Grendel Vs 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

Beowulf, king of the Geats, engages in battles in order to protect his community from physical creatures while King Arthur’s knights engage in spiritual battles against evil temptation which lurks around every corner. Beowulf proudly displays his prowess before he must confront Grendel, the “God-cursed brute” when he declares with bold confidence that he “can calm the turmoil” (Heaney 11, 21). Beowulf boasts of his strength, pledging to kill Grendel with his bare hands. Grendel, the cursed descendant of Cain, enjoys death and destruction, ruining Hrothgar’s reputation with every attack on his kingdom. The monster kills one of his men, angering the Thanes and encouraging them to fight

“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.

In both works, Beowulf and Grendel, Grendel himself is generally given the same connotations. He is given kennings, called names, referred to as the evil spawn of Cain, and even viewed as a monster; but why? Why in both books is he a wicked, horrible, person who is harshly excluded from everyone? After stumbling upon John Gardner's book, it was halfway expected that some excuse would be made for Grendel; that he wasn't really the inexorable monster the thanes in Beowulf portrayed him as. But all it really did was make him worse. What is the message we are being sent about Grendel?

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.

Beowulf is an old Anglo-Saxon story of a terrifying monster Grendel, Grendel travels to the Danes mead hall Heorot and while the danes expect it least he attacks killing countless men purely for the joys of doing so. Hrothgar king of the Danes calls for a warrior to fight this unruly beast. After 12 long years of grendel attacking Hrothgar's calls are answered and the great warrior Beowulf comes to kill Grendel. Beowulf travels to the land of the Danes from across the seas and in the first night he kills Grendel. Sadly for Beowulf Grendel has a mother that now seeks revenge for her son's death and Beowulf is asked to kill Grendel’s mother as well. Beowulf goes to where Grendel’s mother is staying and battled her to the death , Beowulf wins

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.

The story of Cain, and the murderous rage he inflicts on his brother Abel is one that many remember because of the curse Cain receives from God. After lying to God about killing his brother, Cain can no longer live a fruitful and successful life. He and his descendants are cursed to misery and torment for his transgression. Grendel, one of the unfortunate descendants of Cain, is a prime example of biblical allusion in Beowulf. “He was spawned in that slime, / Conceived by a pair of those monsters born / Of Cain, murderous creatures banished / By God, punished forever for the crime / Of Abel’s death” (19-23). This description of Grendel attaches a stigma to him without giving him any real characteristics. Before he has even

My point that Grendel’s pre-destined path of evil is proven in lines 1260-1276 where we learn the history of the bible story Cain and Abel, and see where Grendel’s roots lie. “And from Cain there sprang/ misbegotten spirits, among them Grendel, / the banished and accursed… (Lines 1265-1267). Once again I feel sympathy for Grendel because it seems he did not have a choice but to be the “enemy of mankind.” (Line 1275) Good could never come from these people of Cain because they fell from the grace of god, but it appears that Grendel never directly did anything to deserve this fate, he was a victim of circumstance and was trapped in his monstrous position. Grendel did not kill Abel, yet he suffers for Cain’s behavior.

One of the greatest debates in human history is fate vs free will and does fate even exist. It is a question that has been asked for centuries across many different cultures (Dennin 2016). Fate still has a impact on people today. The modern day argument isn't about being a force for good or evil like in Beowulf's culture, it is whether or not fate even exists. Everyone claims to know the answer but no one truly does. In the anglo saxon culture fate was the common belief. Not as many people now believe in fate as they did in Beowulf’s times but “52 percent of Americans say that they do believe in fate while only 29 percent do not believe in fate” (Moore, 2015). This means that fate is not as big of a deal nowadays then it was back then. Fates meaning and importance has changed but it still affects people's views and beliefs today.

In the poem of Beowulf by Seamus Heaney Grendel portray this. To start off what could count as the knowledge of Grendel? That he is from “Cain’s clan” and that the “creator had outlawed and condemned as outcast[?]” (106-107). That is more of the readers’ knowledge,

The Dragon even “helps” Grendel by making him invulnerable to any of humans’ weapons. After their discussion, Grendel thinks about what the Dragon said regarding Grendel scaring humans for no reason. He is sitting at the edge of the forest, listening to the Shaper’s songs, which enrage him with how fictitious they are, when all of a sudden, a twig snaps behind Grendel, and a guard attacks him. Grendel tries to run, but something was in his way, so he fell. The guard tries to stab Grendel, but the sword does nothing. Soon, Grendel was surrounded by multiple guards, who were all throwing weapons at Grendel, trying to hurt him, but to no avail. Grendel picked up the guard who had first attacked him and held him upside down. Then, “as if casually, in plain sight of them all, I bit his head off, crunched through the helmet and skull with my teeth and, holding the jerking, blood-slippery body in two hands, sucked the blood that sprayed like a hot, thick geyser from his neck. It got all over me. Women fainted, men backed toward the hall. I fled with the body to the woods, heart churning- boiling like a flooded ditch- with glee” (Gardner 79). This gruesome scene is Grendel’s point of no return. He decides to become the monster that the humans think he is, thus, he murders the guard in front of everyone. This action is also directly linked to the Dragon and his influence on Grendel. The Dragon was the one who pushed Grendel to become the bad guy to the

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

Beowulf and Grendel are images of the Christian beliefs of good versus evil. Grendel is acknowledged as a descendant of Cain, whom Satan tricks into sinning and committing the first murder (Block, 2008). He is the image of a man fallen from grace through sin. Like Satan who is jealous of the happiness and joy that Adam and Eve have in the Garden of Eden, Grendel is jealous of the happiness and joy in Heorot. Grendel, like Satan, is an enemy of God and is one of the greatest challenges to Beowulf. Grendel lives in an underworld as Satan lives in hell. Grendel is referred to in the poem as the guardian of sins (Norton, 2009). Grendel, the descendant of Cain, is a very hateful creature. He stalks the people and terrorizes them because he is jealous of their joy. Grendel’s stalking of the Dane’s is similar to the devil when he was cast out of heaven and the joys that were there. More parallels are evident in Beowulf's preparation and descent into the mere where Grendel's mother lives. While Beowulf is preparing to enter the water, he is pondering the evils that inhabit the pond. He knows he is faced with a greater challenge than before. He prepared as though he were preparing for death (Norton, 2009). Christ knew before his death that he was facing a great challenge, and he forgave his enemies. Beowulf's descent into the mere is similar to a baptismal rite. Going into the water purifies him, giving him the upper hand over his enemy,

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.