Gardner’s Grendel, is everything curious type of individual, always trying to find and figure out the meaning of, something complex to an ogre, like the meaning of his whole existence.according to literature study guides, which give an analysis of Grendel's character, which states, “In the original Beowulf epic, Grendel displays nothing but the most primitive human qualities. In Grendel, however, he is an intelligent and temperamental monster, capable of rational thought as well as irrational outbursts of emotion. Throughout the novel, the monster Grendel often seems as human as the people he observes. Grendel’s history supports this ambiguous characterization. As a descendant of the biblical Cain, he shares a basic lineage with human beings. …show more content…
Yet the Beowulf poet consistently presents her in human terms, as well. For example, he first identifies Grendel's mother in an ambivalent way, asides, aglæcwif (“woman, monster-wife” 1260-61), the eerie asyndeton alerting us to her dual nature.1Moreover, despite our natural tendency to translate Mordor in this seemingly bestial context as “dam” or “bitch,” Hrothgar carefully tells Beowulf (and us) that she appeared to be a woman:
(“About that, I heard land-dwellers, my people, hall-counselors tell, that they had seen two such ones, mighty mark-steppers holding the moors, alien spirits. Of those, the second one was, as far as they might most certainly ascertain, the likeness of a woman” 1347-53.) Against these eyewitness accounts, we do have later references to her as a brimwylf (“sea-she-wolf” 1508, 1601), but we must take this epithet as a kenning if we are to form a coherent picture of her.2 She carries a knife, after all, and knows how to use it.
Her human roots go back to Cain (1260-68), who as the first murderer was exiled by God and became the progenitor of all
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Unlike her delinquent son, she appears to have accepted the mode and manner of heroic society with all of its outward trappings. She has held court in ælwihta eard, “the land of monsters,” for hund missera (1500-1502), the same fifty years Hrothgar has ruled over Heorot. Her retainers, wyrm cynnes fela (“many a race of serpents” 1427), are ineffective in their light skirmishes with Beowulf,4 but then neither Hrothgar's nor Beowulf's thane's are in a position to cast stones at them. These monsters, at any rate, are loyal to Grendel's mother, who resides below in a great hall. There, keeping pace with Hrothgar, she is surrounded by maðmæhta Monique, “many treasures” (1615), the most
He is giddy with joy for the battle that will soon commence. Before the bloodshed finally erupts the Scylding king (talks) offers his sister Wealtheow to Hrothgar as a peace gift for the powerful king. Hrothgar accepts the beautiful Wealtheow and Grendel still waiting in the thick forest is suddenly flooded with emotions. Even to the point of saying, “She tore me apart as once the Shaper’s song had done. As for my benefit, as if in vicious scorn of me, children came from the meadhall and ran down to her weeping, to snatch at her hands and dress. “Stop it!” I whispered. “Stupid!”.” Wealtheow emits propaganda not by her words but her actions. Her courage and beauty cause Grendel to see the good in humans which in a way torments him. He sees the children running to her weeping and feels as if he is a child again wanting to be comforted by her. This play on Grendel’s adolescence and lack of a strong mother figure drives her message of propaganda deeper into his subconscious. (Her courageous deeds influence Grendel to the nihilistic view of the
One night, as Grendel was sleeping soundly in his home in the swamplands, he was suddenly awakened by the sound of music. The music angered Grendel because he had been up late the night before entertaining his monster friends and was in need of his beauty rest. So he headed out the front door and headed to see what the commotion is all about.
As an epic tale of heroes and monsters, Beowulf gives its readers much excitement and adventure, but Beowulf's importance is more than just literary. It offers many insights into the beliefs and customs of seventh-century Anglo-Saxon culture. Among these insights is the Anglo-Saxon view of women and their role in society. Good Anglo-Saxon women are peaceful and unassertive, greeting guests and serving drinks to the warriors and other men in the meadhall. Wealhtheow, the queen of the Danes, represents a typical subservient Anglo-Saxon woman. As a foil to Wealhtheow, Grendel's mother is a strong and combative monster whom Beowulf must kill. By analyzing these two characters in Beowulf, we can understand the treatment and mistreatment of women in Anglo-Saxon society. The author of Beowulf generally supports the traditional Anglo-Saxon views of women by praising Wealhtheow, condemning Grendel's mother, and showing the need to suppress feminine forces like Wyrd; however, he does offer some criticism of these views by creating sympathy for Grendel's mother, allowing Wealhtheow to assert herself in the interest of her husband and children, and revealing masculine fear of feminine power.
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
In the poem, Beowulf, Grendel is depicted as a monstrous, evil villain that possesses a few human-like qualities: such as the ability to walk on two feet. However, his most notable characteristic that occupies his mind and body in the poem is the constant mindset and actions of primitive human tendencies. This quote conveys Grendel’s primitive ways as the humans perceived it. “The monster’s thoughts were as quick as his greed or his claws: he slipped through the door and there in the silence snatched up thirty men, smashed them unknowing in their beds and ran out with their bodies…” (Raffel 8). His lust for blood of the human race, alongside their Christian views, forced Beowulf and others to view
He does not act like the blood hungry beast he is seen as in Beowulf. In
A building is ablaze and a crowd of people stare helplessly from the streets, listening to screams coming from within. A single person runs in to rescues whomever he or she can find. Whether or not that person emerges with a child in their arms, empty handed, or not at all, does nothing to alter our society’s perception of their heroism. Today’s society would classify such an action as heroic, regardless of outcome, for one reason: intentions. During Anglo-Saxton times the interpretation of such an act, based on the tale Beowulf, would not be so understanding of what was intended, but rather of the outcome. If one perished and failed in an attempt of such a heroic act words like weakness might arise. It is here that the clash of what a hero is occurs between the Anglo-Saxton tale Beowulf and John Gardner’s Grendel. Beowulf in Beowulf is a hero for he defeats evil and restores order to and for the common people. Unferth in Grendel however is unsuccessful in his campaign against evil, but like the man who emerges empty handed he is by no means any less of a hero. For heroism, as demonstrated in the Anglo-Saxton tale Beowulf, is altered in Gardner’s Grendel to convey the idea that intentions define a hero as opposed to actions.
