Essay Comparing Beowulf And Grendel

Monsters take on easy prey and heroes have the strength to defeat the monster. This can be seen in Grendel and Beowulf's actions. Grendel preys on the sleeping soldiers. He encounters Beowulf and is surprised by Beowulf's strength and how Beowulf was quick to strike back. Grendel was mortally wounded by Beowulf and knew he was going to die. After being mortally wounded, Grendel cowardly flees. Beowulf's actions in battle reflects that of a hero as Beowulf was quick to fearlessly attack the monster in order to save the lives of the thanemen. Grendel's actions in battle reflects that of a monster as Grendel wanted to retreat when he knew he was unable to win the fight against the hero.

His mother is no longer able to mentally function as she never interacts with Grendel, and the humans he interacts with fear him, so he gets no real interaction from anyone. Consequently, Grendel describes himself as only existing and everything else is just imagination. Isolation takes a toll on the mentally of most people, so it isn’t illogical to assume that Grendel is breaking down from his seclusion. He is arguing with himself over his own thoughts as shown on page 3 of the novel: “Not, of course, that I fool myself with thoughts that I'm more noble. Pointless, ridiculous monster crouched in the shadows, stinking of dead men, murdered children, martyred cows. (I am neither proud nor ashamed, understand. One more dull victim, leering at seasons that were never meant to be observed.) ‘Ah, sad one, poor old freak!’” (Gardner 6). The reader gets insight on Grendel’s perceptions of himself. He is in conflict with the definition of existence. Grendel strongly believes that he has always been permanently an outsider; Grendel is unnatural, he is a killer since he has slaughtered numerous humans, and a creature that needs not exist at all. His mother’s muteness plays a major role as it was his fate to be isolated. Grendel, as the monster, must never feel affection since he is not a human, or “loving creature.” In the novel, Grendel visualizes moments where he doesn’t even know who

Before Grendel, everything was serene. One day that all changed when Grendel came into the picture. “So Hrothgar’s men lived happy in his hall…Til that monster stirred, that demon, that fiend.” (pg.41 L.) This gives the reader a bad feeling that Grendel

Many people have read or heard of the epic poem of Beowulf, which spins a tale of Grendel, the monster, attacking the admirable Danes and their king, Hrothgar. Some may not be as aware of a book titled Grendel written by John Gardner in 1971. Gardner’s book tells a completely different account of the more familiar tale of Beowulf, from the perspective of Grendel, the monster. The narrator from Grendel portrays a more plausible, powerful story than the excerpt from Beowulf by drawing the reader in with a more emotional viewpoint from the character Grendel, making him more relatable by giving him humanlike qualities, and clarifying why certain events took place in Beowulf.

In the story Beowulf, the character Grendel is highly misunderstood. Grendel was born in the wild marshes outside of Herot. Being raised in such harsh conditions, Grendel grew to hate the Danes and God. As a descendant of Cain, he was banished as a small child and forced to live in exile with his mother. He is portrayed in the poem as a horrendous beast with human characteristics, but looking closer to the text, he is a human out-casted and raised to be a monster. Although Grendel is written as a monstrous villain who kills with no remorse, he is actually a complex human with a repressed anger exploding in bursts.

Grendel in the novel knows he is a fright to people, he is danger. He doesn’t seem to have a problem with that, but at the same time is not proud of it, either. He does like the pain of others, preferably king Hrothgar and his men. He attacks his mead-hall, Heorot every evening. Grendel seems to be killing and torturing the Danes for fun, and they want revenge.

    One of the main themes is humans and monsters. At one part of the story Grendel overhears the harper talking about Grendel and goes into the mead-hall. “ I staggered out into the open and up toward the hall with my burden, groaning out, ‘Mercy! Peace!’ The harper broke off, the people screamed. (They have their own versions, but this is the truth.) Drunken men rushed me with battle-axes. I sank to my knees, crying, ‘Friend! Friend!’ They hacked at me, yipping like dogs.”(Gardner 51,52)

Not all heroes wear capes. Well, in novels and movies, they tend to. From the start, heros have always been someone who is admired or idealized for courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities. In poems such as Beowulf, which date back to the 10th century, implement the hero’s model in its purest form. The main character, Beowulf, is the stereotypical hero that comes from a far away land to defeat the monstrous antagonist Grendel, and defend the impotent villagers. More modern novels such as Grendel, depict the hero model in much different way. Grendel, the antagonist and protagonist, suffers through an extended existential crisis and is forced to deal with his monstrous instinct. The “hero” of this novel, Beowulf, is portrayed as

