Essay On Grendel And Beowulf

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.”

In the Epic Poems Beowulf, by an anonymous Anglo-Saxon poet, and Grendel written by John Gardner, Grendel, regardless of what he does, has been seen as unsafe to man. Grendel, perceived as treacherous, is just misunderstood and an outcast to society. The back story of Grendel is crucial to the reader’s understanding of Grendel becoming a monster. Grendel’s life experiences of his environment, men and meeting a dragon contribute to the drastic change.

How is your understanding and attitude impacted when Beowulf’s fight against Grendel is described from Grendel’s point of view?

Whomever the author is used this style of literature to bring forth the true of Beowulf. Yes Grendel was harmful but he didn't deserve to die and suffer. His mother suffered also so she was right in everything that she did.

When Beowulf was going to fight Grendel's mother “the water was bloody, steaming and boiling in horrible pounding waves”(L. 137-138). The descriptive details allow the reader to really visualize how the water looked and it evokes an eerie feeling of what is to come. In Grendel the writing style is very formal and calm. When Grendel is dying he feels that “ [he] will fall. [he] seems to desire the fall” (Gardener 173) and the when his sight clears “ [he] [is] slick with blood. [he] discovers [he] can no longer feel pain”(Gardner 173). While both of these quotes are gruesome the way it is written evokes a sense of

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.

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

“Beowulf” and Grendel are two tales similar in many ways, yet different from each other. These stories are like a coin; you cannot have one side without the other. Just as the sides of a coin share the same coin, these stories share a similar plot, a setting, and tell of the same events. The sides of a coin also have differences as do “Beowulf” and Grendel. In the case of these two tales this difference is in their respective philosophical views.

deciphered. Beowulf being pure good, and Grendel being pure evil. One of the reasons of

There are many similarities and differences between the movie "Beowulf and Grendel", to the poem. Major differences between the movie and the poem would be Grendel himself. In the poem, he is described as an evil monster born from two demons. In the movie, Grendel is actually human, but known as a troll to the warriors and Danes. The poem doesn’t give the background of Grendel or show how the Danes killed his father and the possible reason of his revenge, like in the movie. If the witch, Selma, was not included in the storyline of the movie, the audience would not have known key information that she was used to show from more flashbacks. The witch gives more of an idea about Grendel’s past life that could have been the possibility to

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

One aspect of Grendel that is alike in both stories is the way he acts. In Grendel the monster kills many people. He does it very brutally too. "Enough of that! A night for tearing heads off, bathing in blood. Except, alas, h has killed his quota for the season. Care, take care of the gold-egg-laying goose! There is no limit to desire but desire's needs." This was Grendel's law. He does not take pity on any human. From his point of view, the humans deserved this and they were going to get it. These actions are the same in Beowulf

There are lots of better writer and novelist in the world who have given so many books and novels for reading, I have read some of them and some are discussed with everyone. There are famous writers like A. A. Milne, Ernest Hemingway, Mark Twain, Charles Dickens, J K Rowling, Lewis Carroll and the list does not end here. They have given books for fiction, Children’s Literature, Literature, plays, short stories, Biographies, Fantasy, Poetry, and so on… First of all, what is First person narration? The first person narration is ‘The Story is told by a character that participates in the action of the story itself. First person Narrative is used by an author who wants a personal/subjective/intimate point of view’. In this essay, I will discuss the ways that first person narration affects the overall story which contains many things like Plot, settings of the story, Characters, the point of view, tone, irony, and symbolism. The story also contains many things for the third person too. But apart from all this, I m going to discuss the effects of the first person three main points are on styles and variations point of view and benefits of writing in the first person. Some other points are displayed in front. First I will discuss the style and variations then everything else.

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 point of view of a narrator can make or break a story, as the narrator is extremely important to the reader's understanding of a story. Different points of view and different narrators can oftentimes affect the point the story is attempting to portray and it even change what the reader believes the story is about. If someone were to go through a story written in a first-person narrative story and change all the pronouns to a third-person point of view, or even a first person plural point of view, it can distort the way the reader understands and comprehends the story.