Similarities Between Beowulf And Grendel

Both of the pieces of literature, Grendel and Beowulf, contain the same story; it is just told from different viewpoints. Beowulf is an epic oratorical poem depicting the heroic Beowulf defeating the hideous creature that haunts the halls of Herot. Grendel, however, allows the reader to be able to experience the story from Grendel’s point of view. Though the books depict the same creature who possesses the same qualities, within Grendel, he is given more human characteristics and this makes the reader feel as though they are reading about a different being.

He thinks that humans are easy to understand and yet also very difficult. According to him, humans have a good insight and great observation skills, but they are violent creatures that use weapons instead of words to get what they want. They are even violent amongst themselves, making Grendel wonder what is actually wrong with them. But they are also unwearyingly hardworking. “Meanwhile, up in the shattered hall, the builders are hammering, replacing the door for the fiftieth or sixtieth time, industrious and witless as worker ants – except that they make small, foolish changes, adding a few more iron pegs, more iron bands, with tireless dogmatism.” (7) This fragment of the novel shows that humans do not get tired easily and that they have sheer will on matters concerning their safety and

In Grendel, the story is told from Grendel's point of view. Therefore he is not viewed as a killing machine. In Beowulf however, it is the exact opposite. Grendel is seen as a monster who is terrorizing Hrothgar's people. The way Grendel is portrayed in Grendel is different from the way he is portrayed in Beowulf regarding his initiative and purpose. Grendel is portrayed the same in both stories when it comes to his actions and his nature.

Throughout recorded history, man has sought explanations for the various phenomena that occur in every facet of nature, and when no obvious answer is forthcoming, still a theory is often proposed.  These explanatory theories, often taking the form of stories or chronicles, are usually linked to some sort of mysticism or divine intervention.  By ascribing that which he does not understand to the gods’ will at work, man avoids facing up to his own lack of knowledge in a given area, and also draws comfort from assuming that the universe does indeed function under the guidance of divine beings.  Thus the explanatory accounts that man crafts enhance his own security, quelling the fear of chaos that

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.

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

The Hobbit is a classic example of a fool’s errand written as a children’s tale. Thirteen dwarves, a hobbit, and a wizard journey across Middle Earth to face a centuries-old dragon that decades earlier obliterated the combined armies of the dwarves. And yet, against all odds, this pack of misfits succeeds in their quest, reclaiming Erebor, killing the dragon, and renewing the line of Durin. The Hobbit is moralistic in nature; it never intends to showcase the literal triumph of the heroes over the dragon, but rather the victory of one set of values over another. The dwarves’ companionship, sacrifice, and heroism defeat the dragon’s antagonistic, materialist, and isolated nature. Many tales throughout the ages echo this classic theme: love

Both the epic poem Beowulf and the novel Grendel depict the same storyline, but from different point of views. Grendel’s personality tends to be much more evil than he himself depicts in the novel. Since Grendel is the narrator of the novel, the audience only gets to know what the story is like from his point of view, which he stretches the truth on numerous occasions. But, in Beowulf, the poem has a narrator and is in the third person omniscient, this means the audience knows how all the characters and feeling, thinking, or saying. Also, the theme nature vs. nurture appears a lot in Grendel which means his viewpoints on certain things are either

One literary theory that I observed throughout chapter 8 of Grendel is objectivity. Objectivity is an open-minded theory where an individual have no opinion about any topic because everyone has many views about the world. In chapter 7, Grendel has been subjectively reasoning his nihilistic view, combined with a solipsistic view about life. He wanted humans to recognize that he holds the truth as in the Plato’s Allegory of the Cave. He influences humanity about what he has learn in order for them to comprehend how life has been treating him.

First off, Grendel describes life as “mechanical” meaning that everything is almost predictable and he carries out tasks without thought, further acknowledging that fate controls him. He says,”..., I go up--as mechanical as anything else-- fists clenched against my lack of will…,”(Grendel 9). Secondly, throughout the epic the dragon denies that there is such a thing as destiny, yet at the same time states that it knows Grendel's role in the universe. The dragon avoids this contradiction by claiming to see past, present, and future simultaneously. From Grendel, the dragon says, "My knowledge of the future does not cause the future.

Burton Nathan Raffel was born on April 27, 1928. Raffel loved education, and obtained many degrees which included his bachelor’s, master’s, and J.D. These degrees were obtained from very prestigious colleges and universities such as Brooklyn College, Ohio State University, and Yale University. In 1964 Raffel recorded an album in conjunction with Robert P. Creed and Folkway Records. The album they recorded was entitled “Lyrics from the Old English”; Raffel got his translation of “Nibelungenlied” published through Yale University Press.

A person’s limited knowledge causes doubt. Doubt comes from not knowing the truth. People, who live in ignorance, are not good at differentiating between truth and lie. They will reject something that is true because they believe in a lie or a distorted version of the truth. People rejected Galileo’s astrological statements because they didn’t know the function of the Bible (Galileo 190).

In the book The Invisible Gorilla: and Other Ways our Intuitions Deceive Us, the authors discuss the ways in which we as human being do not really understand the world around us although we may believe that we do. Often, the things that we believe to be true or real prove not to be so. Also, it is not only foolish or unintelligent people who get fooled or deceived. Some of the smartest people who ever lived have been affected by incorrect perceptions of the world. The authors highlight six different illusions which they say impact our ability to understand the world and to make logical connections between things. Edward Dolnick writes in The Clockwork Universe about the greatest thinkers of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, including Leibniz, Renee Descartes, and Isaac Newton. By looking at those three men and examining the illusions that even these men were fooled by, we can understand more about ourselves. The three illusions which are most obviously seen in the work of these men are: the illusion of attention, the illusion of knowledge and confidence, and the illusion regarding a series of events.

And intelligent people talk about the theory of relativity, quantum entanglement, the nature of free will, human nature, how our biology and its evolution affect our behavior -- other people's ideas.

Grendel begins to think that he might as well perceive the smallest hope of becoming like them and finally get rid of the stereotype that has been following him all his life. However, things didn’t seem to proceed as he wished. When he realized that he could understand the language of human, he tried to answer them back but all that came out from his mouth was a loud roar which scared and terrified the Danes and built up a misunderstanding. The Danes misinterpreted Grendel’s intentions and kept attacking every time Grendel tried to communicate. Throughout the novel, we also see how Grendel passes through the three stages of existentialism designed by the 19th century philosopher, Kierkegaard. The three stages are called aesthetic and ethical stage and the enlightenment. The first stage is the aesthetic stage, where one simply acts in whichever way they wish to as long as it brings them happiness and pleasure. We see this happen to Grendel as well when… The second stage is