Differences Between Beowulf And Grendel

     One of the most compelling and highly developed characters in the novel Grendel, written by John Gardner, and the poem Beowulf, written by an anonymous poet, is the monster, Grendel. Even though these pieces show two different sides to Grendel they are similar in many ways. Grendel evokes sympathy toward the hideous monster by making him seem like the victim, while Beowulf portrays him as being the most loathsome of enemies. The reasons behind Grendel’s being, his killing, and finally his death make him one of the most controversial and infamous monsters in literature. Grendel is the man-killing monster that Beowulf portrayed him as being, yet he is also the lonely victim of a judgmental

1. The dragon Grendel visits, is an all-powerful being who can see every aspect of time and space and completely understand it all. He attempts to explain portions of the concepts of what he knows to Grendel on his visit, but Grendel is not advanced creature. According to the dragon he is a low creature, incapable of understanding more than merely his perception of the present time and memory. Since the dragon is able to see the future also, it is difficult for him to convey what he knows to a creature that is incapable of understanding it easily. He explained to Grendel that humans are also low creatures, but even so they are much less aware of the reality of things. This is due to their limited reasoning skills. Compared to Grendel the dragon explains that they are very close to clueless about things they believe to be true. Complete knowledge of all space and time allows the dragon to understand what the humans and other creatures do

Grendel and Beowulf are both amazing and interesting stories, although Grendel may have committed wrongdoings, his story is telling a side that Beowulf’s story did not. In Beowulf it just shows that Grendel is a killer and he kills for fun. However, in the book Grendel it shows that he is more than just a killer. He shows that he can speak words that are smart, he explains the battle in the story with more depth, and he describes the things around him with more detail and it creates an image in the reader’s head.

Doppelgängers as defined by the dictionary are, “ghostly counterparts of a living person” (Webster). When one reads Beowulf, they should come to agree that Grendel is indeed a ghostly counterpart to Beowulf. While it may be easy to distinguish between Grendel and Beowulf as good and evil respectively, it is not so simple to understand that the pair is actually quite similar. Indeed, Grendel may be seen as a shadow of Beowulf’s character, because whatever one does, the other does as well. Both Grendel and Beowulf have the ability to go between realms of civilization and wilderness, they each have histories of violent conquests, their impressive fight scene fuses them as one entity, and there are similarities within each of their deaths as well.

If you have ever read the book Grendel, which is a playoff of the book Beowulf, you know the author depicts the protagonist as a good character. The author, John Gardner, uses many techniques in his writing to make Grendel sound like a good protagonist. He made a good argument for its protagonist by describing other characters as evil, giving an idea of character’s backstory to help guide your opinions towards certain characters, and giving Grendel many of the traits of the nine noble virtues.

The things to expect from the Beowulf poem are Germanic warriors, heroes in the making, and mystical adventures but what to expect from the movie? The Beowulf poem was a Anglo Saxon poem writing around the 8th-11th century, but was told since the Anglo Saxon time period from 450 CE till now. It was about a Germanic warrior fighting for bravery, honor, and glory in battle.Although the poem and the movie share many similarities, the different portrayals of Grendel, Beowulf, and Grendel’s mother reveal the values of the societies in which they are told.

The tone between Beowulf and Grendel is very different. Both of the stories were very good. Each one has there own separate tone from each other. Both of the stories have many different tones as well. One of the story has a calm and formal tone while the other one has a mocking but also emotional and miserable at the same time tone. Each story also had different opinion on how heroes were. Both of them also talk about both the monsters, heroes, and people in the stories.

The monster Grendel descendant of Cain attacks Herot due to their loud and disruptive celebrations. Grendel comes at night Beowulf, and his men are waiting for the monster to come so threy all go to sleep. As expected Grendel does come and he kills one of Beowulf men, and reaches for Beowulf when he gets grabbed by him instead. Beowulf and Grendel both fight it out.

The similarities comes to light when they first encounter each other. In the poem and the novel. Beowulf faces Grendel in a fight. Results in Beowulf ripping off Grendels arm. From this both Grendels and Beowulf motives move into a new direction. Bewwolf wanted to finish the job of killing Grendel. Grendel is trying to find out more about Beowulf’s surprising strength. Christianity is apparent in both Beowulf and Grendel. In Grendel, it shows because of how he responds to the sky.

In a village far far away and long ago when kings were in power we begin our story of the hero

The two stories Beowulf and Grendel are two different stories, told in different perspectives; however, they relate back to each other giving them similarities. Both of the pieces of literature share the story of a horrible monster, Grendel. His mother destroys King Hrothgar and the Danes and Beowulf, the fighter of the gates will easily take on both beasts without an issue. Considering there are two different authors of the two stories, John Gardner and Seamus Heaney, there are two different styles implemented in the books. While there are differences, there are many similarities between the two. One difference between the two is the perspective and story behind each book.

Monsters usually show in all types of places which may be in the form of a beast or human but the main fact is, monsters’ characteristics are not specific which may lead to something unclear. Like for example, the character of Beowulf as showed in the poem is his personality who can compete with Grendel. It is very clear that whenever Beowulf and Grendel fought, the text in the poem is absolutely using similar language just for the purpose of describing these two characters. This paper aims to explore on the great distinctions between monsters and heroes, their overlapping traits and the significance of this said overlapping. Beowulf As described in the poem, Grendel is monstrous and big which is the same as Beowulf (Heaney, 2014).

fight between Grendel and Beowulf is different, in the book it says that “ Beowulf rips Grendel’s shoulder off with his bare hands.” That is a lie he rips his arm off with a door in the movie and he fights him naked which I find odd. In the story it says that Grendel’s mother takes one of the Danes back to her lair, well news flash she doesn’t she kills all of them at the Herot. Beowulf goes to battle the she-wolf and instead of him killing her he gives her a son because he took the only one she had away. Also, in the cave in the movie, Grendel's mother gives Beowulf the head of Grendel to take back to the Danes to show that he is dead. In the book it say that “Beowulf decapitated the she-wolf and Grendel.” In Beowulf’s last battle it says

In order to live a happy life you should always treat others the way you would want to be treated. The effectiveness and satisfaction of your life will be enhanced if you recognize there are two sides to everything, and understand that there is more to someone or something that meets the eye. In John Gardner's Grendel, he presents Grendel as a truly unique character, who doesn’t clearly understand the meaning of life and is continuously bullied over the way he looks and acts. Through John Gardner’s establishment of humanlike qualities in Grendel’s character, he presents a clear example of how there are really two sides to every story and life is a gift.

Mankind has a certain way of getting away with actions and still manage to play the innocent victims. In the epic, Beowulf, by an Anglo-Saxon poet, Hrothgar, the town’s king, and the citizens are terrorized by a ‘frightening’ creature called Grendel, and a hero, Beowulf, in desperate need comes to the rescue, but in the novel, Grendel, by John Gardner, Grendel’s backstory is further explained, justifying his actions, yet it seemed as if the people in the story were supposed to play the innocent role. However, in both pieces of literature, the humans are the true monsters due to their cruel actions such as their misusage of power, the harsh interaction with Grendel and the lies and jokes they make.