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Foils In Beowulf

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“He keeps on coming. I am suddenly annoyed, no longer amused by his stupidity. The mere belongs to me and the firesnakes. What if everybody should decide the place is public? “go back down, goat! (Grendel,139).” A goat is climbing the mountain and Grendel doesn't want it to because he thinks its stupid. When in reality is just the nature of goats to climb mountains. Grendel tries to look for his reason to be on the Earth because everyone else has one then why not him. He decided to become the monster the humans saw him as after the dragon put the spell on him. John Gardner uses foil characters in Grendel to describe how those who don't have a place or connection with society are alienated, while in Beowulf foil characters are used to show how a hero defends society by defeating those who are labeled a monster by society itself.

John Gardner uses foil in Grendel to enhance the idea on how those who don't have a connection to society are outdated. Wealhtheow the queen of the Danes …show more content…

When Grendel is first introduced in Beowulf “Out of the night came the shadow stalkers, steady and shift (Beowulf, 47).” Grendel is the ugly hairy beast that is in one's nightmares. He is the the face of the evil in the world. The people in Beowulf believe that the looks of someone and their background is all that's needed to know in order to mark a person as a threat or friend. On the other hand, when Grendel first tell the Danes why he has traveled so far, to fight grendel, “Hrothgar, the helmet of Shieldings, spoke: “‘Beowulf, my friend, you have travelled hare to favour us with help and to fight for us (Beowulf, 31).” Unlike Grendel Beowulf is a human who is wealthy and is his father was known throughout the world for his actions. Beowulf has everything a normal person in Beowulf would want, but Grendel is the symbol of evil and hate to

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