Grendel : Evil Essay

Grendel exhibits human feelings and characteristics in many ways. Although Grendel is a monster “forced into isolation by his bestial appearance and limited imagination” (Butts) he yearns to be a part of society; he craves

At first, the humans do offer their support but get scared and attack Grendel when he is only asking for assistance. Over time Grendel sees a recurrence of this due to his multiple attempts to adapt to the human society, however, he is always rejected. Throughout the novel, Grendel, Grendel shows that he is deeply affected by the humans' actions, of which leads him to transform into a terrifying monster. Another reason for Grendel’s transformation into a monster is due to the humans’ ongoing violence towards one another. Throughout the novel, Grendel witnesses the Hrothgar kingdom and other Danish tribes engage in brutal fights filled with senseless violence and destruction.

In the novel, the readers are allowed to see the progression of Grendel. As Grendel starts to grow up there are changes in his personality, more specifically his innocence. Grendel becomes conflicted, being the monster that he is and the choices that he makes. Grendel wants to know what his purpose in life is, or what is the purpose of life at all. While Grendel becomes evil there are signs him struggling against that way. Now I will talk about Grendel’s balance between good and evil.

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

When readers are introduced to Grendel, he is a melodramatic creature who has no one to truly understand him. His emotions contribute to Grendel is caught in situations where he tries to interact but there is a barrier. When he encounters humans they fear him because of how violent he is or seems to be, but they retaliate with the same violence. The irony in this passage is that humans are attacking him because

Grendel never became enemies with the Scyldings until he sought out the route of this shadow, the dragon. When the dragon says unto Grendel in the line, “If man’s the irrelevance that interests you, stick with him! Scare him to glory! It’s all the same in the end, matter and motion, simple or complex,”(Chapter 5, page 73) he tricks the human-like beast into carrying out havoc on the villagers. After this long, deadly confrontation with the fabled creature, Grendel always seemed to smell the evil presence of the dragon. This smell made the monster go mad and his actions towards the Scyldings got to the point of massacres. Some may think the winged lizard remained the source of the shadow, but it was not the only thing that led to Grendel’s actions. The Shaper, that seemed to enchant Grendel with his songs, became another key part of Grendel’s shadow. This shadow made it hard for Grendel to continue to grasp the basic concepts of the

            There is a stage in everyone’s life where they feel they are not accepted by someone or something. Whether it is because of one’s age, appearance, or emotional and mental stability, a sense of disproval and isolation appears to be glaring through the eyes of society. Throughout Grendel’s life, he is shunned from humanity for he was viewed as something of destruction and harm. However, not one person ever took the time out to see Grendel’s true personality or really discover what he was all about. When facing the realities of the cruel world, Grendel found himself severely struggling with some psychological deficiencies. After performing multiple psychoanalysis tests on Grendel’s behavior, his

This is what differentiates him from the all the other creatures and monsters. When Grendel was stuck in the tree trunk, he "bellowed for [his] mother". I feel a connection to Grendel because he reminds me of a child. His actions are childlike. He is in search of love just like any other child. Grendel is also afraid just like any child would be. By Gardner’s humanization of Grendel, he is able to create sympathy for him. After sparing Unferth, each time he sees him, he "roll[s] on the floor with laughter" to mocking him. Grendel is able to feel and shows that he knows that humans have feeling too because he knows each time he mocks Unferth he knows that it is a painful reminder of his failure and kills him a little on the inside. When Grendel sees Wealtheow, he describes her as "beautiful [and] as innocent as dawn on winter hills". Wealtheow "tore [him] apart as once the shaper's song had done." Grendel is touched by her beauty. He has the "greatest admiration" for

Grendel's first encounter with the human beings is simply defined as not being incredibly pleasant. After Grendel managed to accidently trap himself in a tree, he was discovered by a patrol. Grendel did not show, nor did he plan any hostile intentions towards the men or "ridiculous creatures" as he stated. (ch.2, pp.24) Sadly enough due to ignorance and fear the men simply try to destroy anything they see to be abnormal, despite Grendel trying to communicate.

