In the epic poem Beowulf, Grendel, a monstrous being, is portrayed as a demon as opposed to Beowulf which shows Beowulf as a hero. John Gardner’s novel Grendel is a novel that is written in the point of view of Grendel rather than Beowulf. From all the descriptions given in Grendel, Gardner tries to portray Grendel as more humane than the actual humans, portrayed as more good than bad, and also a sacrifice himself for humans. Throughout Grendel, there are some messages that show how humans at the time acted.
Throughout the epic, Grendel is portrayed in many humanly ways. The monster has the ability to communicate with others but not in a way humans can understand. As for Grendel’s actions, it almost seems like an immature beast walking around. Grendel, since young, was ignored by his only parent,
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If humans were not taught what is wrong and right, they would essentially kill others too. Not knowing what the monster did right or wrong could explain why he went on for 12 years killing humans like they were toys. Since Grendel’s mother neglected care, Grendel did not have the parental figure he needed in life so he was not taught what feelings were and that humans had feelings too. This also leads to loneliness and wanting attention in many dark ways by killing humans. The same could happen to humans as well. Another way Grendel seems more human than the humans themselves is because Grendel seems more justified. Grendel did not kill his own people for fun. Grendel would not have killed those that are close to him too. Gardner states "Sometimes a horse, mired to the waist, would give up and merely stand, head hanging, as if waiting for death, and the men would howl at it and cut it with whips, or throw stones, or club it with heavy limbs, until finally one of them came to his senses and calmed the
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
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.
Since the beginning Grendel is very confused with why he can’t talk or get along with people or animals. He starts off wandering through the forest when he gets caught in a tree. Grendel cries out for his mom but is disappointed to be without her arrival. He later encounters a bull that nearly kills him but instead ends up wounded. Grendel could not communicate with the animal and out of this encounter he perceives life in a nihilistic way. After waking up from his sleep humans wearing armor surround him and believed him to be a tree spirit. Grendal tried to speak to them but again he had failed to do so. Finding out he wasn’t, they became hostile but fled after hearing Grendel's mother.
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
Grendel as a character is very intelligent, he is capable of rational thought at all times. Because of this, at sometimes during the story I would forget Grendel is a monster, the way he acts in his thoughts and actions I would mistake him for a human; at times I was even feeling bad for Grendel because he is a very lonely person who tries to understand all of the meaningless of the world around him. Grendel can never get to close to
Even if, at first, Grendel seems almost kind, and the reader is pleased with his character, he soon becomes more and more evil, and his actions bring about a feeling of uneasiness, to say the least. Before, the killing of people for no apparent reason disgusted Grendel. However, when he brings Unferth home, he kills the two guards "so I wouldn't be misunderstood" (90). Later, in probably the most disturbing scene of the book, we see how meaningless killing has become to Grendel. He brutally attacks the queen and is determined to kill her.
The fact having Grendel as the main character makes it even more interesting because is almost kind of unknown. I describe him as the unknown because you really do not know what he really is. At one point he is kind of confusing because he is both characterized as a human and a monster who kills and eats humans. How awful is that? Grendel can be scary but at the same time who feel sort of sorry for him when he describes being lonely with the desire of companion. For example, I felt kind of sorry for him because he is being alone in situations that seem kind of tough. But in the other hand Grendel eats humans and that is kind of scary. Although Grendel would eat humans, I do not blame him because that is what he was thought to do in a way. It’s like following the same step you are thought to do. That is Grendel’s case. He was not really thought it was wrong to do so, he was in a way confused and all he wanted to do was to understand his place in a potentially meaningless
In the book, Grendel, by John Gardner, the author describes Grendel as more human than a monster. For instance, Grendel claims that, “it is a matter of fact that I have never killed a deer in all my life, and never will” (Gardner 8). This shows that Grendel is a kind person who would never hunt animals. This also means that Grendel cares about the animals and he know that they are scared of him. He also goes on and explains that these animals don’t know what is going on around them and they are like an innocent people.
