Grendel From Beowulf

The novel Grendel, by John Gardner, gives the reader an inside look on the “monster… demon… [and] fiend” (Beowulf, 99) who, in Beowulf (translated by Burton Raffel), seems only capable of destruction, sneaking around in the night and killing soldiers off by the dozen. Grendel is a non-human entity who possesses human characteristics; no one truly knows who or what he is. He is monstrously huge, absurdly strong, and insatiable (he has been murdering for approximately twelve years). He is a “[monster] born of Cain, [a] murderous [creature]” (Beowulf, 105-106). He lives with his mother in a swampy marsh that is secluded by a “pool of firesnakes” who guard “the sunken door” to the strange world of humans (Grendel, 16). Beowulf does not provide any information of where he came from or any history about him, except that he is a pre-cursed, wicked being with no conscience. This seems like a biased assumption because the story

In the epic of Beowulf, one of the warrior’s biggest adversaries is a creature from the swamp named Grendel. Although the character of Grendel is present for only a short portion in the story of Beowulf, Grendel signifies one of the important messages in the text about humanity. In Beowulf, Grendel is called a ‘monster’. However, if observed closely, analyzing the meaning behind the story, it is easy to see that Grendel is not a typical monster, in fact, it doesn’t seem like he is a monster at all. There is much evidence within the short period of the text where Grendel is present, which indicates he is

During the period when Grendel was young, he was very innocent. Grendel would play above ground in his newly discovered world, and he would explore. At this time in his life Grendel seemed closer to his mother than as he grew older. This was a time before Grendel had any real evil in his heart. I believe the start of Grendel’s evilness was caused by his fight with a bull leading to his first encounter with humans. Grendel was trapped between trees while wild bull was rampaging beneath him. At that moment Grendel said, “I understood that the

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 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

Grendel is undoubtedly a killer. He is does not take pity on the humans at all. When he fights them, he fights and kills ferociously.

If the government can allow people to be killed for committing this crime, then no one should feel bad or guilty about this monster getting killed. Some people’s opinion may differ from mine, but killing Grendel was totally justified. What goes around comes around, right? Beowulf took care of him and we can consider this to be “karma”. This story takes place in ancient times, a long time ago.

Grendel deserves no sympathy due to his constant assassination of thirty men every night for twelve years. Grendel does not kill because he has to but because he wants to. If Grendel had kill off of instinct rather than emotion, maybe we would deserve

If Grendel were truly such a monstrous and evil beast, he would have done more damage to

Disregarding the proofs of humanity, Grendel himself still refers to himself as somewhat of a monster. Through the majority of his actions, most would agree. For example, “...Hrothgar’s meadhall, Still sleep, killed two guards so I wouldn’t be misunderstood, and left.” (pg.90) Grendel terrorizes humans across the land and sees them as if they were only something to hunt and eat. Another trait that could be considered monstrous, is the fact that most living creatures including man and animal fear him just by glance as described in the passage “ The doe in the clearing goes stiff at the site of my horridness, then remembers her legs and is gone.”(pg.7). This is because of his physical traits. He has sharp jagged teeth, he’s covered in hair, and he is otherwise consider something more closely resembling that of an animal rather than a human. but, when you look at the bigger picture, humans can almost be considered worse.

Grendel’s emotions drive him to do theses harmful actions that are seen as evil, but he has no other way to show his emotion. The lack of communication has been just as much the humans fault as it was Grendel's. Grendel did not fail to recognize his flaw in doing these actions. Grendel did not want to live this way, but society and the lack of communication corrupted his life in ways that forced him to do these horrific things. Grendel says, “I feel my anger coming back, building up like invisible fire, and at last, when my soul can no longer resist” (Page 4). This exemplifies

In Seamus Heaney’s translation of Beowulf, Grendel is nothing but an evil fiend that needs to be slain, “a fiend out of hell, began to work his evil in the world” (Heaney 9). Grendel is portrayed as an evil monster that has only been wreaking havoc and terrorizing a kingdom for an extended amount of time because it thrives on the pain of others. Seamus states, “Malignant by nature, he never showed remorse” (Heaney 10). Grendel is made out to appear as little more than a monster, “insensible to pain and human sorrow” (Heaney 11). He is portrayed to have little to no human qualities, to be the furthest thing from

Anyone who defends Grendel or his behavior is guilty of agreeing with a terrible crime and sin in the sight of many. Grendel had but one mission and one purpose: to terrorize and murder. He fulfilled it well.

Grendel, is thus seen as the descendant of an individual who epitomizes resentment and malice in Beowulf. The author states Grendel lives in exile and is seen as “mankind’s enemy”(Raffel, 22). Grendel is the representation of all that is evil and he is declared to be the “shepherd of evil and the “guardian of crime”(Raffel, 33) by the Danes in Beowulf. The author describes Grendel to be an evil, cruel, apathetic creature who’s pleasure lies in attacking and devouring Hrothgar’s men. The author describes Grendel’s malice by painting a gruesome picture of Grendel’s countless attacks on the mead hall in which he exhibits Grendel as a heartless, greedy, and violent being who mercilessly murders the men at the mead hall by tearing them apart, cutting their body into bits and drinking the blood from their veins. The author describes Grendel’s greed by stating Grendel’s thoughts were as “quick as his greed or his claws”(Raffel, 21). He describes Grendel’s as having eyes that “gleamed in the darkness and burned with a gruesome light”, swift hard claws and great sharp teeth which paints a picture of Grendel’s frightening appearance in the reader’s mind. In contrast to the traditional story of Beowulf, Grendel in John Gardner’s novel, Grendel is not depicted as a monster but as an intelligent creature capable of human thought, feelings and speech. John Gardner portrays Grendel as an outcast

It may be that at one point Grendel was a human much like Beowulf. "Yet, so as to save his life, he left behind his hand, his arm and shoulder" (957-959). He has the appearance of a man and he has a mother, but the humanness of Grendel has disappeared, and what remains is a creature that as the text says, "the Creator had condemned." Instead of saying that Grendel was just a real bad guy, through these descriptions, he has taken on a supernatural or mystical quality. God was even concerned enough to curse Grendel for his atrocities.