Nihilism and Existentialism in Grendel Nihilism, as well as existentialism and a host of other philosophies are boldly explored in Grendel, a novel by John Gardner. The antagonist Grendel travels on a journey of self-discovery, eventually becoming a nihilist, only to be gallantly disproved by the hero Beowulf. In the end Gardner proves that the virtues of individuality and meaning triumph over meaningless violence and destruction. While Gardner presents countless philosophies and thoughts in Grendel, the two most prominent are nihilism and existentialism. The monster Grendel begins life as an existentialist. After leaving his mother's cave, he is introduced to a vast, confusing world. As a defense against the rest of the universe, Grendel establishes existentialism as his philosophy. Grendel is initially confused about the things around him, but soon encounters humans, creatures who seem to share a common language and thought. He tries to decipher meaning out of the humans by watching them. Grendel witnesses the early evolution of Hrothgar's kingdom, watching them "season after season ... from the high cliff wall" (37) conquering each other and other kingdoms, quickly expanding into a powerful empire. In Chapter 5, Grendel falls in the lair of the Dragon. Through his conversation with the Dragon, Grendel is introduced to nihilism. The Dragon it seems, is the ultimate nihilistic entity who knows "the beginning, the present, the end . all time, all space." (62, 63) The Dragon believes that all things in the universe will come to an end and are therefore meaningless and discounts existentialism as a philosophy. His final advice to Grendel is to "seek out gold and sit on it" (74) if for no sake other then doing it. Grendel leaves the Dragon's lair with a renewed confidence in himself. Believing the Dragon's words to be true, Grendel finds no reason to restrain his inherently destructive desires. Grendel proceeds as a terrible monster, fulfilling all of his evil fantasies. Grendel's new found nihilism however, is quickly invalidated by the hero Beowulf, who comes to Hrothgar's kingdom after hearing of their trouble with Grendel. The coming of Beowulf is the ultimate abomination of nihilism. While Grendel represents meaningless death and destruction, Beowulf represents regeneration and goodness. While the Dragon instilled in Grendel that all things are meaningless, Beowulf teaches Grendel that "where the water was rigid there will be fish" and "the world will burn green, sperm build again." (170) Thus, Gardner discounts both nihilism and existentialism to be detrimental. Gardner then goes on the describe the evolutionary path of both Grendel and Hrothgar's Thanes. From the vantage point of his cliff, Grendel watches the pattern of destruction inflicted by Hrothgar and his men upon other kingdoms as they expand their power and influence. Grendel witnesses "on a soft summer night, as many as three [mead] halls burning at once." (37) "Instead of making war on them, [Hrothgar] sent men to them every three months or so, with heavy wagons and back-slings, to gather their tribute to his greatness." (37) This expansion of power makes Hrothgar into a great king. However, before the days of their greatness, Hrothgar had begun "hardly stronger than the others, began to outstrip the rest. He'd shown them the strength of his organization." (37) His seemingly great abilities as king however, are not the only factors that contribute to Hrothgar's great reputation. In Chapter 4, the shaper arrives at Hrothgar's mead hall. Unlike other poets, the shaper is able to sing of a false past so gloriously as to have it be true. By doing this, he encourages the Thanes to live-up to their false glory. Some may say that shaper is solely responsible for the advancement of the Thanes into the great kingdom. By Chapter 4, even Grendel is convinced that the lies the shaper sings of are true. This is evident when he says "I knew them, had watched them; yet the things he said seemed true." (47) The shaper embodies the summit of the Thane's greatness. His death later brings great sadness throughout the kingdom. "The people listen silent and solemn to the old shaper's song on the young man's lips." (147) Without the shaper to sing lies of his greatness, Hrothgar is no longer a great king. The Thanes have already conquered as much as they can, and the kingdom is now in a state of maintaining its power. Overall sadness at the death of the shaper, lack of motivation and threats upon the thrown drive the kingdom into a period of decline. Hrothgar is no longer the proactive young king he used to be. Instead, "puffy-eyed, he gets up, and in a kind of stupor goes to the meadhall to piss." (136)
Authors often have to choose between concentrating on either plot or social commentary when writing their novels; in John Gardener's Grendel, the plot becomes is a secondary consideration. Grendel's exploits provide the reader with a clear understanding of the strong opinions the author carries and can be seen clearly as a narrative supporting nihilism in its many forms. The reader easily perceives the blatant religious subtext in the guise of corrupt priests and the foolish faithful. The notion of the old being wise is unacceptable to Gardener along with any notion of hero idolization. Within his novel, Gardner expresses his views concerning religion, wisdom and nature.
John Gardner takes the English epic Beowulf and successfully changes the entire structure and style with his novel Grendel. In Gardner’s rendition, Grendel deviates from a pure monster with only a simple mind of evil, moving towards a being who is conscious of himself, his actions, and its consequential effects on the environment around him. Gardner consistently alludes to Nietzschean schools of thought, referencing concepts such as the role of God, His death, and existentialism itself. Grendel’s largely varying lines of thought not only incite his bizarre behavior, but also breeds catastrophe as a result.
Throughout both Grendel and Beowulf, it shows the journey of self-discovery in Grendels life. They all directly link him to being Nihilistic. Grendels will to continue living is based on the societies ability to continue letting him terrorize everyone with no remorse. The Anglo-Saxon society rejected Grendel pushing him farther into a deep trouble spot in his life: terrorization without remorse, the worst act in this society.The rejection of morals, rules and regulation in this society ultimately lead to Grendels downfall, leading Beowulf to ultimately destroy Grendel. Further showing that Nihilism is the biggest aspect as to why Grendel was lead to his downfall.
