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Essay on Beowulf literary analysis
Analysis of beowulf
Analyzing beowulf literary technique or concept
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Grendel in the beginning of the book is just a lonely creature that has had no outside persuasion but this slowly changes when he meets man for the first time. He becomes fascinated with them and wants to deeply relate to them. However since society has already made him an outcast Grendel fails to see the similarities between him and mankind. In "Even Mothers Have Monsters: A Study of Beowulf and John Gardner's Grendel.” Hutman, Norma L states “perceptively at the fundamental parallel between man and monster, wherein the monster represents some older form of ourselves,” Grendel is just an older version of mankind. He not only walks on two legs like humans do but also is psychically more like them than we realize. Hutman also later argues …show more content…
Mankind is still chaotic from how they destroy the land to the war the wage and Grendel does the same but only wages war with the Danes. The Danes must see a side of him that they recognize and that is why they retaliate against him. Whether that side be the bad side that humanity has chosen to leave out, Grendel is still kin to them. Langaue is also another strong indicator that we are descended from Grendel. For example In “Grendel” by Gardner he say’s “The sounds were foreign at first, but when I calmed myself, concentrating, I found I understood them: it was my own language, but spoken in a strange way,” (Page 22) just as we evolved from Grendel so did our language. Again later in the Novel by Gardner we see another example “They sing, an antique language as ragged and strange as their beards, a language closer to mine than to their own.” (Page 127-128) It only seems more clear that we aren’t just projecting out selves onto Grendel for being a monster but because we see ourselves in him. Animals understand each other if they are the same specious, two of the same specious animals can communicate very
“I wanted it, yes! Even if I must be the outcast,” (55). This is after Grendel has listened to the Shaper’s story about Cain and Abel. Grendel learns that he is the cursed descendant of Cain and is forever destined to be a monster. At first, he didn’t want to believe that is was true but after a while, he gladly accepted the role thus creating his own meaning. “I was Grendel, Ruiner of Meadhalls, Wrecker of Kings!” (80). This is when Grendel is experiencing his newfound invincibility to the humans and their weapons and he is tormenting them. After he visits the dragon in Chapter 5, Grendel has a renewed sense of confidence of who he is - which is a monster. In Chapter 6, he continues to terrorize the Danes and pursuing his monstrous desires. Grendel is acting upon his role as the monster because after speaking to the dragon, he realizes that nothing can stop
He derives a satisfaction from his interactions with the Danes that he cannot get from interactions with any other creature. violent outbursts and antagonistic relationship with humans can be seen as the result of a lonely creature’s misunderstood attempts to reach out and communicate with someone else. Grendel was amused by the humans, observing of their violence that (ch 3) He was sickened by the waste of their wars, all the animals killed but not eaten. Ashamed of his monstrousness, what better that to be like the thing you envy the most.
Rudd cites various sections of the poem, describing Grendel as a “night-monster of the border lands” (Rudd 3), and the translation of the poem says that Grendel was, “...Conceived by a pair of those monsters born Of Cain, murderous creatures banished By God…” (Raffel 42). Rudd also gives evidence for Grendel being seen as demonic, and reasons that Grendel attacks the Danes out of “...not mere thirst for gore, as we might suspect… but rather… envy of the Danes’ happiness- and envy was a chief characteristic of the medieval devil.” (Ruud 5). He then ties this devilish persona to Grendel’s humanistic aspects, stating Grendel has a heathen soul, and therefore he must be human. Ruud also notes, however, that there are critics who question the validity of portraying Grendel as this three-sided figure, asking questions such as, “How can Grendel be a devil when he has a physical body? How can he be a man when he is so manifestly bestial?” (Ruud 7). Ruud believes that the original poet of Beowulf is doing this for effect rather than consistency, but a more reasonable explanation that encompasses all three characteristics is that Grendel represents the evil in
Grendel looks like. The only idea the reader has of the sight of Grendel is
Grendel is born a neutral being, perhaps even good, but nevertheless, without hate. The transition which he undergoes to become evil is due to misunderstandings between himself and humans and also meeting with a dragon who is questionably evil. As a young “monster”, Grendel knew nothing other than the cave he lived in and his mother who could not speak any distinguishable language. He was a playful creature who seemed to be like a “bla...
