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Grendel's Change In Beowulf By John Gardner

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In the book Grendel he seems to change throughout the book. At the beginning of the story Grendel is sensitive , immature and very lonely. Giving a feeling of sympathy . That all changes when Grendel talks to The Dragon. When Grendel first meet The Dragon he was afraid of it. He was so terrified to ask him questions. Until , The Dragon started talking about time and space. At first Grendel tries to pay attention to him , but felt like everything The Dragon was saying was nonsense. The Dragon was getting very ferious , so he tells Grendel “ Nothing interest you but excitement , violence.. “ ( Gardner 5 ). Grendel replied to him immediately “ That’s not true ! “ ( Gardner 5 ). “ You tell me what’s true “ ( Gardner 5 ). The Dragon said. Grendel was astound by …show more content…

Later on , he decides to take his advice. Ever since Grendel started talking to the Dragon he felt a sudden change in him. For Instance , Grendel was thinking to Hrothgar’s thanes for nothing “( Gardner 6 ). This shows that Grendel has no intention of going to the Hrothgar’s thanes because he thinks it would be a waste of his time. Moverover , Grendel would get offended when The Shaper would sing songs about him. Especially , because he knows the songs are not true. Grendel went back to the mead hall to hear The Shaper sing a song once again. This time Grendel did not feel anything at all. For instance , he said “ I know only that it had a strange effect on me : it no longer filled me with doubt and distress , loneliness , shame . “ ( Gardner 6 ) . The words The Shaper said did not harm him at all . Further when Grendel knew that The Shaper was dead he felt some sort of strange happiness for the first time. To Demonstrate , when Grendel found out The Shaper was dead he said “ I should have captured him , teased him , tormented him , made him a fool like him. I should cracked his skull mid song and sent his blood spraying out wet through the mead hall like a shocking change in the sky “ ( Gardner

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