Essay On Grendel In Beowulf

446 Words1 Page

The first monster that is introduced within the beginning of the story is the monster famously known to epic poem readers everywhere is Grendel. According to the story, Grendel is a descendant of Cain, a biblical figure who is infamously known for being the first murderer in the Bible, taking the life of his brother, Abel. Grendel goes to Hearot, the Dane’s mead-hall, on multiple occasions, all of them to ravage the place, to strike fear to the patrons and the Danes. Grendel’s actual appearance is not described in the story at all, but the passages in the story describe him having some human qualities and behavior, with the story speaking of Grendel in a negative sense. Grendel has a brutish savage nature, stalking the moors of the land, ripping …show more content…

The First one the bring up is the fact that when Grendel travels, he travels by himself, no one else is there to aid him, usually Germanic tribes go out in groups to fight along side their brothers during their conquest, but given the fact that Grendel only lives with his mother and there are not other monsters in the story, Grendel walks alone and fights alone. Another inconsistency is the fact that Grendel does not need the aid of weapons to do battle with his opponents, given his size, strength and animalistic behavior, he does very well fighting heavily armed opponents with his own two bare hands. It was until the chapter where he meets his end is when Beowulf decided to do the very same thing, fight Grendel naked with his two bare hands. Then there is the boasting of the warriors, unlike the warriors in the book, Grendel does not boast at all about his actions at all. It could be the fact that Grendel is incapable of any form of speech, or that Grendel is playing the role of a social outcast, not even speaking to his enemies as he begins to slaughter them in cold

Open Document