Grendal by John Gardner Essay

Grendel discovers and begins to gain the understanding/knowledge of different concepts such as power, etc. In addition, he observes how humans interact with one another throughout the twelve years of war; Yet, his attempt to communicate with humans gives him the title horrific monster. This leads to his loneliness and isolation from everyone. Furthermore, Grendel is left without any companion. Grendel can be best described as a monster who has human qualities but can be both rational and irrational. In Chapter 1, Grendel has an outburst because of the ram that appears.. “I stamp. I hammer the ground with my fists. I hurl and skull-size stone at him. He will not budge. I shake my two hairy fists at the sky and let out a howl so unspeakable that the water at my feet turns sudden ice and even I myself am I left uneasy.” This demonstrates how Grendel is hostile and belligerent. His emotions get the best of him and blinds his consciousness and awareness of how harmful he can be towards

In the novel, Grendel by John Gardener, Grendel is a human-like creature capable of rational thought as well as feeling emotions. Early on in the story Gardener depicts Grendel as being very observant, critical and somewhat spiteful of the world around him. He describes himself as a murderous monster who smells of death and crouches in the shadows. Grendel watches the humans from the shadows of the trees and at first it seems as though they are the real monsters, slaughtering and pillaging all for the sake of their leaders and for power. This light that the humans are put in gives Grendel a certain charisma about him, making him seem like the one to side with in this novel. Later in the story, however, things change. Grendel seeks out the

Like many whom suffer the same disorder, Grendel completely changed his mind, extending from one topic to the exact opposite. He goes against his own ideas as if he were two totally opposing characters. He also always thought the dragon was near. Grendel allowed the ways and beliefs of the dragon to get in his head. He would claim he could “smell the dragon’s scent” whenever something sinister occurred. All of these symptoms, in addition to the isolation from Hrothgar’s people lead to the overall cause in withdrawal from society. Grendel’s emotional disturbances caused him to react completely unreasonable and rather foolish many times within his life.

You fight for your men so long to where it would come to an end. On page 65 “Death had taken them, one by one, and the warrior who watched over all that reminded mourned their fate, expecting, soon, the same for him, knowing the gold and jewels he had guarded so long could not bring him pleasure much longer.” This is the point where Grendel in the mindset that he’s going to die and he wants is able to help his man and anymore. The things people do when people take your money. On page 66 “The Dragon followed his steps, anxious to find the man who had robbed it of silver and sleep; it circled around and around the tower, determined to catch him but could not, He had run too fast, the wilderness was empty.” The Dragon was angry because somebody had taken his silver and he wanted to find who did it but he had no luck. Sometimes you need weapons but not all the time they can help you win. Page 68 “I’d use no sword, no weapon, if this beast could be killed without it, crushed to death like Grendel, gripped in my hands and torn limb. But his breath will be burning hot; poison will pour from his tongue. I feel no tongue. I feel no shame, with shield and sword and armor, against this monster: when he comes to me.” Basically he was explaining how he doesn’t use weapons but this time he actually used a weapon on the Dragon and how he doesn’t feel bad about using the weapon. Finally,

Although he describes her as a “life-bloated, baffled, long-suffering hag” (11), Grendel realizes that “she would gladly have given her life to end my [his] suffering… with useless, mindless love” (102). He also believes that “she must have some human in her” (11), furthering Grendel’s character as one that derived from humankind at the very least. The novel acts as a witness to the fact that Grendel did have a childhood. Although his childhood brought on some struggles, this is a part of all life, including that of people. He finds his purpose in life when “at an early age [he] is forced to deal with a brutal and meaningless reality” (Butts) and he begins he finds his purpose. Throughout Gardner’s novel, Grendel tries to learn “how best to deal with the world” (Butts). As Grendel grows up, he learns from and is influenced by many different people who act as his teachers and role models. These interactions are Grendel’s closest alternative to the relations that the average human has. Grendel has three unique influences in his life: his mother, the Shaper, and the dragon. Grendel views his mother with disgust and she provides the inspiration and motivation for him to do better with his own life. The Shaper’s influence brings out Grendel’s ability of

In the novel, Grendel, the images of isolation and darkness enhanced the character development of Grendel as he encountered loneliness, developed hatred, and became evil. Isolation and darkness were two important images used throughout the novel. In the beginning, baby Grendel was an innocent being. Initially, he did not kill humans for fun, and he only killed animals for food. With each image of isolation and darkness being portrayed, Grendel began to transform into a lonely, depressed, hateful, and ultimately evil character. The primary burden that Grendel had to endure was that he had nobody to develop a relationship with and nobody to love him in return. Therefore, he became consumed with his own loneliness, depression, and

