Comparing Grendel's 'Good And Evil In Beowulf'

ethics, is great warrior, and is very loyal to his master. Beowulf is also rewarded for his deeds

Beowulf represents all of those values. The story starts with King Hrothgar of the Danes celebrating his region by building a bar called Heorot. He holds a feast there; the loud music and laughter makes Grendel attack the hall at night. The bloodshed and loss of warriors lasts twelve years. Word spreads of Grendel’s attack to the Geats. Beowulf decides to help them. Beowulf and his men arrive to help the Danes. They wait for Grendel to attack Heorot, when he does, Beowulf tears Grendel’s arm from the socket. Grendel runs to his lair where he dies. Grendel’s arm is nailed to the wall in Heorot. Grendel’s mother comes to the hall for revenge of her son. Beowulf goes to defeat her at her lair at the bottom of the lake where Grendel’s mother is waiting to attack. They battle but Beowulf’s sword cannot hurt her; he finds another sword near by which slices her head off. He then goes to find the dead Grendel to cut off his head as a trophy. Everyone is waiting at the surface of the lake and because it is taking such a long time that they have gave up hope. Beowulf comes up victorious and with treasures; they all celebrate. Beowulf returns to his home, fifteen years later a fire-breathing dragon is terrorizing the Geats. Beowulf being the hero that he is goes to fight the dragon. The arm that he brings runs in fear except Wiglaf. They battle the dragon; the dragon was beheaded. During the battle, Beowulf had been bitten and later dies from the poisonous venom

pure evil and kills countless people for pretty much the fun of it. He was said to be able to

Perspective plays one of the most important roles in literature due to the drastic shifts between the meaning of who is the real antagonist, profoundly portrayed in the epic Beowulf and the novel Grendel. The first major piece of English literature, Beowulf, was narrated through the perspective of the poet, experiencing his surroundings by following Beowulf’s adventures in the third person. Beowulf signifies the heroic code as the reader is provided with little background and history on Grendel, as well as a small scale of information for Grendel’s motivation. The modern novel Grendel shifts the point of view to a new rendition of Grendel, which also shifts the focus of the story from the battles to the relationships of characters and their philosophy. The third-person perspective of the epic Beowulf and the first-person perspective of the novel Grendel both serve as a lens through which the reader sees two drastically different interpretations of the same story. In Beowulf, the titular Beowulf is the hero and protagonist while in Grendel, the traditional antagonist, Grendel, is the protagonist and Beowulf is the antagonist.

The story of Beowulf is a heroic epic, chronicling the distinguished deeds of the great Geatish warrior, Beowulf, who travels across the seas to rid the Danes of the evil monster Grendel, who has been inflicting destruction and terrorizing the kingdom. Beowulf is glorified for his heroic deeds of ridding the land fiendish monsters and stopping the scourge of evil, while the monster, Grendel, is portrayed as a repugnant creature who deserves death for its evil actions. However, 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, sets out to change the reader’s perception of Grendel and his role in Beowulf by narrating the story through Grendel’s point of view. John Gardner transforms Grendel, once perceived as an evil fiend in Beowulf, into a lonely but intelligent outcast who is actually quite similar to humans, due to his intelligence capacity for rational thought and his real, and at times irrational emotions. Gardner portrays Grendel as a hurt individual and as a victim of oppression, ostracized from civilization. Although the two works revolve around the same basic plot,, the themes and characters in Beowulf and Grendel are often different and sometimes contradictory.

Eventually, at a ripe old age, Beowulf finally suffers the wrath of the dragon. He epitomizes the values of a warrior society which include bravery, loyalty, and prowess in battle.

Anglo-Saxon culture consisted of receiving fame, glory, and wealth through acts of vengeance and courage. “Beowulf” portrays these parts in great detail and shows how destabilizing it can be. Through acts of vengeance, a never ending war occurs.

