The Epic Battle Of Grendel And Beowulf

There are two sides to every story. The events may be the same, but the tone in which the story is told shapes the reader’s understanding of the events. This idea is never more evident than through the disparity between Burton Raffel’s translation of Beowulf and John Gardner’s Grendel. Both novels are based on the idea of Beowulf killing Grendel. However, the two different points of view telling the story create vastly different novels. Beowulf highlights the heroic and positive world in which Beowulf lives. Whereas Grendel elucidates on the miserable life that Grendel is circumscribed to. The consistent variance in tone skews the events in two completely different directions. The tone between Beowulf and Grendel differ in

In the Battle of Beowulf his battles where epic. Everyone praised Beowulf’s name and the stories of his heroic battles of the monsters he battled and defeated. Battles will forever be recognized and remembered.

“I won’t shift afoot when I meet the cave-guard.” This quote shows the courage and bravery of a warrior during this time. In the Anglo-Saxon Beowulf and John Gardner’s Grendel, the difference in the point of views give a change to the author’s style and the narration of the two writings. The difference in literary purpose behind the two writings affects the motivation and the language.

Another obvious heroic characteristic that Beowulf portrays is the defeat of monsters and other malevolence. He does this throughout the story, not only using brute force, but also cunning tactics, such as the time when he attacks Grendel’s extremely sensitive ears. Beowulf also disposes of Grendel’s Mother, using a gigantic sword in her lair to decapitate her, and ends the reign of terror on the Danes. Years later, after Beowulf is crowned King, his land is assailed by the Dragon. This epic battle proves just how valiant Beowulf actually is, going after the beast single-handedly, instead of endangering any of his men. It is a long, hard-fought battle, in which Beowulf contests with all his might. Beowulf ultimately kills the Dragon –rips out its heart-, but not without a price; the battle costs the King his life.

When the dragon was greeted by Beowulf, “The hoard-guard recognized/a human voice, the time was over/for peace and parleying. Pouring fourth/in a hot battle-fume, the breath of the monster burst from the rock” (ll 704-708). The dragon was only worried about himself and did not care about anyone else. Greed is another motivation of the dragon. He wanted everything to himself, even if it did not belong to him. Beowulf must, “fight a dragon who, angry because a thief has stolen a jeweled cup from the dragon’s hoard of gold, is laying waste to the Geats’ land” (p. 43). If Beowulf did not fight him, the Dragon would burn down Geatland out of his anger. When the battle between the dragon and Beowulf was over, “Wiglaf enters the dragon’s cave and finds a priceless hoard of jewels and gold” (p. 47). The dragon stole priceless things just because he wanted it; it didn’t matter if it was his to take or not. The dragon had a variety if motivations for his

Even though the hero’s in these stories are very interesting their tales would not be as rewarding if they did not have to face many adversities on the way. Some of the monsters in these stories like Grendel, Grendel’s mother, and the dragon from Beowulf, while the Odyssey has many monsters but some if the main ones are Cyclops, the suitors, and Poseidon. The culture in Beowulf was more about believing in a higher power and related monsters like Grendel and the dragon to religious meanings while the Odyssey is about looking inward because they are all things in your daily life. Even though there are similarities in the monsters in these stories are different in the way they are perceived.

First Beowulf went on to fight Grendel, without any help from the Danes because, he wanted all the glory to himself. Foster, Edward states, “When he hears the

When Beowulf hears about Grendel, he feels that it is his duty to stop Grendel from killing anymore, Beowulf leaves to go to Herot to destroy him. Beowulf is mostly being applaud for his long journey to face this terrible monster. Beowulf says, “Grendel is no braver, no stronger than I am! I could kill him with my sword: I shall not” (line 677). Beowulf feels

To begin, Beowulf has a complex motivation for fighting the monster Grendel. His first motivation is duty which is part of the Anglo-Saxon code he’s obligated to go and kill Grendel. His people told him so go and do it so he does duty comes first and personal choice comes second. On page 47 lines 244-246 Beowulf says, “My people have said, the wisest, most knowing And best of them, that my duty was to go to the Danes’ Great king.”

