An Essay On Grendel's 'Monster In Beowulf'

Every epic hero acquires certain heroic characteristics. The poem, “Beowulf, is about the most heroic man of the Anglo-Saxon period. Beowulf is a warrior from Geatland that comes to help Hrothgar, the king of Danes, defeat the monster Grendel who has been killing men in their kingdom. Beowulf defeats the unstoppable beast, Grendel. Then Grendel’s mother comes to try to avenge Grendel’s death, and Beowulf slaughters her in her underwater lair. After 50 peaceful years of ruling the Geats, Beowulf in his old age fights his last battle with a dragon. He defeats the dragon, with help from Wiglaf, but dies as a result. The main character, Beowulf exemplifies many characteristics that an epic hero possesses. Beowulf’s characteristics include

Grendel is evil; powerful and he strikes fear and tenor in all who see him, Beowulf is the hero of the story. Grendel who has killed many men. And both characters have monsters in them from the banished demons such as Grendel. Grendel and Beowulf is two monsters that are born from different demons. Beowulf has stood up too many monsters. Grendel is presented as a coward. Beowulf succeeds and defeats Grendel.

Beowulf is a story of epic literature made in 1000 AD. The hero in the story, Beowulf, became the ruler of the Spear Danes after Hrothgar became too old to protect his people and the land. Hrothgar built an enormous hall for him and his men,in which he named Heorot. Outside the hall there was a monster named Grendel who came into the hall at night and ate thirteen men. Grendel continues to attack the men. Beowulf offers to battle Grendel by himself and king Hrothgar agrees. Grendel ends up getting sent to hell and his mother seeks revenge but Beowulf defeats her. A dragon

Beowulf is an old Anglo-Saxon story of a terrifying monster Grendel, Grendel travels to the Danes mead hall Heorot and while the danes expect it least he attacks killing countless men purely for the joys of doing so. Hrothgar king of the Danes calls for a warrior to fight this unruly beast. After 12 long years of grendel attacking Hrothgar's calls are answered and the great warrior Beowulf comes to kill Grendel. Beowulf travels to the land of the Danes from across the seas and in the first night he kills Grendel. Sadly for Beowulf Grendel has a mother that now seeks revenge for her son's death and Beowulf is asked to kill Grendel’s mother as well. Beowulf goes to where Grendel’s mother is staying and battled her to the death , Beowulf wins

There are many similarities and differences between the movie "Beowulf and Grendel", to the poem. Major differences between the movie and the poem would be Grendel himself. In the poem, he is described as an evil monster born from two demons. In the movie, Grendel is actually human, but known as a troll to the warriors and Danes. The poem doesn’t give the background of Grendel or show how the Danes killed his father and the possible reason of his revenge, like in the movie. If the witch, Selma, was not included in the storyline of the movie, the audience would not have known key information that she was used to show from more flashbacks. The witch gives more of an idea about Grendel’s past life that could have been the possibility to

Beowulf is an Old English epic poem that tells a story of a Geat hero named Beowulf who comes to the aid of Hrothgar, king of the Danes, and agrees to help his people defeat the monstrous Grendel. After successfully ridding the land of the beast, Beowulf eventually becomes the king of the Geats for quite some time until his own demise at the hands of another beast. The story was influenced by both pagan and Christian mythologies as it was written during a

Children typically bear some physical resemblance to at least one of their parents. The child may have the same skin color, facial expressions or height as his or her parent. Could this be the same for behavioral traits? Are behavioral traits likewise inherited? Or, are they learned? In other words, do behavioral traits come from nature (inherited) or from nurture (learned)? This question can be applied to “Grendel,” a murderous monster a in the epic poem of “Beowulf,” Was Grendel born a monster? Or, was he raised to be a monster? Or, are his monstrous behaviors a result of both nature and nurture? Descriptions of Grendel from the “Beowulf” poem give evidence that his monstrous behavior was a result of both nature and nurture; a

