Almost all historical accounts have, and always will be, written by people in positions of power. The more power and influence a person has, the more the writing will be what that person of power wants, not what actually happened. Grendel, his mom, and the dragon are prime examples of this exact thing. All three have had their versions of the story erased from Beowulf. Grendel did not choose to become a monster. Grendel’s mom did not expect her son to get murdered, so it is understandable that she gets angry at Beowulf and his crew. The dragon was just minding its own business when someone stole from its hoard of gold and treasures. Grendel was just a poor creature who had a curse unwillingly forced upon him. “He bore the curse of the seed of Cain whereby God punished the grievous guilt of Abel’s murder.” (lines 65-67) Grendel, by no fault of his own, was labeled as a monster from the day he was born. It was not his fault that Cain decided to murder his brother Abel. The curse of Cain should have been put only on Cain and not passed down through Cain’s lineage. “He slays and slaughters and works his will, fearing no hurt at the hands of the Danes!” (466-467) Grendel is not afraid to die, it is shown by how he does not care if …show more content…
“The mother of Grendel, a monstrous hag, brooded over her misery.” (814-815) Grendel’s mom shows that not only do Grendel and his mom feel hostile emotions, they also show compassionate emotions. They react the same way that the people of the village do when something bad happens to them. “But rabid and raging his mother resolved on a dreadful revenge for the death of her son!” (817-818) This also shows a side of a creature who demonstrates human emotions the exact same as any other person would. Grendel and his mom are not monsters, they are just misunderstood creatures who got unlucky enough to cross paths with Beowulf and his
Groceske, Randy. A Classic Adventure: The Adventures of Beowulf. Online. Internet. October 15, 1998. Available HTTP: http://www.geocities.com/TheTropics/Cabana/2388/beowulf.html
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
Grendels death was quiet unexpected. For many people tried killing him but all failed. Until one day, a young man came and succeeded.
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 has an evil of his own. He was out casted because of his lineage. It was said he was a descendant of Cain, a Satan-like being. “... from Cain there sprang/ misbegotten spirits, among them Grendel,/the banished and accursed” ( 1264-1265)This, and the fact that they were “fatherless creatures” , made him resentful of the warriors in the mead-hall (1355). To get back at the warriors, he began the killing spree, also attracting Beowulf. Grendels resentment, led him to his
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
Despite her evil actions, it is evident that there is less malice in her than Grendel and she is less of a symbol of pure evil than he is. For example, her attack on Heorot is somewhat appropriate and could be considered honorable by the standards of warrior culture, as it marks an attempt to avenge one’s son’s death. In fact, the motive for her attack is similar to Beowulf’s motive for his attack on her: avenging the death of a loved one. One of the most interesting aspects of Grendel’s mother’s attachment to this vengeance-demanding code that the warriors follow is that she is depicted as not entirely alien or monstrous. Her behavior is not only comprehensible but also justified. In other ways, however, Grendel and his mother are indeed portrayed as creatures from another world. One aspect of their difference from the humans portrayed in the poem is that Grendel’s strong parental figure is his mother rather
In the poem “Beowulf,” Grendel’s mother, a monstrous creature, is one of the three antagonists Beowulf, the main character, fights against. The battle against Grendel’s mother appears to be the strangest of the three battles. The main reason for its strangeness is that Grendel’s mother is the mother of the monster Grendel, who was killed by Beowulf in the first battle. Another reason for its strangeness is that Grendel’s mother is the only female-type creature. An alternative reason for this strangeness in the battle is due to the fact that Grendel’s mother is not a true monster, aside from her physical form. Through the explanation of kinship, the understanding of the missing words from the original text, and the comparison of Grendel’s mother to other mothers in the poem, specifically Welthow and Hildeburh, it can be established that the intentions of Grendel’s mother are not monstrous even though she has the appearance of a monster.
