The Importance Of Nihilism In Grendel

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Philosophies such as nihilism, existentialism, and solipsism are explored throughout Grendel, a novel by John Gardner. Throughout the book, Grendel embarks on a journey of self-discovery, in which he tries to find himself through philosophy. Despite trying many different philosophies, Grendel is only met with dissatisfaction. However, the nihilistic philosophy that is introduced by the enigmatic dragon seemingly provides Grendel with a way out of his banal existence. Despite this, Grendel couldn’t fully commit to nihilistic beliefs therefore leading to the development of his scepticism philosophy. In the end, Grendel meets his death at Beowulfs’ hands, who disproves his scepticism and forces him to die an existentialist. The fact is that if Grendel had decided to …show more content…

Before meeting the dragon, Grendel had been labeled a monster by himself and the people of Denmark. His only purpose had been to spend his days in a languid stupor only punctuated by his acts of violence to the Danes. For the Danes, Grendels’ function had been to serve as, in the dragons’ words, “the brute existence by which they define themselves”(Gardner 73). However, Grendel find this dissatisfying and yearns to find his deeper purpose. The dragon sarcastically tells Grendel that it does not matter whether he is monster or not. After all, all labels are meaningless to a nihilist. Instead the dragon encouraged Grendel to “find gold and sit on it”(Gardner 74). Basically the dragon is saying for Grendel to cease measuring himself based off mans’ false labeling and find something tangible and rational to give him purpose.
This brings us to perhaps the most significant impact nihilism would have had on Grendel. One thing that must be discussed first is the true identity of the dragon. There is much evidence that Grendel and the dragon are the same person starting from when Grendel first goes to visit

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