One of the major fights that make Beowulf an epic hero is the fight with Grendel. Grendel is a monster spawned out of slime. He terrorizes and kills the Danes every night for 12 years with their attempt of fighting back. Beowulf hears about Grendel and decides to take matters in his own hand. He chose fifteen warriors to go and battle with him. On the way he meets a king named Hrothgar. Beowulf introduces himself and they go to the hall to meet the other warriors. During the night, Beowulf stays up and waits for Grendel to come out. Grendel comes out and kills a male then Beowulf wrestles him and puts up a good fight. Grendel notices Beowulf strength and starts to panic. “Grendel knew at once that nowhere on earth Had he met a man whose hands were harder; His mind was flooded with fear- but nothing could take his talons and himself from that tight Hard grip.” ("Beowulf." : A

Beowulf’s wrath is swift and justified. He plays no games with his opponents. Beowulf even shows respect to his foe and honorably faces them with no undue advantage. A classic example of the honor usually associated with heroes lies in Beowulf’s decision to use neither sword nor armor when facing the monster Grendel in Heorot. Beowulf instead opted, in the name of fair play, to fight the monster on it’s own terms. Unsurprisingly Beowulf conquered his foe in true idolic form, tearing Grendel’s arm from his torso with only the strength of his grip and the power of his arms. This is what we cheer for in such stories, this is the satisfying victory over evil by the true embodiment of good: the hero.

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

There is a hero and a villain in every story, we have: Batman and The Joker, Spider-Man and The Green Goblin, Thor and Loki, and of course Beowulf and Grendel. In the epic “Beowulf” our two main characters are Beowulf the hero of the story, and Grendel the evil demon who terrorized the world. In the epic, Beowulf and Grendel are noticeably different, but at the same time alike in many ways. The people in the story may not have notice the similarities, but they could not be hidden from the peering eye of the reader. In the story Beowulf was was brave, while Grendel was cowardly, Beowulf was helpful, while Grendel only wanted to hurt people; in comparison, they were both unnaturally strong and very arrogant.

Warriors are considered among the bravest of men. In the Anglo-Saxon community, the warriors were of the most respected class, and made up the foundation for their way of living. Anglo-Saxon warriors would not stop fighting until either they were victorious or they were dead. Written during this Anglo-Saxon period, the epic Beowulf contains many pagan ideals, in addition to several references to Christian philosophy. Beowulf is a tale of dual ordeals; an external fight against treacherous enemies, and an internal struggle with human tendencies of pride, greed, cowardice, and betrayal. The story intertwines them with both pagan and Christian beliefs.

“Where there is light, there must be shadow, where there is shadow there must be light.” (Hakuri Murkami). Light and darkness, truth and deception, and arguably the most prevalent, good and bad, are utter opposites used to defy and provoke each other. With differing concepts, comes physical forces representing each side that battle against one another with aspiration of everlasting dominion. In the epic poem Beowulf, this corresponds to the mighty warrior Beowulf and his foes that challenged him through his lifetime. Beowulf was acclaimed as a glorious, triumphant hero who slayed gruesome, ghastly monsters that plagued the rich lands of men. He was recognized as a hero to the Anglo-Saxons through his overwhelming courage, strength, and benevolence. The boastful stories that told of his deed propagated the legacy of the many brutish battles that he fought. In contrast, his opposition displays a differing perspective. The demons that Beowulf confronts are perceived as vile and nightmarish, defying the civilities of men and the morality of a hero. Evil was depicted as Grendel, a monster lurking in the moors, who only hunted in the shadows. “Conceived by a pair of those monsters born / Of Cain, murderous creatures banished / By God, punished forever for the crime / Of Abel’s death” (105-108). He was a creature of hell, like other monsters that posed as an evil to men. Without the brooding force of evil, heroes in Beowulf would not have an antagonist to justify their strength and spread their mighty reputation. The forthright perception of evil portrayed as embodiments of sin, murder, and vengeance through antagonistic monsters in the poem of Beowulf accentuate the core values of a hero in the Anglo-Saxon society and ultimately determine the presence of good.

Though Beowulf was god-like and he was able to be successful when faced with decisions and adversity, he eventually succumbed to the destructive forces of nature and threw his nation into conflict. As aforementioned, Beowulf’s battle with the dragon depicts unpreventable death and destruction that afflicts everybody, his last battle also symbolizes that even the most seemingly perfect people are chained to hostile acts of nature and fate. Beowulf’s death is not a product of pride, it was a result of his altruistic nature to do good, however, his death forecasts war in his country as described by Wiglaf when ordering a messenger to tell the Geats of Beowulf’s death, “And this people can expect fighting, once/ The Franks, and the Frisians, have heard that our king/ Lies dead.” (Beowulf 2910-2913). Beowulf’s main purpose was to do good, and though killing the dragon was an act of goodness, he traded in his life for an act of good, however his death brought the large possibility of war to his

Beowulf is seen as a christian figure sent in to rid the land of the evil monsters such as grendel who is seen to have a lucifer features. After grendel attacks the Herot killing 30 men,