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Is beowulf a hero or villain
Is beowulf a hero or villain
Beowulfs powers
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The question that lies between good and evil is explored in countless numbers of literary works. Evil is profound immorality, wickedness, and depravity, especially when regarded as a supernatural force. The conflict between good and evil is often demonstrated in different ways. In the Anglo-Saxon epic poem Beowulf, the monster named Grendel terrorizes the people of Herot evidently leading to his encounter with the great hero Beowulf. Grendel is an evil monster who preys off of the deaths of his victims and can never know the love of God himself. The magic that Grendel is capable of conjuring up explains the evilness of his entire being. Grendel’s supernatural capabilities help to defend himself against Beowulf as he battles him to the death. …show more content…
Grendel travels to Herot inside of the mead hall to find the sleeping warriors sprawled across the room. His evil tendencies get the best of him and he immediately murders them.“The monster’s thoughts were as quick as his greed or his claws: he slipped through the door and there in the silence snatched up thirty men, smashed them unknowing in their beds and ran out with their bodies, the blood dripping behind him, back to his lair, delighted with his night’s slaughter.” (lines 34-40) The reader immediately pictures the monster that Grendel is supposed to be due to these murderous actions. “The reader only knows Grendel through his bloody actions, the horrified response of others and the elliptical statements of the narrator.” (Sandner) Grendel’s horrendous slaughters demonstrates the evil that lives within …show more content…
In the poem, it is mentioned that Grendel was born as an ancestor to Cain, the eldest son of Adam and Eve who murdered his younger brother Abel. Grendel was born into the evil monster that he is. “Many critics have seen Grendel as the embodiment of the physical and moral evil of heathenism; Beowulf’s struggles to overcome the monster are thought to symbolize Anglo-Saxon England’s emerging christianity.” (Merriam Webster’s Encyclopedia of Literature) The initiation of his attacks is the irritating sound of music played by the harp - an instrument related to God - within the mead hall. Anything that has to do with the good of God triggers the evil inside of Grendel. “Though he lived in Herot, when the night hid him, he never dared to touch king Hrothgar’s glorious throne, protected by God - God, whose love Grendel could not know.” (lines 81-85) The allusions to biblical stories and the Catholic religion help to exemplify Grendel’s evil character. Grendel is an evil monster who causes terror and chaos to those suffering in his presence. The magic he uses helps him to carry out his evil intentions. His evil attacks offer him no remorse for the deaths he’s caused. The biblical allusions throughout the text offer support for all things good, including God himself, that stand against him. Grendel is born into the evilness that he is and has no choice except to live up to
Perhaps he would actually like to live a normal life with the humans. “Some evil inside myself pushed out into the trees, I knew what I knew, the mindless, mechanical bruteness of things, and when the harper’s lure drew my mind away from hopeful dreams, the dark of what was and always was reached out and snatched my feet.” (Gardner 54) It seems as though Grendel would like to change things if he could, but some outside force will not allow it. Even if this is true, Grendel is still inherently evil. Despite whatever dreams he may have. The reader simply cannot ignore the fact that he still does evil deeds with evil intentions. He is seemingly unable to feel love, or at least disinterested in it. He enjoys torturing and killing humans and rarely shows mercy. Due to these facts, it is impossible to say Grendel is a hero in this
Our first character, Grendel, is an exceptionally diverse character. It is implied that in both book and poem, Grendel is a blood-thirsty monster. All Grendel does is go through meadhalls and kill the drunk, often asleep people. But when narrated through the eyes of Grendel, the true nature of this beast is discovered. The author of Grendel entails that Grendel is a depressed and misunderstood monster, restrained to the confinements of his own underwater cave. He is a lot like the monster in the book Frankenstein. Both Grendel and Frankenstein are born with no real purpose to life, going off of what they hear other people say and taking it as the truth. Both monsters, knowing that everyone detests them for being unattractive and different, retaliate by way of murder and mayhem. From the perspective of the people in the stories itself, Grendel is exactly how the narrator in the poem Beowulf makes him out to be. The people, or the thanes, of Hrothgar’s kingdom see Grendel as a demon from hell, representing all that’s evil in the world. He’s a supernatural creature and in this time period anything supernatural that wasn’t human was considered a spirit, a god, evil or, in Grendel...
Grendel, as a character, has a much more complex identity than just a monster and a human. Some, such as Ruud, classify him as a mixture of three different characteristics, but alone, they tend to conflict with each other. By making the connection that Grendel represents immorality, the previous idea makes more sense, while simultaneously incorporating more aspects of the character into the analysis. In either case, Grendel represents much more than meets the eye, and provides a fascinating insight into
In times before printed books were common, stories and poems were passed from generation to generation by word of mouth. From such oral traditions come great epics such as England’s heroic epic, Beowulf. In Beowulf, the monster Grendel serves as the evil character acting against the poem’s hero, as shown by his unnatural strength, beast-like qualities, and alienation from society.
