Comparing Beowulf And Grendel's Monster

Despite the way humanity treats Grendel, Grendel is a very social being. Grendel attempts to socialize with the people, but they are too fearful to be around him and speak with him. During his first confrontation with humans, Grendel yells, “‘Pig!’ I tried to yell. It scared them…The king snatched an ax from the man beside him and, without any warning, he hurled it at me. … ‘You’re all crazy,’ I tried to yell, but it came out as a moan” (Gardner 27). The thanes that attacked Grendel started speaking to him first, because they thought he was a tree spirit, so Grendel attempted to speak with them also; however, the people were petrified of Grendel. Although Grendel attempts to speak

I believe he learned it all from his mother since there was no mention of a father figure in the poem. The night he died it may have been very sad if it weren't for the people he had already killed. In lines 314-320 it tells of the last meal he would have and the last kill he would have in his life. “Grendel snatched at the first Geat he came to, ripped him apart, cut his body to bits with powerful jaws, drank the blood from his veins and bolted him down, hands and feet; death and Grendel’s great teeth came together snapping life shut.” With all of this detail in how Grendel killed had to mean something, his

He learns a lot about himself and the way the world works while he is trapped in the tree. While he was up in the tree, Grendel realizes that the world is incapable of being controlled. In other words, he thinks that the world is a mass of chaos and violence. "I understood that, finally and absolute, I alone exist", Grendel comes to the realization that he is alone in this world. Through the entire novel it has been a number of learning experiences for him. During his first encounter he learns that humans are "no dull mechanical bull" but they are the "most dangerous thing" he has ever met. His first encounter with humans filled him with curiosity about the humans and this is why he watched humans. He would watch them "from the eaves of the forest." He wanted to know more about humans. He felt a connection with humans, even though they misunderstood him and attempted to kill him. I think he found more of a bond with humans than with his own mother because they had similar traits such as thinking, learning and curiosity whereas she could only show bland love. I believe that Grendel is an extremely intelligent creature because he is able to use knowledge he has gained from past observations and experiences. He knew that the Danes "were doomed", Grendel had seen people fight and destroy each other and he knew that history repeats itself. The way that Gardner displays Grendel's rationalization and his ability to learn

Through out the story, the reader constantly questions Grendel's actions, for one moment he seems like the horrible creature, as he maims and kills innocents, for no apparent reason, however at other times he knows he must do the right thing, and not be that evil monster. Such as when he rushes the meadhall, and goes after the Queen, Wealtheow, the same woman he that he saw throwing himself at her feet. "I decided to kill her. I firmly committed myself to

Although Grendel lived in the woods around the other animals, like the Danes, they too ran away when they saw his monstrous appearance through the trees. “The doe in the clearing goes stiff at the sight of my horridness, then remembers her legs and is gone. [...] ‘Blind prejudice!’” (Gardner 7). Grendel’s mother is also far from affectionate, as she only shows care for him when she saves him from being stuck between the trees. “...I felt the two trees that held me falling, and I was tumbling, free, into the grass” (Gardner 28). Grendel understands he is a monster and his demeanor is intimidating to humans, however the animals and Danes do not understand or care how Grendel feels because they simply see him as an ugly

One reason that Grendel is innocent is because humanity made him into the monster that he is. As Grendel grew up he was alone and his mother could not speak, therefore she could not communicate with him causing Grendel to have a rather lonely life. As Grendel

Grendel and the young boy both compare because of the alienation that occurs to them from society. Grendel is literally isolated from the people in the towns around him. He tended to sit back and watch them from afar. He did raid the mead hall of one particular king, Hrothgar. Grendel is not very fond of Hrothgar. So on some nights Grendel would sneak into the mead hall and attack Hrothgar’s men. He’d kill them and eat them. He’d ruin the beds they sleep on and break other things in the mead hall, but by the end of the attack he would always feel lonely. One night while he was raiding the mead hall Grendel ended up sinking to his knees, crying out, “Friend! Friend!”(Gardner, 52). Grendel was alienated from society and he just wanted to be friends with the people. Grendel all this time has been alone in the woods, wandering around observing from afar. He only wants to have companionship and not to feel alone. So when he attacks the mead hall and cries out “Friend!” he is only doing so, because he wants someone to help him feel less lonely in the world. Grendel does live in a cave with his mother, but she never really acknowledges him. She tends to just ignore him and even feel sorry for herself in having to be apart of him. While Grendel is dying at the end of the book he goes on to so yell, “‘Mama!’ I bellow. ‘Mama, Mama! I’m dying!’ But her love is history”(Gardner, 173). Grendel has his mom. He lives in a cave with her, but she does not love him. She does not care about