Grendel, the offspring of Cain the outcast, is a demon. He is a scaly creature that lives in a swampy area. He is a reptilian human, with spikes on him. He is a human-like figure, in which the way he stands. He stands on two feet, and has arms. In the book Beowulf removes Grendel’s arm and shoulder, defeating him. This must mean he has a shoulder blade and can walk like a human. He also has razor-sharp talons as it says in the book “Venturing closer, his talon was raised to attack Beowulf where he lay on the bed” (Heaney 51). One night when he is prowling around, he hears the King and his kinsmen singing out to the Lord. He hears the songs of how great God is, and is outraged. As the outcast of God, Grendel despised of God. The songs and happiness, pushes him over the edge. He plans the downfall of the hall, in spite of their songs. He will attack at night, as everyone sleeps, and butcher them dead. He sneaks in at night, watching over the guards, ready to pounce. He rips apart the men eating them alive. “Suddenly then the God-cursed brute was creating havoc: greedy and grim, he grabbed thirty men from their resting place and rushed them to his lair” (Heaney 11). This shows just how When the king awoke the next morning he grieved for his men, but little did he know Grendel would attack every night for 12 winters. Once again Grendel sets of for a night of ravishing, but the king has a plan. He has set out more guards to keep watch over the kingdom, as he sleeps. When Grendel

The story of Beowulf is a heroic epic chronicling the illustrious deeds of the great Geatish warrior Beowulf, who voyages across the seas to rid the Danes of an evil monster, Grendel, who has been wreaking havoc and terrorizing the kingdom. Beowulf is glorified for his heroic deeds of ridding the land of a fiendish monster and halting its scourge of evil while the monster is portrayed as a repugnant creature who deserves to die because of its evil actions. In the epic poem, Beowulf the authors portrays Grendel as a cold-hearted beast who thrives on the pain of others. Many have disagreed with such a simplistic and biased representation of Grendel and his role in the epic poem. John Gardner in his book, Grendel set out to change the

In the epic poem, Beowulf, by Seamus Heaney, Grendel is made into a monster by the reaction of society to his ancestry and the roles of Cain and his mother.

In Grendel we see the monster as a more humane character. In this portrayal of the monster we see an almost human reaction and actions through the growth and change of the monster. In Beowulf the monster is truly seen as a beast; his character rampages and terrors the people and the humanity or intelligence of the character is close to none. In Grendel we see the monster growing and changing. Through the novel we see this character discover his closeness to humanity; through this portrayal we see him discover his emotions and we in turn discover the passion behind everyday life.

In Beowulf, Grendel, a monster who haunts the moors, turns a prosperous kingdom into a land of death and despair. Hrothgar builds a beautiful mead hall where his men celebrate with feasts and toast their victories. One night, Grendel sneaks into the mead hall and murders thirty men. At daybreak, Hrothgar finds the results of Grendel’s violent midnight snack. Melancholy and confused, the king and his surviving men mourn the fate of their dead friends. The next night, Grendel once again brings death to Herot. He is “...so set on murder that no crime could ever be enough, no savage assault quench his lust for evil” (lines 50-53). Each day, the surviving warriors wake from their drunken sleep to find more men slaughtered. For the warriors, Herot

The book was an originally a story that orally passed down for generations. From elders to the younger generation. No one knows who the people who originated the story were but they were pagans that believed that when you died there was no after life that you had to do great deeds to be remembered after you died.

Archetypical tales are not rare in the English literature. There are tales of fairies, dragons, witches, elves and monsters. There are a big number of audiences that likes to read about enemies or helpers from the external world. War between good and evil depicted in such stories is fascinating to young and old alike because they symbolize a lot of things for people. There is a story "Grendel" based on classic poem "Beowulf" in which there is three main characters the mother the dragon and the Grendel. Not only Grendel but other two characters too represent alien world evils. Grendel is analyzed here to assess if he is man, monster or a notion.

     Contrasting points of view in Grendel and Beowulf significantly alter the reader’s perception of religion, good and evil, and the character Grendel. John Gardner’s book, Grendel, is written in first person. The book translated by Burton Raffel, Beowulf, is written in third person.