Comparing society in Beowulf and society in Frankenstein is like comparing a simple farm to the processing plant; futuristic and totally dissimilar. Although, the core ‘monsters’ are unchanged; grotesque, horrifyingly pagan-esque beings of the dark that strike terror in to the hearts of even the stoutest of fighters and the sanest of men. In the Christian and Medieval world, monsters were human beings with an unnatural birth or a birth deformity (Stitt, 2003). The term ‘monster’ derives from the Latin term ‘monere’ which means ‘To warn’ or ‘to advise’ and ‘monstrum’ which is ‘a sign or portent that disrupts the natural order as evidence of divine displeasure’. The aspect of ‘Divine Displeasure’ is attributed almost perfectly to Grendel, the monster of Beowulf and the terror of Hrothgar. Both authors paint a grotesque picture of their creations and how they both desire to destroy beauty; Aesthetic Iconoclasm, that is shared between the two figures. However, both authors present their monsters separate to one another in philosophy; with Grendel being a mindless savage and the Monster being more contemplative and questioning the nature of its own creation.

“He twisted in pain, and the bleeding sinews deep in his shoulder snapped, muscle and bone split and broke,” (Lines 347-377). It is obvious that Grendel is in pain but, the reader for the rest of the poem does not know what Grendel’s struggles are or how he describes himself. Because this poem is not in first person or even in Grendel's view there is no relationship between the reader or Grendel. “So Hrothgar’s men lived happy in his hall till the monster stirred, that demon, that fiend, Grendel, who haunted the moors, the wild marshes, and made his home in a hell…” (Lines 15-18). This quote from the poem only makes Grendel seem like he is a vicious monster but, if anyone had read the novel they would know that Grendel was all alone in a world where he was like no one else. Now in the novel and the poem there is philosophy but the difference is that in the poem it is an older form of philosophy. “That I, alone and with the help of my men, may purge all evil from this hall,” (Lines 244-245). This philosophy was written in. Time where people believed that they would fight because they wanted to be the hero for the

Compare with his encounter with the dragon. Beowulf treated Grendel as an equal by facing him his bare strength alone. “The prince of the Geats was putting his trust in his great strength and in God's favor. Off came the hero's iron mailcoat and hard helmet; he handed over his trusty sword to an attendant thane and asked him to safekeep all that war-gear (X)”. Beowulf’s confidence comes from his belief that he not matters how monstrous Grendel was, he isn’t invincible. Whereas, Beowulf’s encounter with the dragon. He knows that the dragon was truly a monster without any human characteristics. Whereas, Grendel possess human characteristics such as a human form and share mutual values such as a place to meet, meadhall. Grendel simply represent an alternative darker side of humanity, which is reflected in his underwater sea cave. Compared to the dragon, Grendel is more human than monstrous. Grendel represent the dark side of humanity that have simply lost. Whereas, the dragon is truly a monster that human simply can’t relate at

How is the movie and textbook version of Beowulf different? Accordingly, to the movie and textbook version of Beowulf they share particular differences that may change your perspective of all the characters. In the movie Grendel began attacking Herot Hall; however, in the textbook he started off attacking the many people who lived in the village. In the textbook Grendel’s mother was considered a hideous a gorgeous monster who lived in a dungeon in the forest. In the textbook Beowulf’s arm was cut off casing his death, even though, in the movie Beowulf’s death was caused by the dragon fire breath. The movie and poem Beowulf share many differences, attack of Herot Hall, death of Grendel and his mother, also tragedy death of Beowulf.

This time however, he is swept away by a person name the Shaper, who Grendel is ultimately scared of, because of the fact that the shaper is very good at changing the view of people very easily. During this same period, Grendel started to become more violent as well, first by attacking the humans. Grendel didn’t like the way Hrothgar lived and made the Mead Hall and in response, Grendel started to attack it at night. He killed anyone and everything that came into his sight, and even ate the humans. Grendel now became a real threat to the humans, which inevitably changed his status from sinister to pure

Grendel’s story is not only from his perspective, but it also starts far before Beowulf enters the picture. Grendel does not even know of man’s existence before he encountered Hrothgar whom he starts to fear when he says “I knew I was dealing with no dull mechanical bull but with thinking creatures, pattern makers. The most dangerous things I’d ever met” (pg 27). His first encounter with these men left him wanting more. He spent most nights watching them in the shadows, trying to make sense of their actions. Grendel points out that these men started with the bare minimum and over time, with the help of more men, they began to build houses with walls that were “beautifully painted and hung with tapestries” and “food was plentiful” (pg 31-33). Grendel noticed a change though. These men started making threats to burn down other camps and take their

Monsters are described as big, ugly, no-feelings creatures. They are also described as creatures of hell or creatures that are not acceptable in the society. This is disagreeable, not all monsters are ugly, and some monsters do have some feelings. The monster Grendel, in the book Grendel by the author John Gardner, shows that he is sensitive and has human's feeling traits even though he is a monster. Different events in the book, prove that the monster is impressionable and afraid.