The Epic Of Beowulf And Grendel

The character of Beowulf demonstrates several characteristics that make a great epic hero. Throughout his lifetime he displayed several characteristics such as honor, bravery, physical superiority, leadership, and glory. These characteristics all formed how the Anglo-Saxons believed one should live their life. Along with the valorous deeds that Beowulf accomplished he is considered to be a prime example of an epic hero. Beowulf would have even been considered a model human to the Anglo-Saxons due to how he consistently demonstrated these qualities.

Beowulf is an epic poem that has been handed down orally for centuries, but was finally written down in the eighth century. It is the story of an epic hero, named Beowulf, who travels with his men, the Geats, to conquer the many beasts who terrorize the lands of the Danes. The scops describe Beowulf as “greater and stronger than anyone anywhere in this world”(110-111). This example shows one of many qualities that make Beowulf the epic hero that he is. He uses his strength to demonstrate both the dedication and bravery needed to bring peace and justice to the people who have been terrorized for such a long time. Cultural elements exemplified in Beowulf occur in the aspects of the mead hall, the warriors, and their belief system.

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.

The relationship between Hall and Grendel’s mother monstrosity has been actively debated for a long time. In this paper, I will argue how Grendel’s mother’s mere affects the mother’s monstrosity. I think that the contrast between mere and Heorot indicates that the mere represents a mock kingdom. However, Grendel’s mother did not complete her role as king. Ambiguously, mere can be considered as hell.

In the novel Grendel and the epic poem Beowulf the reader receives a better experience through a first person point of view. In John Gardner's Grendel which is written in first person the reader is constantly engaged. The authors use of first person provides the reader of Grendel’s thoughts and emotion. While, in the epic poem Beowulf which is written in 3rd person does not give the reader any personal connection.

Also Grendel would not be able to be a good person if he tried because he’s done so much bad and he hates men. In the poem it stated “some evil inside myself pushed out into the trees. I knew what I knew, the mindless, mechanical bruteness of things, and when the harper's lure drew my mind away to hopeful dreams, the dark of what was and always was reached out and snatched at my feet”(Gardener 54). This shows that Grendel has a complex relationship with the evil inside of him. Which makes him bitter, he doesn’t like men and he tried to destroy the things they work hard for. Grendel has seen the dragon, and he has an idea of how his life will end. This connects to the bible story about Cain and Abel. The biblical allusion about this story was Cain was evil and he killed his own brother because of jealously. This connect to the story Grendel because him and his mother are hopelessly evil to God and a “virtuous” human society. Grendel is seen as a descendant of Cain because he kills humans out of anger and jealousy. Also in the text Grendel states “and so begins the twelfth year of my idiotic war. The pain of it! The stupidity!” (Gardener 5). This quote somewhat shows the good in Grendel because he doesn’t like the fact that he is a bad person and a social outcast of everyone else but he feels as if killing and hurting humans will ease his pain. Seeing the good and evil in Grendel it is easy to realize he can’t help the fact that he is a monster and can’t help but to hate humans because he doesn't belong and they live a better life than him. Though in a way Grendel's actions can be understandable because depression and angry can cause someone to do things they don’t normally do. With Grendel feeling this way his entire life it really affected him and caused him to do things out of spite. All in all

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

He is stubborn and stupidly brace, which is proved when he speaks of when his childhood friend, Breca, and himself swear through large waves in an ocean, “…we grew up daring ourselves to outdo each other, boating and urging each other to risk our lives on the sea” (Heaney 37). Grendel, however, is the opposite. He is inherently bad, but he cannot help himself. He is shown in both books as weak, evil, and ugly, both inside and out. He speaks of how he is a direct descendant of Cain, the first murderer on the Earth and in many instances, he shows his purely evil nature by letting people live, rather than putting them out of their misery and simply letting them die.

Have you ever wondered what a monster truly is? It is a label we give much aptitude. Here we will go over these "monsters" of Beowulf. When we are young children, we always fear the monsters that are coming to get us. We wonder about the monsters under our bed or in our closet.

In the epic Beowulf, the concept of simplistic duality is expressed very heavily throughout. This is not the case in the movie, “Beowulf & Grendel”. In an era where moviegoers want their films to mirror the original plot, why would the director of the movie decide to make such a shift? The answer lies in our culture. Because our culture differs from that of the Anglo-Saxons, the concept of simplistic duality has become atypical in today’s media.

What do Achilles, King Arthur, Harry Potter, and Beowulf all have in common? They all demonstrate the qualities of epic heroes. Beowulf represents several characteristics of an epic hero and demonstrates the values of the Anglo-Saxons. He is the main character of his story, he has a main goal, he travels and fights with a group of people, and he accomplishes many valorous deeds; the values of the Anglo-Saxons are also shown through the actions of Beowulf, such as courage, loyalty, and fame. For example, when Beowulf heard a cry for help in a far off land, he answered. He fought larger than life monsters, and won. His exceptional strength proves his epic courage and heroism.

Beowulf and Grendel are actually the same stories in the fact that they are based on the same epic "Beowulf." "Beowulf", that is told of here is translated by Kevin Crossley-Holland, and there are many different translations which makes Beowulf the epic so interchangeable. Although "Beowulf" and "Grendel" seem very similar they do have many differences as well. Reading the two stories back to back gives you the impression of how many differences there are. For example, "Beowulf" is written from an outsider's point of view. "Grendel" is written from Grendel's point of view. This changes the whole perception of the book. Seeing a story written from two different points of views not only helps you to

“The whole earth is the tomb of heroic men and their story is not given only on stone over their clay but abides everywhere without visible symbol woven into the stuff of other men’s lives,” said Perculus (PR). You’re born, you live a little, and then you die. There is no simpler way to sum up life. Often times this is done through oral tales, paintings, and various other ways. For those whose lives were truly something great, something memorable, their stories are transcripted into writings. Whether these are simple biographies or symbolic fictional works, stories are often based on someone greater than the writer. These “epic heros” are protagonists that fulfill their potential of greatness through using their bravery, strength and

One day in the Danes there’s a King, a King of Hrothgar that threatened by a tormented demon named Grendel on the celebration. So the king decided to offer a reward to kill that creature. And then there’s a Herot the brave Geat warrior Beowulf uses his epic strength and bravely to slay Grendel and Grendel defeated so he run away and back to his place. So Beowulf follow and find Grendel to kill it. Until he reached the lake where Grendel and Grendel’s mother lives. When mother of Grendel saw Beowulf the creature changed its form to a seductive woman to seduce Beowulf and give promise that Beowulf will become an unbeatable and wealthy king if he makes love to her and gives his golden relic to her. Years passed, and Beowulf is already the King

The epic tale of Beowulf was written sometime after his death. In other words, a long time ago during the Anglo-Saxon period. Today, directors in Hollywood did not keep from creating their own rendition of this epic poem As a result, plenty of modern interpretations of Beowulf, such as Sturla Gunnarsson’s Beowulf and Grendel, have been released. Naturally, the cultural values that might be reflected in modern Beowulf renditions will demonstrate a clash with those of the original fifth century Beowulf literature. One reason for this is that in the modern age we value characters with profound characteristics, characters that change due to the challenges they experience; characters that we as the audience can attach to. Flat characters like those of the original Beowulf text are difficult to empathize with since they are not realistic enough for our standards. Due to these differences in culture and values, the Beowulf and Grendel from the original Beowulf text possess definite contrasts when compared with their Beowulf and Grendel counterparts.