The Characters Of The Epic Hero And Beowulf

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.

John Gardner’s Grendel is the retelling of the heroic epic poem Beowulf; however, the viewpoint has shifted. Grendel is told from the viewpoint of one of Beowulf’s antagonists and the titular character of Gardner’s work—Grendel. In Grendel, Gardner humanizes Grendel by emphasizing parallels between Grendel’s life and human life. Through Gardner’s reflection of human feelings, human development, and human flaws in Grendel, this seemingly antagonistic, monstrous character becomes understood and made “human.”

The poem does not give this insight of what happens before, or from Grendel's point of view. Seeing this scene in the movie gives the audience a better understanding of why Grendel and also his mother attack the Danes. Later in the movie Beowulf says, "He's no more human than you and I", which is true. If the Danes didn’t kill Grendel's father, the outcome of the story could have possibly been changed because Grendel would have had a different life and not seek revenge on the Danes, specifically the one who Grendel had seen kill his father. In the poem Grendel fights Beowulf, rather than avoiding Beowulf most of the time in the movie. In the poem, Grendel is seen as an evil monster that kills and eats the Hrothgar warriors and cannot be penetrated by weapons, rather than just human, or troll, like the movie. When the battle with Grendel occurs in the poem, it is said that Beowulf had cut off his arm to defeat him. While in the movie, Grendel finds himself stuck hanging, and must cut off his own arm to escape from Beowulf and his men. Both the movie and poem result in the death of Grendel, eventually leading to the revenge of his mother.

The novel “Grendel” by John Gardner can be seen as reconstruction of “Beowulf” an epic tale with the considered beast showing his innocence and loneliness. The novel and the epic are models where there are two point of views on a main situation. In “Grendel” the monster is someone who is lost through the words of the Shaper and the Dragon, and is trying to fit in and make friends. Due to the words of the Dragon Grendel is able to be comfortable with being seen as a monster and takes on the role of a villain. Through the novel one can see how the author express himself after being involved with the death of his brother. John Gardner’s novel, “Grendel” can be seen as a reflection of the author’s life involving the death of his younger brother through the way the characters act and specific details, Grendel’s interactions with his mom, and the ideology and principles.

Many works are so inspiring, they are retold time and time again, sometimes in fresh, unheard ways. The ancient poem, known as “Beowulf,” is a complex epic detailing the arrival of the title character, Beowulf, and his battles with three otherworldly monsters. Grendel, a novel written centuries later by John Gardner, takes that story and turns it on its head. Grendel, a character filled with introspective thoughts, is one of the three monsters that Beowulf appears to fight. While telling the same story, the two texts have many differences, but often manage to get the same emotion evoked from the audience.

The story of Beowulf is a heroic epic chronicling the illustrious deeds of the great Geatish warrior Beowulf, who voyages across the seas to rid the Danes of an evil monster, Grendel, who has been wreaking havoc and terrorizing the kingdom. Beowulf is glorified for his heroic deeds of ridding the land of a fiendish monster and halting its scourge of evil while the monster is portrayed as a repugnant creature who deserves to die because of its evil actions. In the epic poem, Beowulf the authors portrays Grendel as a cold-hearted beast who thrives on the pain of others. 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 set out to change the

In Beowulf, Grendel represents evil through his hateful attitude towards men.  Grendel is tormented by the loud cheerful music that the Danes sing.  The poet writes, "A powerful monster, living down in the darkness, growled in pain, impatient as day after day the music rang loud in that hall, the harps rejoicing"(lines 23-26).  The poet suggests that the monster loathes the Danes for their loudness.  Another reason for the monster's hatred toward men could be because he is jealous of the humans.  Grendel knows that he can not be accepted in their group and be one of them.  The monster uses this as an excuse to kill them, and he keeps the grudge against them no matter how many of the men he kills.  The poet writes, "How the monster relished his savage war on the Danes, keeping the bloody feud alive, seeking no peace, offering no truce, accepting no settlement, no price in gold or land, and paying the living for one crime with another"(lines 89-94).  The author shows us that Grendel will not forgive the Danes, even though the Danes didn't even know they were committing a crime against Grendel.  Grendel's evilness is fueled by his hatred of men.  The author writes, "Seeing how Grendel hunted when they slept.  Distance was safety; the only survivors were those fled him.  Hate had triumphed"(lines 78-80).  He shows us how Grendel's hatred fueled his passionate lust for evil.

