The Importance Of Grendel's Words

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 ) .

Grendel in the novel by John Gardner is very similar to “the monster” in Frankenstein by Mary Shelly because both Grendel and the monster feel like outsiders, they kill humans, and they both are able to learn new things.

Throughout the poem Beowulf, the author, whom to this day is still unknown, uses light and darkness to explain good and evil characters and events. This unknown author describes Beowulf, the hero of the story, and other people and events as bright, as well as making many references to the sun and sunlight. The monster that Beowulf defeats named Grendel, is often described as a shadow or only emerging in the dark of night. The imagery is used with light and dark is used to represent the good and evil that the author saw as he was Anglo-Saxon and likely pagan as well. Imagery is used often throughout the poem, but especially when Grendel and Beowulf are first introduced and when they fight.

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.

“Beowulf” is an adventure about a hero named Beowulf, who fights monsters to protect his people and his kingdom. The battle between Beowulf and the three ferocious monsters represents the fight between humans and their difficulties in life. All three vicious monsters symbolize different stages of human life such as, controlling jealousy in early age, dealing with morality in middle age, and facing death in the end.

At the end of Chapter 12, Grendel’s last words were “Poor Grendel’s had an accident … So may you all.” (Gardner 174). Such words are meant as a curse to affect mankind. To start off, Grendel’s relationship with humans are not great. For example, when Grendel went to the hall to bring the dead body he found, “drunken men rushed me with battle-axes .. I sank to the my knees, crying, “Friend! Friend!” (Gardner 52). Such can imply that Grendel’s relationship with humans is like battling in war. Moreover, Grendel’s last words indicate that something will happen to mankind as it did to himself. For instance, Grendel expresses, “there is no limit to desire but desire’s needs.” (Gardner 93). Such illustrates that Grendel can desire as much as he wants

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.

Grendel takes his loss out on the people, by hurting them. His actions speak for his words, “two nights later I went back. I was addicted. The Shaper was singing the glorious deeds of the dead men, praising war. He sang how they'd fought me. It was all lies” (Gardner 54). It is obvious Grendel suffers the physical pain of being alone, and he gets addictive to hurting others due to his sadness. The more Grendel hears about people getting along he hates them and wants to fight them, because he can not have that. Grendel actions speak louder than his words when conveys his anger against the world. In the quote Grendel portrays this is what he does when he says, “It's all I have, my only weapon for smashing through these stiff coffin-walls of the world” (Gardner 123). Grendel’s only thing he has is his power to beat things up and kill things that are happy unlike him. He is an upset person who is jealous of people that are

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

In the novel Grendel the shaper and the dragon both talk about life. The Shaper has a good view point of life and the dragon has a bad view point of life.

When shown that our world is but a loop, we choose to continue. When shown that everything we do is simply the same struggle, over and over, forever the same waste of time, we don’t break away. We still go down this path of the least resistance, because we believe that that’s the way the world is.

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

Another form of which Grendel is proclaiming that animals are to be cursed is that he is

Though their stories are different, intertwined in their own ways, their stories, when stripped to their underlying strands of text, are quite similar. Two separate beings, forged by the hands of a creator long gone, find themselves in a cold, cruel, world where their differences cast them out. They are neglected by their creators and rejected at every turn by all they come across. Without guidance and without discipline, these beings are made to grow in a world they do not know, to fend for themselves. The beings, Grendel and the Monster of Frankenstein, charge their way through a world that despises them, searching for companionship, for acceptance, and for their self-worth. Try as they might, they cannot succeed and their sorrow turns to

Up until the end of Chapter 7, Grendel’s actions are influenced by the dragon.  He believes nothing matters, there is no good or bad, and everybody eventually dies. The people of Heort know Grendel as a monster and a killer and he lives up to his reputation. He says he can crush all the men in meadhall in a single night. Grendel states, ”My enemies define themselves...on me” (91).  But Grendel starts to question himself and realizes he needs humans as much as they need him.  Grendel thinks, “What will we call the Hrothgar-Wrecker when Hrothgar has been wrecked?” (91). While Grendel is thinking about what life will be like without him and the men of the meadhall, Wealtheow’s beauty charms Grendel. He says, “She was beautiful, as innocent as