Grendel's Isolation In Beowulf

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.

In Beowulf, Grendel the dragon is looked at in a very negative light, as an evil character. This is due to the strong descriptive words that the author uses, such as: “a powerful monster…in darkness…growled in pain” (pg.41 L. ). These words paint a clear picture of Grendel, and it supplies you a feeling for how evil the beast truly is. The epic states that Grendel was “spawned in that slime” (pg.41 L.), giving a very dark image of what he was conceived into. Grendel is a character of true evil.

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.

When Grendel is introduced in Beowulf, he is justified as a monster who is murdering Hrothgar’s men for sport. Relating Grendel to Cain, from the bible. “He was spawned in that slime of Cain, murderous creatures banished by God, punished forever for the crime

Many time we are asked why we do the things we do. What is our motivation for the things we do? Does someone tell us it do it or do we do it because it’s fun? You can find motivation in many strange and different things. Motivation can be derived from family or friends, personal interest, and even conflict. In Beowulf, there are fights with three different monsters. Beowulf, the hero, has different motivations for fighting each monster. Beowulf didn’t have to fight any of these monsters, but he choose to. During the epic poem, Beowulf, Beowulf’s motivations for fighting the monsters are duty, glory, and sacrifice.

Grendel has been isolated into darkness, causing him to be miserable. For example, “A powerful monster, living down in the darkness, growled in pain,” he chooses to isolate himself from all people because he is a coward (lines 1-2). Grendel represents that Anglo-Saxon theme stating that without companionship, one cannot survive. When confronted in a battle with Beowulf, he becomes fearful, weak, and

In chapter 12 of the book Grendel , Grendel’s last words were “ poor Grendel’s had an accident...So may you all ” Grendel’s last words were meant as a curse. When Beowulf ripped Grendel’s arm off and Grendel slipped on blood .The animals , also his enemies were watching him die. Grendel hopes the animals that they will all die. For instance , he said “ Animals gathered around me , enemies of old , watch me die I give them what hope will appear a sheepish smile “ ( Gardner 173 ). In addition , Grendel said “ They watch on , evil incredibly , enjoying my destruction “ ( Gardner 174 ) .

Always we portray Grendel as the monster and destructive character. However, in the novel by John Gardner that is a different case. We see Grendel as a emotional and sympathetic character. For example, Grendel states, “It wasn 't because he threw that battle-ax that I turned on Hrothgar. That was mere midnight foolishness... It wasn 't until later, when I was full-grown and Hrothgar was an old, old man, that I settled my soul on destroying him—slowly and cruelly” (Gardner 30). This quote is justifying that fact that Grendel is not such a monster and his actions were mere foolishness. So to elaborate even though Grendel maybe destructive he doesn 't do the things he doesn 't do these things for fun or to be devious he is just foolish. He really doesn 't want to actually hurt anyone. Another example that Grendel is not a monster is that he states in the novel, “And so begins the twelfth year of my idiotic war. The pain of it! The stupidity!” (Gardner 5). This quote is very straightforward and simple although we can get so much from it. For instance, this quote is conveying that Grendel hates fighting with the humans and he is suffering from it. This is because the war causes him to have so much pain with the humans. The last example that Grendel is not truly a monster is that Grendel states in the novel, “I would feel, all at once, alone and ugly, almost—as if I 'd dirtied myself—obscene.

The Beowulf poet doesn’t describe Grendel and his mother’s appearance because it makes people imagine how the giant monster is supposed to look like. Yes, the poet should have left a brief description of their appearance. When people can imagine the monster’s looks they can make it look scary by their standards. People have different ideas of what they would find scary, and if they get a detailed description of a monster they might not find that monster’s image as scared as it could be. They can imagine if Grendel’s claws are strength and sharp like a knife or are curved and thin like a cat’s claws.

In “Beowulf,” there are many concepts of good and evil portrayed in the epic poem by an unknown author. Beowulf brings good to the Geats. The people would say he was a gift from the Gods to battle and demolish the evil. The monsters, however, cause trouble to the people and bring out the evil in everything. These elements of good and evil help define this an epic poem.

Grendel, when first meeting the wise and old dragon learned how the humans felt when he had confronted them. The Dragon explained that the fear is "how they feel when they see" him (Gardner 60). Grendel felt a little shame, so for the first time, considered how they, the humans, must have felt after seeing a strange creature. Out of guilt, he wants to no longer wants scare them for pleasure or for sport; he only wants to eat the occasional few, so they will not starve from overpopulation. His brief thoughts and consideration of the human 's feeling reveal how sensitive and "humane" he really was. Furthermore, early in the novel, Grendel learns of a man, known as the Shaper, who sings to entertain the folks in the Mead Halls. The Shaper sings of all sorts of stories and myths to give the people hope of something greater in the next life. He also sang of Grendel 's kind, which is "the terrible race God cursed" (Gardner 51). Grendel desperately wanted to believe this; he wanted to be part of the cursed creatures that are offsprings of Cain. This may give him some sort of purpose in life. Additionally, the human that he had a "relationship", which that affected him the most, was with Hrothgar 's wife, Wealhtheow. Grendel had seen Wealhtheow when her brother, Hrothgar 's rival, wanted to make peace, so he offered Wealhtheow as his peace offering. There was no real relationship that developed between them, but, like with the Shaper, Grendel got obsessed. Her beauty made him temporarily stop the slaughter of innocent humans. Her presence made him rethink about what he was doing. He felt that she was on a higher class and was greater than himself. All he wanted, at least for that moment, was to do anything to please her. His whole psyche changed for, and he began to stalk her constantly because he was hypnotized by her beauty.

The story of Beowulf successfully follows every step of an Archetypal Hero Quest; the hero, Beowulf, answers a call, makes a decision, prepares, faces obstacles, reaches a climax, and returns home. Beowulf is met with three large battles within Beowulf, first with Grendel, then with Grendel’s mother, and his last fatal battle, with a dragon. Each battle carries aspects that add to the Hero Quest but do not fully create one until all are together.

Beowulf is a story about a geatish warrior saving Denmark from the god-cursed Grendel, killing Grendel’s mother, becoming king of the Geats, and fighting a dragon. It is a classic take on the Anglo-Saxon society and their ending. This paper will be discussing about whether or not Beowulf was altruistic in his quest to save Denmark from Grendel. Altruism is the act of helping others for unselfish reasons, rather than for ones own benefit. Beowulf is not an altruistic character in his quest to save Denmark from Grendel. This is because if he defeats Grendel he will win fame and glory, he will be given gold by Denmark 's king, Hrothgar, and he owes a debt to Hrothgar because he saved his father, Ecgtheow.

In addition to, the character Grendel is a descendant of Cain because the figure of Cain is used metaphorically during the period to represent chaos and the presence of evil. Grendel kills people because he was jealous just like Cain did with Abel. “Marshes, made his home in a hell not hell but earth… The Almighty drove those demons out, and their exile was bitter” (18-24) because of the curse on Cain it’s safe to say that it probably got passed

Grendal the most hatred of all creature; descendent of Cain. For one to see it as such it