In both stories, Grendel became the murderous being that the humans made him out to be. When he first attacked the hall after his confusion over the actions of humans on behalf of Wealthow being forced to go with the tribe, he finally snapped saying, “I would kill her and teach them reality. Grendel the truth teacher, phantasm-tester! It was what I would be from this day forward—my commitments, my character as long as I lived—and nothing could change my mind”(Gardner 110). Once Grendel lost faith in humans, he was forced to kill as he was disappointed and disgusted by their actions. With the lies of the Shaper, their murderous ways, and flawed beliefs, he has turned too far away from goodness and believed the only way to fulfill his life is to kill the ones who confuse him. This showed the complexity of Grendel as in Beowulf, the attacks by Grendel were seen as pointless acts of violence and evil when in reality the humans had pushed him to this point. One main reason for his violence was his constant fight with his belief of human religion. He was constantly questioning why God made him an evil creature and tested humans and their belief through violence. He framed himself as a god and wanted to feel the same power when calling himself the truth-teacher and phantasm-tester in order to make sense of the lies of humans and tried to understand his own purpose and situation. By the end of the novel Grendel had become completely untrusting of the people and finally decided that his role in life is instead to kill and torment the Scyldings because as he became more existential, he realized that his actions would not have an effect on the outcome of the universe, so filled the void in his life with rage on the people of the Hrothgar’s meadhall. As he goes to fight Beowulf and the Geats in the hall, he seemed to have accepted his role as, “[Grendel] seized up a sleeping man, tear at him hungrily, bite through his
Grendel exhibits human feelings and characteristics in many ways. Although Grendel is a monster “forced into isolation by his bestial appearance and limited imagination” (Butts) he yearns to be a part of society; he craves companionship while he is isolated. With his “ear pressed tight against the timbers [of Hart]” (43), he watches and listens to the humans and what goes on in Hart, the meadhall of King Hrothgar, to feel like he is a part of civilization. He also has feelings in relation to specific humans. Just like the citizens of Denmark, he is extremely affected by the Shaper and his songs that are “aswim in ringing phrases, magnificent, golden, all of them, incredibly, lies” (43). Grendel is profoundly “moved by the power of the Shaper’s poetry” (Butts). Queen Wealtheow shows Grendel the feminine, sweet, and kind side of life. “She had secret wells of joy that overflowed to them all” and her peaceful effect on those around her is a main cause of Grendel’s almost obsessive fascination with her and in turn, drives Grendel to feelings of rage. Grendel’s humanlike feelings show that his personality is similar to that of a human, helping those who read his story to relate to him.
Grendel comes to this idea when he has his first existential crisis in the scene where a bull continuously tries to attack him in the same fashion over and over again. This is when Grendel comes to the realization that only he exists. He says, “I understood that, finally and absolutely, I alone exist. All the rest, I saw, is merely what pushes me, or what I push against, blindly-as blindly as all that is not me pushes back” (22). Grendel is referring to the mechanical and instinctual way that the bull attacks, it is the same way the bull would attack against any threat, be it an earthquake or a bird. Grendel feels that he is the only truly sentient being in the whole world at this point, making him feel isolated, and in a way superior to every other being in the forest. He believes that he is the creator of the whole world, everything and every being in the world is simply driven by “...casual, brute enmity…” (22), and only he is the aberration to this state of mindlessness. This existential crisis sets the stage for Grendel’s later musings about life and meaning by setting up his feelings of isolation from others and his loneliness because of this
In the book Grendel by John Gardner, Grendel, the monster, tries to fit in with humanity and has difficulty doing so, ultimately giving up on the idea. Grendel struggles with the internal battle of finding the meaning of his existence and finding out his part in the human world.
He fears mankind because they have a complex thought, that he can’t understand. He believes their thought is one of the most dangerous things, worse than when he was attacked by the bull. When he is stuck in that tree he realizes man is chaotic and destructive. Humans see him as a threat which makes him feel so alone, the king yells out “surround him” without even knowing if grendel was a threat. He feels so attached to mankind because they are the only ones who can speak his language, because his mom has forgotten all language, the animals around him he sees as dumb, and the sky doesn’t answer him when he speaks to it. The feeling of being so alone is what makes him think “ the world is a pointless accident”. He is so alone that he doesn’t want to live anymore. Grendel and his relationship with human and creature really play an impact on his character and philosophical thinking in this
In the poem “Beowulf”, Grendel is depicted as “that demon, that fiend” (Raffel, Line 101), but to emphasize this characteristic, Grendel’s lineage is also mentioned to prove that he is made of pure Evil “...Conceived by.. Those monsters born of cain”, (line Blank-106) the use of his lineage to Cain, the biblical brother, only focuses on the fact that Grendel is indeed evil by instinct, that by conception it was already determined. Gendel’s depiction as a mindless monster is also shown when he attacks the mead hall ”snatched up thirty men,smashed them...to his lair, delighted with his night’s slaughter”. (Raffel, line 123-126), from his lineage to the attack the Danes only view Grendel a mindless beast that only runs on his desire to feast upon men.
Every great hero needs a great villain. Thus Grendel was created to rival Beowulf. With most heroic stories, only the hero’s vision and ideals are shown. The novel Grendel, on the other hand, shows the reader the true feelings of the villainous monster, Grendel. But, the two Grendels, the version in the novel and the version in Beowulf, have several differences. The version of Grendel in the novel is more intricate than the version of Grendel in Beowulf because Grendel in the novel searches for meaning in his life, Grendel in Beowulf is portrayed as only a monster, and Grendel in the novel has emotions and has sympathy for mankind.
Nowhere in the poem is it explicitly stated that Grendel is physically a monster. The poem lacks a physical description of him, other than that he is tall. He is also a descendant of Cain (line 1266 – 1267), who was undeniably human, at least as far as his body is concerned. By extension, if Grendel is at least part human, Grendel's mother must also contain a large number of human traits,
Grendel on the contrary attacks the subject matter from a radically different perspective. To begin, the most noticeable difference is that the story is told from a first person perspective of the monster Grendel in place of that of the third person narrator used in Beowulf. This means that we are able to see the inner monologue of the monster himself and not simply a narrator’s explanation.
Throughout the novel, Grendel repeatedly interacts with humans, leading him to formulate an opinion about them: the humans in the