“The king snatched a battle axe from the man beside him and, without warning, he hurled it at me.” (Pg 27) Grendel is attacked for no real reason by the king and is terrified that the humans would do something so violent to him for no good reason except for the horse's actions thus giving him a real reason to fear as well as want to isolate himself from humanity. All Grendel wants is to have a purpose and be with other intelligent beings even after such a bad first encounter with the humans, making a second attempt to have a good interaction with them. However, this ends up being a horrible idea as the moment he enters the mead hall the humans start to once again attack him with no mercy. In his accounts of the

Like a puppy nipping, playfully growling preparing to battle with wolves." [Page 16] In his early years, Grendel shares the naivete of all things youthful, unchained by the perceptions and limitations the mature mind places on reality in its attempt to instill order to a disorganized world. He has, at this point in his life, no rational concept of reality as a whole, he sees it in vague shadow-shapes and imaginary cohorts. In this condition he finds a certain playful joy. While it is an admittedly childish state of mind, he is quite happy at play, as are most children. When the change and growth comes, it brings him down from the ignorant bliss he feels in his immaturity.

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

After being trapped in between two trees, Grendel finds himself contemplating about the importance of his existence and the existence of others. He has come to the conclusion that the world has no meaning and all the things he experiences are not true. He believes that the only thing that he can truly count on is his existence and the beliefs he alone possesses. When speaking about the overall nature of humans, Grendel speaks of how he disapproves of their values and how they view the world. He doesn't understand why they spend time admiring the different seasons, and shows no remorse over the fact that he is a murderer.

He struggles with the thought of being denied and offbeat. He uses violence as a way to wrestle with his feelings. The violence starts when Grendel goes to the Meadhall and kills thirty men on the first night. He says, “I was Grendel, Ruiner of Meadhalls, Wrecker of Kings! But also, as never before, I was alone” (Gardner 80). His main goal was to destroy the Meadhall and all of King Hrothgar’s people. Grendel now feels like he has power and this helps him feel better, but he also hints at the fact that he is still feeling lonely and hopeless. Therefore, he decided to cause more havoc and kill more people to help him deal with the pain. When Grendel hears some men who seem to be happy and having fun, he wishes that he was able to be happy like them. He wants to fill a void of emptiness. This motivates him to keep performing numerous attacks on the Meadhall. The violence and problems he causes lasts for twelve years until Beowulf rips his arm off. Grendel just wants to be able to communicate with someone and feel accepted. He says, "Why can't I have someone to talk to? The Shaper has people to talk to, I said. I wrung my fingers. Hrothgar has people to talk to” (Gardner 53). If he had someone who accepted him and was able to understand him, he may not have felt that he needed to perform his attacks as a way to try to lessen his pain. There would not have been twelve years of

"The sky says nothing, predictably. I make a face, uplift a defiant middle finger, and give an obscene little kick. The sky ignores me, forever unimpressed. Him too I hate, the same as I hate these brainless budding trees, these brattling birds (Gardner 6)." He also developed a hatred toward humans after getting stuck in the tree. On that dark night, he learned that humans were dangerous because they tried to hurt him instead of helping him. "It wasn't because he threw that battle-ax that I turned on Hrothgar. That was mere midnight foolishness... It wasn't until later, when I was full-grown and Hrothgar was an old, old man, that I settled my soul on destroying him—slowly and cruelly (Gardner 30).” The humans were not as innocent as the Shaper perceived them to be. Grendel lurked in the darkness and watched them as they battled and destroyed their own kind. Ultimately, the dragon with the dark scales made an immense impact on Grendel’s character. Grendel was not sure of his purpose in life, and the dragon confirmed that he should be evil by killing the humans. At first, Grendel resisted. However, hatred led to Grendel’s determination to punish mankind.