Furthermore, Grendel had some tough times with his everyday life, mostly because he was trying to figure out his purpose. If he had taken a more Logical outlook, he may have figured out that being nice to people has more rewards than killing them. This was shown when Grendel said, “I had become something, as if born again” (Gardner 80). Grendel was deluded into thinking his purpose was to harm and scare the villagers. He had an illusion that he was invincible to every force, since humans weapons couldn’t harm him. This lead him to killing many people and becoming more isolated from the world. If only he would have taken a more logical outlook, he would have known that if he kills people, the people won’t stop until they have revenge. Human emotions are one of the most important things to the species. His nihilistic views made it seem like his duty and purpose on planet earth as he believed he couldn’t change his outcome in life. A more logical approach would have slowed down his thinking resulting in seeing a more clear view of the future. If another character was there to tell Grendel his ways were outrageous, he may have foreseen the

One day he was back at his cave, it was another solitary night for Grendel when suddenly, he commenced to here noises close, very proximate, and he mentally conceived, “this strepitous and ecstatic humans, are ecstatic and singing again”, but this time was only men verbalizing, so he cerebrated that he would wait until they go to slumber to assail again and kill some humans. So he waited he waited quiet and exasperated in his cave. Grendel felt no one understood him, that no one wanted to understand him, that he was solitary, that the only way of living he kenned was of a monster, he felt perplexed, of why men mere celebrating and jubilant when he was always alone and woeful. So time passed, and after Grendel culminated to drawn in his woefulness

Throughout the novel “Grendel”, the main character, Grendel’s character and attitude change. His character goes from being an innocent, immature, young child to being a serious monster. At the beginning of the novel Grendel explores the world innocently and wonders a lot about life, believing life is a huge accident. Grendel is also really attached to his mother at the beginning of the novel, he will not do anything without mentioning his mother or letting her know. His character starts changing when other characters come into play throughout the story.

In the book Beowulf: A New Verse, Grendel has the right to be a monster. Grendel, one of the the antagonists in the story, gets constantly harassed by troublesome people who sing songs of the Heavens all day. The book says,”Hunting for prey in the high hall”(Heaney line 113) Grendel being a man eating demon was getting provoked and wanted the bards to stop their ludicrous chanting, but the bards did not stop and Grendel decided to teach them a lesson by devouring everybody. Now Grendel did not have a great motherly figure, saying that Grendel’s mother the “monstrous hell-bride, brooded on her wrongs. She had been forced down into fearful waters,he cold depths, after Cain had killed.his father's son, felled his own brother with a sword” (lines

As opposed to the primitive monster in Beowulf, there is not much that separates Grendel from humans. Grendel is intelligent, capable of deep rational thoughts, “I understood that the world was nothing: a mechanical chaos of causal, brute enmity on which we stupidly impose our hopes and fears” (Gardner 21). This is from his younger years when he was going through a very traumatic experience that resulted with him having philosophical thoughts. He is without a doubt intelligent, to the extent that those philosophical thoughts adapted quickly. Grendel goes from believing that existence was pointless, to believing that he alone existed and created the universe. He is also temperamental, as he often cries and goes through outbursts of emotions. For instance, when he first hears the shaper’s words and when he is overcome with the beauty of Wealtheow. If not for his hideous appearance and eating of humans, he could be seen as a human. Grendel’s violence and brutality is not all that special, as it is often stressed how violent humans are. Through this portrayal of Grendel, it becomes obvious that he was misunderstood. His first encounter with humans is the perfect example. When he was trapped in between trees, the humans found him and because they were scared by the sounds he made. They tried to kill him, even though he was only asking for help, “The king snatched an ax from the man beside him and, without warning, he hurled it at me” (Gardner 27). This Grendel is a monster but not like the one in Beowulf, he is a lonely outcast that did not want to be alone, “Why can’t I have someone to talk to?” (Gardner

After reading the classic Anglo-Saxon tale, Beowulf, readers find themselves engrossed in the character of Grendel. This interest led to John Gardner’s creation of Grendel, a novel that tells Grendel’s side of the story and gives readers a deeper understanding of the character’s personality and morals. While the two stories use the same characters, they are still extremely different. Beowulf’s predictable narrative and basic language make the story very easy to comprehend, while Grendel is filled with complex phrasing and intricate characters that require intense analyzation to decipher. The analyzation required to truly understand Grendel displays the varying audiences the stories were written for.

In the text it states “ Grendel's mother, monstrous hell-bride, brooded on her wrongs. She had been forced down into fearful waters, the cold depths, after Cain had killed his father's son, felled his own brother with a sword.” (pg. 89/online text)This quote expresses that Grendel's mother was evil and was treated unfairly early on and tried to get redemption by doing wrong and even killing his father's son. Being the son, Grendel was taught by his mother that these people were bad and that they needed to get revenge by killing and torturing and this behavior was rubbed off on Grendel because he trusted his mother.

Grendel's mother is an outcast character because she refuses to tolerate the social effects such as, the importance of a woman's femininity and obedience to the power of men. Grendel's mother raised Grendel by herself; she is a strong female character because she was