Grendel Point Of View Essay

Beowulf is told from the third person omniscient point of view, his conflict was always what one would call “the bad guy” or “the villain,” and though he died in the end, he won gold and victory for his kingdom; all bad guys defeated. John Gardner, author of Grendel, decided to take the classical story of good and evil, and tell a new story from the villain’s perspective. Grendel explores varying literary elements which exposes the character of Grendel to readers along with various themes represented

each other. We, readers, see a great example of this in both Grendel, by John Gardner, and Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley. In these novels we see that numerous topics are parallel to one another. The ideas of isolation, injustice, and consideration are present in both texts. While Grendel, from an early point in the novel, is aware that he is alone, the topic of isolation is apparent throughout the entirety of the story. Specifically, Grendel asks, “““Why can’t I have someone to talk to?” I said. The

Grendel, the 1971 sequel to the ancient epic poem Beowulf, follows the monster of the tale, and his life leading up to his fatal encounter. John Gardner, wrote the story in first person point of view, and catalogs Grendel’s thoughts and actions in the years before Beowulf defeats him. It chronicles Grendel’s viewpoints of man and those around him, the colonization of his home, his thoughts on his mother, and his own sense of existentialism. Grendel tells his story, but as an unreliable narrator,

compared to the novel Grendel because both show that bad influences can stick forever. In John Gardner’s novel, Grendel, Grendel transforms into a viscous monster influenced by the actions of humankind, this plunge into a world of violence can be deeply related to the multiple attacks by humans and their senseless attacks on one another. In Gardner's novel, Grendel, one significant

The Meaningless Life of Grendel in John Gardner's novel, Grendel   "People say that what we're all seeking is a meaning for life. I don't think that's what we're really seeking. I think that what we're seeking is an experience of being alive...." Joseph Campbell made this comment on the search for meaning common to every man's life. His statement implies that what we seem bent on finding is that higher spark for which we would all be willing to live or die; we look for some key equation through

literature is not limited to adding zombies, as Pride and Prejudice and Zombies has led many to believe. In fact, it can be done much in a much more sophisticated manner, as shown in John Gardner’s retelling of the classic Beowulf from the point of view of the antagonist, Grendel. However, Gardner’s writing style is far from that of the Anglo-Saxon epic; he is using largely informal prose to create a very different relationship with the main character. Towards its goals, the Old English epic poem Beowulf uses

throughout “Grendel” is multiple parts of the novel, Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard once stated “Anxiety is the dizziness of freedom.” This means that you feel anxiety because you recognize that you and you alone are responsible for your actions. This produces the two-sided feeling of simultaneous dread and exhilaration. The most noticeable view of this portrays itself at the end of chapter nine with Grendel feeling immense dread as he stumbles through the forest. In this moment, Grendel wants to

opposite to Beowulf's goodness is the gruesome Grendel. Grendel is a monster, and the original epic poem does nothing to introduce moral ambiguity that would engender any sympathy for the creature. The creature represents brute force and misanthropic evil, which Beowulf successfully vanquishes. Therefore, Beowulf is established as an existential warrior-hero whose acts of courage and bravery are not just beneficial for his ego but to all of humanity. Grendel is a one-dimensional monster; whereas Beowulf

The ability to live alone is a power very few people possess. Grendel, by John Gardner, is a novel based on the epic poem, Beowulf and narrated by Grendel, a grotesque monster who lives with his mute mother in a desolate cave. He is in a 12 year war King Hrothgar and his people. Constantly seeking and yet avoiding the human population, Grendel observes the Scyldings as their civilization progresses with increasing curiosity. Grendel spends his days isolated from society, searching for a purpose

Existentialism In Grendel The debate between existentialism and the rest of the world is a fierce, albeit recent one. Before the "dawn of science" and the Age Of Reason, it was universally accepted that there were such things as gods, right and wrong, and heroism. However, with the developing interest in science and the mechanization of the universe near the end of the Renaissance, the need for a God was essentially removed, and humankind was left to reconsider the origin of meaning. John