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”
Grendel then began to show even more human traits than before. He became envious their happiness and starting becoming the cruel one. He started torturing and killing humans quite frequently. He starts to enjoy being cruel during his first raid. “I felt a strange, unearthly joy. It was as if I’d made some incredible discover, like my discovery long ago of the moonlit world beyond the mere. I was transformed” (79). This kind of cruelness came easily to Grendel, not unlike the humans had watched for so long. Grendel slowly becomes more and less human. He starts to lose his humanity but shows off just how human he is. Grendel becomes what he hates the most, cruel and pointless. Though Grendel enjoys the human’s suffering, it only makes him feel worse. “I feel my anger coming back, building up like invisible fire, and at last, when my soul can no longer resist, I go up - as mechanical as anything else - fists clenched against my lack of will, my belly growling, mindless as wind, for blood” (Gardner 9). Grendel falls into the trap and start to enjoy the suffering of others. While this isn’t a problem at first, Grendel eventually realizes just how pointless this is. How pointless everything is. Grendel sees that the world doesn’t do anything for anyone. He won’t be given anything and he probably won’t ever be happy. As a result, Grendel learns to live with this hatred and continues
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
John Gardner’s Grendel is the retelling of the heroic epic poem Beowulf; however, the viewpoint has shifted. Grendel is told from the viewpoint of one of Beowulf’s antagonists and the titular character of Gardner’s work—Grendel. In Grendel, Gardner humanizes Grendel by emphasizing parallels between Grendel’s life and human life. Through Gardner’s reflection of human feelings, human development, and human flaws in Grendel, this seemingly antagonistic, monstrous character becomes understood and made “human.”
Grendel throughout the book is in constant isolation with the human world and his own. In the realm that Grendel is from, the monsters and beasts do not obtain the intelligence to speak with Grendel, which Grendel himself seems to be far more intelligent than them. Grendel’s own mother in the story cannot even speak with him she relies on an emotional response for when she feels he is distressed, she holds him like you would hold a baby or she stares blankly at him when he questions her about the world even when he was a child. There was only one time that Grendel’s mother really did try to speak with him and all she said was, “drool drool.” In the human world Grendel is curious about human philosophies and understandings of the world around them but he is continually isolated from them because every encounter with mankind he has, even when he is a child, ends with them chasing him off or trying to kill him. Mankind misunderstands him and chase him away even with his first encounter with them as a child in the tree. The men think he is a God that they need to feed, which he laughs at, making the men think that Grendel is angry so they try to kill him. Thankfully Grendel’s mother comes and saves him from the men but she still never speaks to him. Grendel realizes and acknowledges even when he was a child that he and mankind are very similar creatures that is why I believe that he constantly revisits the communities
There are many similarities and differences between the movie "Beowulf and Grendel", to the poem. Major differences between the movie and the poem would be Grendel himself. In the poem, he is described as an evil monster born from two demons. In the movie, Grendel is actually human, but known as a troll to the warriors and Danes. The poem doesn’t give the background of Grendel or show how the Danes killed his father and the possible reason of his revenge, like in the movie. If the witch, Selma, was not included in the storyline of the movie, the audience would not have known key information that she was used to show from more flashbacks. The witch gives more of an idea about Grendel’s past life that could have been the possibility to reasons for his actions. Some major similarities are the battles. Both epics include the battles between Beowulf and Grendel, as well as Beowulf and Grendel’s mother. The end results are the same, leading to their death, but the journey and process to the two tales are different.
...zes humanity in this scene by portraying them as the evil beings instead of Grendel who is the helpless victim of their savage assault. The men attack Grendel solely because they could not understand him and because of his appearance. Grendel makes no attempt to harm the men but to communicate with them while they are the ones that savagely tried to kill him. John Gardner portrays the men as the real monsters who mercilessly tried to kill Grendel while he was defenseless. Grendel has another revelation due to this attack in where he states. “The world resists me and I resist the world… “That’s all there is.”(Gardner, 28) Grendel makes this assertion as a means to organized the ways he perceives the world. While he once saw the world as a confusing array of frightening images, now he can separate the world into categories: those who do not resemble him and himself.