In the story, Grendel has many interactions with the people, however, each one that he has leaves a more negative impact on the people. He never really achieves a positive dialogue with anyone, and if he does, he always ends it by killing them. He has a general disposition of anger and disgust towards the humans, and it is not described as to why he has had one. He is unempathetic and aggressive towards humankind in the novel. For one, he takes pride in his killings, and even goes into great detail about each of the many killings he does. “I bit his head off, crunched through the helmet and skull with my teeth and, holding the jerking, blood-slippery body in two hands, sucked the blood that sprayed like a hot, think geyser from his neck. It …show more content…
However, he uses this to his advantage. He makes others feel as if he is more important or that he had a greater title, but he is just Grendel. He makes up all of these crazy names and uses many different words to make himself have a higher status. He tricks others (and even himself) into believing he is important, which is not something that a hero would do. Grendel makes Hrothgar’s people view him as some god of destruction. When he was with the feeble old monk, he tricked him into viewing him as a higher being, saying “‘It is I,’ I say. ‘The Destroyer’”(130). He should not have tricked anyone into thinking he was a destroyer, let alone an old man. Older people have been known to believe anything that they are told, so Grendel should not have taken advantage of him (knowing that he would believe anything Gendel said). This is not heroic because a true hero would never trick anyone into thinking they were something they were not. Another time that Grendel tricked someone was when Grendel actually tricked himself to fill his villain persona. “Grendel the truth-teacher, phantasm-tester! It was what I would be from this day forward--my commitment, my character as long as I loved--and nothing alive or dead could change my mind!”(110). He tricked himself into believing that he had to fill this character, and unfortunately with that he tricked himself into tricking others that he was an almighty force that creates chaos. He made himself believe that he is the being that will teach truth to the people, meanwhile he is actually a being that just kills the people (no lesson or teaching involved). Grendel dedicated himself to this character, but in actuality this character made him a killing machine against the humans and the animals. He convinced himself more than once, though, that he was somewhat of a destructive force, “And I, Grendel, was the dark side… The terrible race God cursed”(51). He took this persona of
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
Through these actions, Grendel tries to prove to himself and to the Scyldings that nothing is ever completely good or evil. If their most pure and brave candidates couldn’t be proven to be fully good, how could they say that he is completely evil? What Grendel tries to teach to the humans is a basic fact of life: you cannot have good without having
Grendel became fascinated with man at an early age. He watched as their population grew, he watched the wars they waged, and the celebrations they had at night. He watched their senseless killing, their wastefulness, and he learned some new words from them. He seemed to look at man as his teacher and deep down it appeared that he wanted to become a man himself for they had found some kind of meaning. He did make a couple of futile attempts to befriend man. Often he approached the exiled, but in the end he “had to eat them for they wer...
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
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...
Grendel represents everything that an Anglo-Saxon warrior should not be. As he is introduced into the story, he is characterized by having, “…no idea of the
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.
87-91). Hearing all the jubilation that he cannot share in makes Grendel bitter. Because nothing that can be done to make Grendel’s resentfulness subside, he “[wages] his lonely war, inflicting constant cruelties on the people, atrocious hurt” (ln. 164-166) to make himself feel better. Every day he finds satisfaction in killing and eating the men who fall asleep in the hall after they have drunk and partied the evening away. Causing harm to human society is Grendel’s means of compensating for his loneliness.
After taking a closer look, he can be considered an anti-hero because of his noble and also realistic traits. Grendel expresses some of his humanlike qualities when he says, “Why can’t I have anyone to talk to?” (Gardner, 53). Grendel is lonely because no one can understand him. His mother does not speak his language and although he understands English, the villagers do not know what he is saying. Additionally, Grendel is an outcast because of his appearance. “The doe in the clearing goes stiff at the sight of my horridness” (7). He is misunderstood because he is a beast. Grendel looks so terrifying that it is emotionally challenging for him to always have that awful first impression with others. Furthermore, when Grendel would hear the harper’s beautiful music he would often begin to daydream joyful thoughts. When his mind would wander, he would be quickly pulled back into darkness because evil was his reality (54). Grendel lives a difficult life because he is constantly reminded that his only choice is to live a life of evil. Because he has such relatable feelings of being lonely and an outcast, this causes the reader to consider his point of view as an
Grendel is the embodiment of all that is evil and dark. He is a descendant of Cain and like Cain is an outcast of society. He is doomed to roam in the shadows. He is always outside looking inside. He is an outside threat to the order of society and all that is good. His whole existence is grounded solely in the moral perversion to hate good simply because it is good.
Although Grendel is depicted as a hideous bloodthirsty beast because he eats the Danes at Heorot continuously, he has some characteristics of a human gone wild. Grendel possesses the ability to feel human emotions such as envy and fear. When the Danes were having a feast in Heorot, Grendel “had dwelt for a time in misery among the banished monsters, Cain’s clan, whom the creator outlawed and condemned as outcasts”(104-106). He feels envy towards the Danes for making him an outcast of society. He was jealous of the Danes that were having a great time together while he had to live a life of misery alone. Grendel feels fear as well as envy because “he was overwhelmed, manacled tight by the man who of all men was foremost and strongest in the days of this life”(787-789). During the battle between Grendel and the hero Beowulf, Grendel was unprepared for Beowulf’s fighting tactics. He, who usually is victorious after each attack in Heorot, did not expect to be defeated by Beowulf, which is shown because “his fingers weakened; it was the worst trip the terror-monger had taken to Heorot”(764-765). When Beowulf leaves his weapon and decides to wrestle Grendel, Grendel realizes that he is no match for Beowulf’s strength. He feared death just as human are afraid of death. An ordinary person would want to flee if he or she was being wrestled to the ground and about to die. Grendel felt like fleeing but Beowulf did not want to lose any opportunities to kill the villain and thus does the deed in one go. When he realizes that his end was near, “the dread of the land was desperate to escape, to take a roundabout road and flee to his lair in the fens”(761-763). Just as humans in their psychoanalytic development, Grendel had a fight or flight response. When he knew that he was going to die he immediately chose the flight response in which he could not do because Beowulf was much more powerful and aggressive. He does not let Grendel escape. Grendel’s pain is all the more acute because he is brought so close to mankind and yet always kept at an unbreachable distance from society.