The story of Beowulf is one of a great hero. Beowulf is a very generous person who is always willing to help out when people are in need. Over the course of the story, Beowulf ends up in three major battles: the battle with Grendel, with Grendel’s mother, and with the dragon. All of these battles were different in their style and the way Beowulf approached them was different. Beowulf also had different reasons to participate in each of the battles.

In what other book is the monster, the character with more nobility? Both monsters, Grendel and Beowulf, are brave in what they do but being brave is not all it takes to be noble. Grendel is more noble than Beowulf because of the truth he portrays through what he believes in, the perseverance he has when put into a dangerous situation or position, and the fidelity he shows toward his mother.

One of the major fights that make Beowulf an epic hero is the fight with Grendel. Grendel is a monster spawned out of slime. He terrorizes and kills the Danes every night for 12 years with their attempt of fighting back. Beowulf hears about Grendel and decides to take matters in his own hand. He chose fifteen warriors to go and battle with him. On the way he meets a king named Hrothgar. Beowulf introduces himself and they go to the hall to meet the other warriors. During the night, Beowulf stays up and waits for Grendel to come out. Grendel comes out and kills a male then Beowulf wrestles him and puts up a good fight. Grendel notices Beowulf strength and starts to panic. “Grendel knew at once that nowhere on earth Had he met a man whose hands were harder; His mind was flooded with fear- but nothing could take his talons and himself from that tight Hard grip.” ("Beowulf." : A

To begin, one of the many ways that Beowulf was different than Grendel is that Beowulf was brave. Every night Grendel snuck into Herot Hall to destroy King Hrothgar’s men. He did this while hiding in the shadows, sneaking around in the dead of night, and attacking while the men we asleep and at there most vulnerable. These are not the characteristics the brave, these are the characteristics of a foul, loathsome, cowardly beast. Mean while, Beowulf liked to meet a problem head on, in this case the problem was Grendel himself. Determined Beowulf sailed to Denmark to defeat Grendel, telling Hrothgar that he will take Grendel’s life with his bare hands. As told in the story, “ That mighty protector of men/ Meant to hold the monster till it’s life/ leaped out” (Raffel, 1963, l. 366-368). And when Beowulf got the chance to do just that, Grendel took the cowards road, “Grendel’s one thought

Beowulf’s triumphs are short lived due to another attack on Herot. This time, Grendel’s mother comes to the great mead hall to avenge her son. The battle between Grendel’s mother and Beowulf differs greatly from the previous battle with the beast’s son. After another attack, Beowulf now must seek out his new enemy, and fight her on her own turf. As it stood, the scores were even between the monsters and the Danes, but Beowulf now looked for victory over the monsters, not revenge. Beowulf also had to regain his reputation. He had just won a trophy, when the bigger, badder bully came up to him and took it straight from his grasp. Now Beowulf traveled to the burning lake, which proved a test of its own. He then swam to the bottom of the lake where the monster resided. All of this just to get to the monster shows that this brave hero would do anything to set the scores right for his people and for the glory that came with it.

“There is no limit to desire but desire's needs.” (Grendel, Chapter 7) This is basically the main idea of the book; Grendel’s desire to fit in with the humans. But before getting into that, here’s some background on the book. “Grendel is the story of the Battle between the monster Grendel and the Scandinavian King Hrothgar, told through the eyes of the monster. The story highlights the various encounters between the monster and the men who hate and fear him but who are powerless to do anything to him, until a stranger from across the waters comes to end Grendel’s life.” (Enotes) The genre of this book is clearly tragedy for many characters pass away in this book. It’s publisher is Gollancz and it was published 2015. Although based on a timeless well written novel. Grendel by John Gardner was barely tolerable with a petulant main character and an Incohesive plot.