He is overcome by the Sharper’s song and approaches them with the body trying to show a good gesture. However when he approaches them, he describes it as a sudden attack. He mentions that his approach with the dead body would provoke them by saying that there are other interpretations, but his version is the truth. Grendel says, “ I staggered out into the open and up toward the hall with my burden, groaning out, ‘Mercy! Peace!’ The harper broke off, the people screamed. (They have their own versions, but this is the truth)” (51-52). His opinionated and partial version of the truth is another cause for concern, to the reader, of Grendel’s reliability as a narrator. Furthermore, Grendel interjects his opinions about the meaning of life, humans, and nature throughout the story. This is clear evidence from Gardner that Grendel’s reliability, as a narrator, is questionable. Grendel’s use of stream of consciousness in his narration introduces additional flaws, which further degrades the reader’s trust in the

Whenever grendel is around people, he has a natural inclination to dislike them because they do not Grendel as he is. Grendel’s mother can speak and understand little amount of the human language and due to the unfair treatment from society, Grendel hates his mother. He thinks she is going to become like society and deep down, feels she will leave him too. This is why he is always picking fights with her, yelling at her, or showing disgust. Due to the isolation he creates, Grendel suffers from attachment issues and a lack of connection. This lack of connection to the public, leaves Grendel with his thoughts and self doubt. He is left alone. “I understand that the world was nothing: a mechanical chaos of casual, brute enmity on which we stupidly impose our hopes and fears. I understood that, finally and absolutely, I alone exist. all the rest, I saw, is merely what pushes me, or what I push against, blindly - as blindly as all that is not myself pushes back. I create the whole universe, blink by blink.” ― John Gardner, Grendel

Additionally, Grendel’s misfortune exceeds his dwelling as he encounters aggressive situations in the woods. He is trotting through the greenery when his foot becomes caught between two tree trunks. Unable to budge his limb free, he wails out for his mother. A group of men stumble upon Grendel but do not speak his tongue, “Grendel tries to speak to the men, but they misunderstand him

"The mountains are what I define them as.... What I see I inspire with usefulness... and all that I do not see is useless, a void." [28-29] Grendel then sees that the world is how he views it, and his senses make up everything: reality is dynamic. This important conclusion leads him to begin to look around him and form thoughts and opinions on all that he sees, as well as placing him at the first step down the road of the cynical death he suffers. His first impressions

Coming from a long line of wicked beings makes Grendel a feared entity. Since he is a monster in a time period of boasting, people attempt to kill him and demonstrate their worth. After that happens multiple times, Grendel develops a condemning view of how humans conduct themselves. An example of this is when Grendel ventures down to the mead hall and hears the Shaper’s song. Instantly aggravated, Grendel says, “It enraged me. It was their confidence, maybe—their blissful, swinish ignorance, their bumptious self-satisfaction, and, worst of all, their hope” (Gardner 77). The quote is exemplary of Gredel’s thoughts, and shows his motivation for the killings. After this incident, Grendel’s raids of the mead hall begin. During the strikes, he finds the thanes’ need to prove themselves absolutely idiotic. Grendel took joy in his dirty deed because of the way the thanes fought back. Gardner gives a good example when he writes, “Another one came at me, gloating in his blear-eyed heroism, maniacally joyful because he bragged that he would die for his king and he was doing it. He did it” (81). Grendel knows the thanes excessive boasting is useless since their weapons will not work on

"'I cry, and hug myself, and laugh, letting out salt tears, he he! till I fall down gasping and sobbing."1  With these words the reader is introduced to the "hero" of Gardner's Grendel, and the mood is set for the coming pages. How is one to interpret this ambiguous, melodramatic narrator, whose phrases mix seemingly heartfelt emotional outbursts with witty (if cynical) observations, and ideological musings with ironic commentaries? Perhaps this is what makes Grendel such an extremely engaging narrator. A confounding juxtaposition is established in the first pages, in which the reader must somehow reconcile a hideous, murdering monster, with an apparently philosophical, intelligent, wry and thoughtful

Although Grendel in Beowulf represents all that is evil, Gardner seems to take a different more complex approach. In the poem Beowulf, they portrayed him to be this murderous monster that didn’t have any feelings towards human life. As for the novel, Grendel is seeking companionship. The idea of choosing your own fate took place in Grendel. In spite of the fact that Grendel was born from descendants of monsters, he, himself, wasn’t evil when he was born; has the seeds of goodness within him. As he had gotten older, he made a decision to become the monster everyone saw him to be. Gardner uses the theme of isolation as well as fate or free will to represent how loneliness can affect the choices people choose to make in life. Influenced by the

In the wake of having completely perused the book, there is doubtlessly Grendel indicates confirmation of backing in existentialism. The novel takes after the life of a

This makes the humans misinterpret Grendel’s actions, and end up causing a conflict between the people of Hrothgar’s kingdom and Grendel. Trying to figure out his place in the world, Grendel goes through many phases that alter his actions completely. Each philosophy Grendel learns or goes through is an attempt to escape his isolation and loneliness. Since humans refuse to accept Grendel into their community, he must take other actions and find new means to avoid his world of