very curios about humans and he wants to find out the truth behind their actions and motives. In the book, Grendel finds a way into the human world and explores. He goes through the town trying to figure out how the people interact with one another and the world (16-45). Throughout this section Grendel is watching and learning. He is learning about how and why the humans do the things they do. Grendel is interested and curious about the humans, and he satisfies his inquisitiveness by watching the humans and eventually trying to interact with them. In the movie, Grendel’s character has a significant difference in his level of intelligence, which makes him not as curious about the outside world. In the movie Grendel is just torturing the Danes out of revenge, because they killed his father. He does not try to learn about the people, he does not question anything that they do, and he does not try to figure out the reason behind the Danes ...