Grendel tries to become part of society by attempting to befriend the humans. “I sank to my knee, crying, Friend! Friend!... their spears came through…” (p.52). Here this quote shows he wants to make friends with the humans, but because of his appearance and differences, he is shunned. This causes the hatred in him to kill. Likewise, the monster kills because of his abandonment. The monster wants his creator to feel his pain, so he kills members of his family. ”I may die, but first you, my tyrant and tormentor, shall curse the sun that gazes on your misery” (Chapter 20). Both creatures throughout their stories use killing as an escape to find happiness and revenge for the treatment they have
The relationship between Grendel and the dragon is comparable to the relationship between Hrothulf and Red Horse. Red horse acts as a mentor towards Hrothulf, while the dragon acts as a mentor towards Grendel. Both mentors notice corruption, however both are truthful. Both Grendel and Hrothulf are in search of an answer when they talk to their mentors, and the dragon and Red Horse both have dark views.The dragon talks to Grendel about time and space. He says that men have such a little impact on time that everything they do is meaningless. On the other hand, Red Horse talks to Hrothulf about government. He says that the government's purpose is to protect only the people in power, and that all other people are meant to serve them. Both of these
as men. She has been sleeping down in her dark and dingy cave below the world
“The monster’s thoughts were as quick as his greed or his claws: He slipped through the door there in the silence snatched up thirty men, smashed them…” (Raffel Lines 34-37) In other words, Grendel is characterized as a monster whose only desire is to kill. However, the humans chose to forget their beginning encounters with Grendel and don’t realize that they are the true cause. When Grendel tries to communicate with the humans because they speak the same language, he is repelled by the Danes. “The harper broke off, the people screamed. Drunken men rushed me with battle-axes. I sank to my knees, crying, “Friend! Friend!” (Gardner 52) In other words, Grendel wants to be friends with the humans but they immediately judge him based on his appearance and reject him. This causes Grendel now have become isolated from both the humans and animals. This isolation leads to Grendel to start killing the humans as a form of interaction. Sadly like with animals, the only form of communication with the humans Grendel will receive is through killing them like the Grendel we see in Beowulf. Overall, due to Grendel being surrounded by humans who misjudge him, he is motivated by isolation in which the only attention he will get is from killing
While the classic battle between good and evil forces is a major theme of the medieval epic Beowulf, one may question whether these good and evil forces are as black and white as they appear. Scholars such as Herbert G. Wright claim that “the dragon, like the giant Grendel, is an enemy of mankind, and the audience of Beowulf can have entertained no sympathy for either the one or the other” (Wright, 4). However, other scholars such as Andy Orchard disagree with this claim, and believe that there is “something deeply human about the ‘monsters’” (Orchard, 29). While Grendel, Grendel’s mother, and the dragon are indeed portrayed as evil and violent foes, there are parts within Beowulf that can also lead a reader to believe that the “monsters” may not be so monstrous after all. In fact, the author of Beowulf represents the “monsters” within the poem with a degree of moral ambivalence. This ambivalence ultimately evokes traces of sympathy in the reader for the plight of these “monster” figures, and blurs the fine line between good and evil within the poem.
Through Grendel's own hatred and anger, he brings his own downfall. The "sin-stained demon" has his roots in the vile creature Cain. Since Grendel is spawned from Cain, he can never feel the love of God or of people: ". . . God, / Whose love Grendel could not know." (84-85). It is because of this, that Grendel hates every mortal being he lays his eyes upon. Hatred leads to anger, constant anger, ". . . bearing God's hatred, / Grendel came, hoping to kill" (393-394). Fear is Grendel's other major flaw, "His mind was flooded with fear . . ." (435). Through his hatred and fear, Grendel seals his own fate.
Grendel does not understand and is deeply hurt by his exclusion from the people of Heorot. In the poem, Grendel is referred to as a demon and a “fiend out of hell” (Heaney 100). He is also thought to be “malignant by nature,” and one of the creatures that “the creator ha[s] outlawed as [an outcast]” because he descends from Cain, the first person to commit murder (137, 106 / 107). These descriptions show the people’s feelings towards Grendel; they believe him to be a monster. However, Grendel is never told why all of the people treat him differently. This confusion and uncertainty as to why the people hate him provokes a lot of sadness, and eventually, rage in Grendel. People