Beowulf Beowulf is an epic poem that incorporates the classic values of protagonist and antagonistic characteristics through triumphs and defeats. Along the way we are confronted by three murderous, savage, bloodthirsty monsters, Grendel, Grendel’s mother and the dragon. Throughout the poem we are taken on Beowulf’s quest to fulfill his need to aid the kingdoms in need of a hero. No matter what age, Beowulf always took the challenge to slay the monstrosities. Beowulf had gotten word about a demon known as Grendel, lurking in King Hrothgar’s kingdom.

Modern day tales of heros and monsters have changed the face of literature in the sense that we aren’t taught to fear the monstrous but rather to sympathize with the antagonist and understand their personal terror. We see this new style in stories like King Kong or Twilight, that take classic monsters and allow us to identify with them. When the classic tale of Beowulf was re-written by John Gardner from, the antagonist, Grendel’s perspective, we were able not to sympathize but to understand the true horror and evil that drives the character from childhood. Gardner writes Grendel in the hopes of showcasing his true monstrosity and to make him seem even more evil. Through indirect characterization, imagery, inhumanization, we completely understand

In this epic poem, Beowulf has three primary opponents: Grendel, Grendel’s mother, and the dragon. In this essay, I will analyze and compare the three antagonists regarding

In a multitude of aspects of the novel, Gardner makes departures from the traditional, elevated style of the epic. From the main plot points focusing on internal rather than physical struggles, to the candid and blunt writing style that makes Grendel highly relatable and even pitiable rather than a cold-blooded beast, down to the word choices that show Beowulf’s might and Grendel’s uncertainty and novice. Beowulf and Grendel were written with different purposes in mind: one to tell the tale of a great hero as he progresses through life, and the other to tell the story of a hated beast who loathes the idea of repetition as much as he fears the inevitability of death. Despite being the terror of the Danes, Gardner almost makes the reader wish that Grendel had received a hero’s funeral as

The epic, “Beowulf”, tells of a constant battle between good and evil. Its main protagonist, Beowulf, has sailed the sea to the land of the Danes to offer his help to King Hrothgar in defeating the monster, Grendel. Grendel is a powerful monster; however, ridding the land of him will prove to be an easy task for our protagonist. Throughout the poem, Beowulf is featured in the midst of a couple nerve-racking circumstances. The features of the poem that brings it to life for me are Beowulf’s fight against Grendel, Beowulf’s fight against Grendel’s mother, and Beowulf’s fight against the dragon.

The novel, Grendel, written by John Gardner, is a literary piece depicting the life and involvements of an adolescent beast named Grendel, who acquires hidden guidance. This novel is written in response to the epic, Beowulf, who appears in Grendel as a rival. The novel is retelling Beowulf’s story through the eyes of Grendel. He himself identifies both with humans and creatures on a rational level ultimately trying to find his place in acceptance or how more can be understanding of his situation in the world. Throughout the novel, Grendel portrays an anti-hero, one who is the antagonist of a novel but lacks heroic qualities. In order to find these qualities, he embarks on this journey where he encounters a wise Dragon who ultimately aids him in finding his own true self and opens his eyes to see the real world. This tale is written with the goal of developing a protagonist who from the outside appears to be a simple beast yet on the inside, gains a mature understanding of who is really is. In the novel, Grendel, discussions with the Dragon aids Grendel in his personal growth and development of a strong individual identity.

The entire purpose of the opening chapter of Beowulf is to describe Grendel and his heinous deeds. Through the lines “In the darkness, growled in pain, impatient As day after day the music rang Loud in that hall, the harp's rejoicing”

Many people have read or heard of the epic poem of Beowulf, which spins a tale of Grendel, the monster, attacking the admirable Danes and their king, Hrothgar. Some may not be as aware of a book titled Grendel written by John Gardner in 1971. Gardner’s book tells a completely different account of the more familiar tale of Beowulf, from the perspective of Grendel, the monster. The narrator from Grendel portrays a more plausible, powerful story than the excerpt from Beowulf by drawing the reader in with a more emotional viewpoint from the character Grendel, making him more relatable by giving him humanlike qualities, and clarifying why certain events took place in Beowulf.