In the poem, Beowulf, Grendel is depicted as a monstrous, evil villain that possesses a few human-like qualities: such as the ability to walk on two feet. However, his most notable characteristic that occupies his mind and body in the poem is the constant mindset and actions of primitive human tendencies. This quote conveys Grendel’s primitive ways as the humans perceived it. “The monster’s thoughts were as quick as his greed or his claws: he slipped through the door and there in the silence snatched up thirty men, smashed them unknowing in their beds and ran out with their bodies…” (Raffel 8). His lust for blood of the human race, alongside their Christian views, forced Beowulf and others to view
Through these actions, Grendel tries to prove to himself and to the Scyldings that nothing is ever completely good or evil. If their most pure and brave candidates couldn’t be proven to be fully good, how could they say that he is completely evil? What Grendel tries to teach to the humans is a basic fact of life: you cannot have good without having
Grendel has an evil of his own. He was out casted because of his lineage. It was said he was a descendant of Cain, a Satan-like being. “... from Cain there sprang/ misbegotten spirits, among them Grendel,/the banished and accursed” ( 1264-1265)This, and the fact that they were “fatherless creatures” , made him resentful of the warriors in the mead-hall (1355). To get back at the warriors, he began the killing spree, also attracting Beowulf. Grendels resentment, led him to his
Grendel is born a neutral being, perhaps even good, but nevertheless, without hate. The transition which he undergoes to become evil is due to misunderstandings between himself and humans and also meeting with a dragon who is questionably evil. As a young “monster”, Grendel knew nothing other than the cave he lived in and his mother who could not speak any distinguishable language. He was a playful creature who seemed to be like a “bla...
Since the beginning of time, fairy tales, stories and legends have shared a common theme where good and evil are played against each other. In the story of “Beowulf”, translated by, “Burton Raffel”, there is a hero who plays as a good character, and there is also a demon who rules the dark side. The hero Beowulf, agrees to take a journey to conquer the evil monster Grendel. But when Beowulf is trying to defeat the beast, Grendel fights back, causing integrity and generosity to vanish. The common theme in various tales like in Beowulf is, good vs. evil.
Evil. It’s a concept that has baffled philosophers, religious figures, and the common man alike for thousands of years. In this millennium, people may exemplify evil as terrorism, genocide, or, perhaps, placing an empty milk carton back in the refrigerator. However, many remain conflicted about the exact definition of evil, as the dispute over the character Grendel, from the John Gardner novel, makes evident. To conclude that Grendel is not evil, readers must first operate under the assumption that the beast is unequivocally and thoroughly evil. Having done so, readers will notice the fallacies within this thought process. By asserting that Grendel is evil, readers blatantly disregard the ambiguity with which humanity defines its actions, as
In the Poem, Grendel attacks a mead hall, Affectionately named, “Herot”. where all the danish warriors sang, drank, and feasted. Grendel attacks the danes who are asleep in the mead hall, the sound of the danish warriors jubilant activities made him angry, some say it made his blood boil. So late into the night when when all the merriment was
Grendel is a creature of nightmare archetype, a desecrate form of human, thus the humans do not understand his ways nor his reasoning to kill. Grendel goes to the mead hall every year killing sleeping soldiers in gruesome ways, because of the hate he possesses toward Hrothgar and his people. The Danes, who are already afraid of death, fear Grendel because he himself is bringing the deaths of many with
Anger then yields itself to insecurity and low self-esteem. The moment Grendel realizes that there is someone just as strong as him, he tries to run away, ". . . Grendel's one thought was to run / From Beowulf, flee back to his marsh and hide there:" (437-438), but it is too late. Just like when the average bully meets his match, he runs in fear of not being able to win. Grendel does not have the audacity to stand up to Beowulf with all his might and therefore falls to Beowulf.
Time after time he charges into Herot Hall, slaughtering the warriors like sheep, and feasting on them. Denmark trembles in fear and grief as Grendel terrorizes their land. The people live in fear for their family and friends. Grendel is the Anglo-Saxon embodiment of what is dark, terrifying, and threatening. Grendel is an enemy of God. He can not know God’s great love. He is a powerful ogre that resides in the dark, wet marshes. He is a shadow of death that grows impatient with the Danes. He delights in their slaughter. No crime or savage assault would quench his thirst for evil. For evil can never be quenched. Grendel is a shepherd of evil and a guardian of crime. Grendel exhibits his envy towards the warriors as Cain did to his brother. Jealousy breed loneliness.
Grendal is known as a monster and portrays one of the many villains in the poem. He is referred to as the "guardian of his sins". Grendal depicts a heathen the physical image of man estranged from God. Basically, Grendal reflects a physical monster, an ogre who is hostile to humanity. Grendal’s constant visits to Hrothgar’s mead hall for bloody feasts made him feel powerful over God’s humanity. Unfortunately, the night Beowulf lies in wait for him, he assumes that his bloody feasts will continue and Grendal gives no attention to his method of attack. Grendal is then killed.