Fear In Beowulf

The people in the story view Grendel as a monster, but why does Hrothgar-Grendel’s father-want Grendel to be killed? Is he full of shame? What would happen if the Geats knew about Hrothgar and Grendel’s Mother’s secret scandal? Grendel’s sadness and loneliness, the courage to protect himself from what is hurting is why he is despised. As a monster, Grendel was trying to protect himself.

His only desire was to be accepted by the humans. While he is depicted as a monster, he is just someone who wants to be accepted and acknowledged. Humans used ideas of heroism and appearance to make the world as what they wanted it to be, and because of these ideas, Grendel did not fit the mold and is

(Gordon and Wang). Grendel’s feeling a sense of intimidation. However, Grendel views himself as being undefeatable; he doesn’t believe Beowulf can hurt him. An analysis says, “Grendel’s existentialism is a violent one, which allows him to succumb to the urges that have boiled in his heart from the first moment humans mistreated him.” (Gordon and Wang).

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.

We are not told much about Grendel, most of what we are told pertains to his mother not speaking to him, and being away from civilization his whole life. The more backstory a character is given, the more the audience is able to sympathize/pity the character. Due to Grendel not having a sad backstory, something to help reason with his actions, he is the more villainous and evil character in comparison to the

Readers can learn some things about Grendel in Beowulf but in order to dive deeper into the character and who he is, people go to the book Grendel. The book takes a closer look at Grendel and how he discovers the order and disorder of people and the world (Sanchez). Grendel is thought to symbolize the dark side of humanity, or the sins of man (Farrell). It’s easy for readers to sympathize with Grendel at points because he is a natural outcast of society. He is said to be the son of Cain and because of that he was labeled from day one (Sanchez).

This is the beginning of Grendel falling directly into the role that the dragon said he would need to fill. Grendel’s murderous tendencies completely reflect the monstrous side of his personality and the more he kills the more he grows insane, separating from rational, humanistic thought. “I am swollen with excitement, bloodlust and joy and a strange fear that mingle in my chest like the twisting rage of a bone-fire... I am blazing, half-crazy with joy” (168). It is clear that, by the time Beowulf arrives, Grendel has embraced the fact that he is required to be evil, despite the fact that he previously claimed he would oppose that destiny.

An Understanding on Beowulf: An Analysis on How Beowulf Contrasts Good Versus Evil Beowulf is the typical story of good versus evil.in this poem, good is portrayed by our hero, Beowulf. Evil, on the other hand, does not have one representation, but rather several, most are in form of monsters. To be good, you need to be the opposite of what evil is and what it does. Beowulf does that several times throughout the whole poem. Grendel, the first monster Beowulf encountered, attacked because he was exiled form the rest of society and probably felt angry and jealous out of the peoples joy(87).he was probably jealous of the happiness of others, and like many people, he decided that if he was not happy, no one should be happy.

The Power of Fear Fear is a power harnessed by evil to gain an advantage over good. Some forms of evil, such as the monsters in Beowulf, use this intense power to such an extent that they embody individual human fears to completely control and annihilate their enemies. Of the three monsters Beowulf faces in his life, the fatal foe, the unstoppable dragon most effectively embodies fear.

Grendel in both stories is described as a vicious "Monster", but is viewed differently. The character of Grendel, in the novel by John Gardner, portrays a different visualization than that of Grendel in the epic poem Beowulf. In the novel the story is told in first person point of view which gives Grendel human qualities while Grendel in Beowulf is told in third person point of view not giving Grendel his standpoint. In both works, the authors give two different perspectives of Grendel. Grendel in the novel is not seen as a "Monster", but as a human that has emotions and is very sympathetic about everything that comes his way.

In the town Beowulf lived was a monster. The monster was a big man and was very strong. He was tall and very mighty. He could beat anyone in a fight. No one dared try to fight him.

Beowulf’s Motivations (An Understanding of the motivations of Beowulf to Fight the Three Monsters) Every human being has a certain code with which they follow, most are outlined by the Anglo-Saxon, better known as Viking, code. This code itself was depicted through the epic poem known as, “Beowulf,” and more importantly, Beowulf’s motivations. His first motivation for fighting Grendel, is because he believes it is his duty to fight the monster. Secondly, Beowulf believes that fighting Grendel’s mother would help him in receive glory.

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 is often described in a negative way. He is reffered to as a demon in the text “from Beowulf”

In the poem Beowulf, there is a contrast between good and evil. This distinction is presented through the monsters Grendel and his mother, in parallel to the hero Beowulf. The themes of evil and monstrosity are therefore used in the story, as a way to create the notion of Grendel and his mother as monsters. Beowulf therefore appears as a character representing good. Although Beowulf shows traits of abnormal power, like Grendel and his mother, his motifs are interpreted differently.

A genuine definition of a monster is an "imaginary creature that is typically large, ugly, and frightening," but in the poem Beowulf a monster has much more meaning than just an imaginary creature. Monsters were commonly used in stories written during the pagan times. Throughout the plot of ‘Beowulf,' the protagonist Beowulf faces many obstacles that include fighting monsters: Grendel, Grendel's mother, and a Dragon. The monsters in Beowulf are present for a substantial reason to contribute towards the story, and they are symbolic of many qualities in the Anglo-Saxon culture.