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Beowulf As An Evil Character In 'Grendel' By John Gardner

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Throughout the novel Grendel by John Gardner, Grendel comes across as a ruthless monster who takes pride in murdering others. His actions give the impression that he is an evil figure, but in hindsight he is not as evil as he appears to be. Grendel is not evil as he attempts to make peace and his actions are no different from the actions of others. Furthermore, the author makes the readers feel sympathy for Grendel because Grendel lives a lonely life and is consistently treated poorly. His lack of social relations and his past encounters lead him to resent others. This resentment motivates Grendel to commit some heinous crimes, however this does not make him an evil character. Early in the novel, Grendel listens to the Shaper and says “he …show more content…

However, the characters that are considered to be good, commit some harsh acts as well or have the intentions of doing so. In the later part of the novel, it states “They stab a calf and burn it, the corpse still jerking” (120). This was describing the actions of the Gods. The Gods are considered to be good people, however they are murdering innocent animals. Their actions are not so different from the actions of Grendel. Which leaves the audience to question, why Grendel is considered evil, but the Gods are not. Early in the novel, Grendel stated “Darts like hot coals went through my legs and arms” (27). When Grendel was stuck in a tree, the humans started attacking him with darts and arrows. Grendel did not do anything to them, meaning he was innocent. Although the humans did not kill him, those were their clear intentions. These humans are the ones that view Grendel as an evil creature, however they were committing the terrible acts that they were shunning Grendel for committing. If all characters are committing similar acts, it is not appropriate to call one character evil and the others good. There is no way to define what is evil and what is not, if the actions of everyone are the same. This proves that Grendel is not evil, as his actions are no different from the actions of those that are considered to be

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