Grendel, written by John Gardner, is a novel based off the early epic poem, Beowulf. Gardner tells the tale in the perspective of the monster, Grendel, who is struggling to understand the purpose of life and his place in the world. In Gardner’s novel, Grendel terrorizes the kingdom of Hrothgar for 12 years, killing men in the night relentlessly. With the descriptions of battles and heroic deeds, Gardener conveys to the reader, the ideals of Anglo-Saxon heroes as courageous, self-righteous, humble, and loyal beings that are humanly flawless. The book Grendel tears down all these fundamental ideologies of Anglo-Saxon heroism by giving Grendel the monster a nihilist perspective that makes heroism sound stupid and meaningless.
Even though Grendel is depicted as a monster in the story Grendel, his story still makes him an epic hero. An epic hero is described as a character whose heroic actions are central to his/her own culture, race, or nation. Grendel may not be an actual hero like Beowulf, but a monster who endure appropriate trials for themselves. Grendel’s terrifying and violent actions are things that are feared by many people and encouraged by his race. This is what makes Grendel and epic monster.
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.
There are three prominent monsters in the Beowulf text, Grendel, his mother, and the dragon. While the dragon proves to be the most fatale of foes for Beowulf, Grendel and his mother do not simply pose physical threats to the Germanic society; their roles in Beowulf are manifold. They challenge the perceptions of heroism, a sense of unrivalled perfection and superiority. Moreover, they allow the reader to reconsider the gender constructs upheld within the text; one cannot help but feel that the threat that these monsters present is directed towards the prevalent flaws in Beowulf’s world. Moreover, what makes these monsters is not their physical appearance; it is what they embody. Both Grendel and his mother have humanlike qualities yet their monstrous appearance arises from what their features and mannerisms represent. The challenge they pose to societal paradigms makes them far more terrifying to our heroes than any scaled flesh or clawing hand. These monsters provide the ‘most authoritative general criticism […] of the structure and conduct of the poem’. Their presence provides contrast and criticism of the brave society (Heaney 103).
Beowulf is an epic tale written over twelve hundred years ago. In the poem, several different female characters are introduced, and each woman possesses detailed and unique characteristics. The women in Beowulf are portrayed as strong individuals, each of whom has a specific role within the poem. Some women are cast as the cup-bearers and gracious hostesses of the mead halls, such as Wealhtheow and Hygd, while others, Grendel's mother, fulfill the role of a monstrous uninvited guest. The woman's role of the time period, author's attitude, and societal expectations for women are evidenced throughout the poem.
In Both Grendel and Beowulf, there is conflict. The conflict is betwixt the themes of light and dark, Paganism vs. Christianity, and Man vs. Beast. Grendel, the main character in Grendel and the secondary character in Beowulf, faces external battles but the most important battle take place internally. John Gardener recognized the basis for Grendel’s predicament which is “his [Grendel] stubborn cling to skepticism and cold, hard reason. . .” (Grendel’s Geis). Though there are many different themes present in both stories, there is one theme that remains consistent throughout out both. This theme is the lack of acceptance. Grendel’s in-acceptance is rooted in his lack of understanding of the world and its functions. As a result of the many things that have taken place in Grendel’s life, he is perceived as evil yet, not because he wants to be. He is misunderstood and not accepted. Much of Grendel’s evil wrongdoing comes as a result of lack of acceptance, lack of communication, and his ignorance.
This poetic depiction of Wealhtheow’s influence in Hrothgar’s court allows her great freedoms, which were typically allowed only for the king: [She] then handed the cup/ first to Hrothgar, their homeland guardian,/urging him to drink deep and enjoy it/…[And] so the Helming woman went on her rounds offering the goblet to all ranks” (Heaney 43). In this instance, the moral leadership of Wealhtheow defines the feminist heroine, which have given a special right to overlook the patriarchal traditions of Hrothgar’s court. Wealhtheow is very similar to Elinor because of her special standing as a woman of honor and dignity that gives her great powers to stand outside of patriarchal traditions that often entrap and subjugate other women. Beowulf provides this instance of poetic tradition that sets the foundation for greater equality between men and women due to the intelligent heroism of Elinor, Wealhtheow, and also, the figure of Mother Mary as an example of the morally righteous Anglo-Saxon
The author of Beowulf demonizes Grendel by depicting him as being purely a monster as compare to John Gardner who depicts Grendel not as a savage monster but as an intelligent being who has human like qualities and characteristics. In the traditional story Grendel is depicted as a blood-thirsty fiend driven by his greedy animal instincts. ...