Now for another example from The Scarlet Letter, the rosebush. Hawthorne symbolizes the rosebush as “a sweet moral blossom.” In The Scarlet Letter(Hawthorne Pg #55), it states, “we could hardly do otherwise but pluck one of its flowers and present it to the reader. Let it hope to represent a sweet moral blossom that may reveal the darkening close of a tale of human frailty and sorrow.” Thus meaning that it could serve as a lesson to be learned by the reader. Symbolism not only can be difficult to understand, but difficult to portray. The rosebush could be both, but Hawthorne does a good job portraying the
never be mentioned in any place other than the forest. "What we did " she
Grendel falls into the Dragon’s enchantment of instituting the theory of nihilism, but Grendel rejects the Dragon’s philosophy and returns to acceding to his impulses. Because the Dragon surmises persuasively about the absence of God and proclaims there is no intrinsic meaning or worth in existence, Grendel battles with his conscience to not let the evil temptations of the Dragon’s ulterior motives prevail his mentality. The Dragon contradicts his own hypothetical opinion of meaningless life by encouraging Grendel to create his own meaning in the inevitable ambiguity of life. Grendel infers from the Dragon’s propaganda of his theory that nihilism does not lead to the looming sensation of having communal and commutative happiness with sympathetic human beings. Since Grendel only relies on his behavior and intentions as a decision mechanism, Grendel grapples with fighting off the outward drives of the Dragon’s existential approach and with maintaining stable, anthropomorphic characteristics. The Shaper contaminates Grendel’s intellectual disorder and identifies this pessimistic creature with consciousness as an embodiment of evil that cannot vanquish the segregation that he has with the nature of man. The Shaper’s song mentions hopeful thinking of Hrothgar’s kingdom
Dimmesdale says to Hester, “Truth was the one virtue which I might have held fast,
Written sometime between 400-700 AD, Beowulf, the basis for the novel Grendel, was rooted in historical fact. When Gardner decided to write Grendel over 1200 years later, he kept some of these themes, twisted some, and omitted others. There are many characteristics of Anglo-Saxon culture exhibited by Gardner in Grendel, however due to the nihilistic view Grendel holds, they are sometimes warped.
The human struggle, because of its adept nature, too often involves a thirst for a sense of belonging and a comprehensive understanding of the genuine purpose of life. In his novel Grendel, John Gardner ponders on and expresses various perspectives on this issue. Gardner implements this through the character of Grendel, who is withdrawn from any semblance of an interpersonal relationship, lacks a coherent ideology, and attempts to find fulfillment and purpose. On Grendel's journey various characters try to sway his perspective and feed him their various ideologies. Of which (one of) the most pivotal and alarming was the dragon. In Grendel, the dragon served as an extremist who tried to sway towards his ideology, and in quest for meaning the
John Gardner’s Grendel portrays a monster searching for his purpose in life. The characters know the meaning of their lives, but Grendel tries to discover his role and what life has to offer him. Grendel discovers his identity through other characters’ actions and beliefs. In Grendel, John Gardner illustrates the contrasting views of each character to show their view of society and the influence they have on Grendel.
The monster Grendel is the ironic eye through which the action is viewed and from this perspective he provides the reader with never-ending examples of buffoonery and self-parody. Often his claims reveal the Sartrean component in his makeup: "I create the whole universe, blink by blink"(Gardner 22). Gardner,of course,wants to make a point here about solipsism. There is more to the objective world than Grendel's ego. Naturally the universe still exists when Grendel closes his eyes. Likewise, when Grendel says "I observe myself observing what I observe", (Gardner 29) ,he reminds us of Sartre's view of the self-reflective nature of consciousness. As he said in his interview, Gardner planned to parody Sartre's ideas in Being and Nothingess in these sections of the novel.
After she escapes, the warriors realize that she has managed to steal back Grendel's claw from where it has been hanging. The victim is one of Hrothgar's closest advisors, "the man he loved most of all men on earth." The king summons Beowulf and his men. There's a feeling of desperation in the air. We know Beowulf realizes that something is dreadfully wrong -- no doubt he can hear the uproar from the main hall- but he also knows that it's his job to convey confidence and self-control. At this moment, the young warrior seems wiser and more mature than the aging king.
Symbolism plays an important role in many novels. Held with the distinction of implying important themes, symbols add depth to a story. Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel The Scarlet Letter takes place in Boston, Massachusetts, in the 1640’s. Embellished with symbols and hidden themes, the novel tells "a tale of human frailty and sorrow" (Hawthorne 46). In addition to human flaw and sadness, the novel reveals inhumane punishment and torture from the government and citizens of Puritan society. All of these subjects are given a deeper meaning through symbols. These symbols help manifest the undertones of man vs. nature. The rose bush, prison, scaffold and brook represent complex and essential symbols in The Scarlet Letter.
The Scarlet Letter Critical Analysis Nathaniel Hawthorne was born in 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts. direct descendant of John Hawthorne, and a judge at the infamous. Salem Witchcraft Trials -. The guilt that Hawthorne felt over the actions. of his ancestor had an enormous impact on his writings.
The most obvious symbol of the novel is the one from which the book takes its title, the scarlet letter A. The scarlet letter must be separated from the literary form, in order to find full understanding of the letter. The literary symbol for he scarlet letter is a "concrete and an untranslatable presentation of an idea" (Weiss 19). The scarlet letter cannot find its way into the real life, except through the "meditation of the symbol" (Weiss 20). The scarlet letter is therefore a punishment by the Puritan society’s desire to bring for the truth, but it was brought to life by Hester. Hawthorne also lets the scarlet letter take on many other forms. The scarlet letter not only stands for adulteress, but for angel and able. It is also a reminder to both Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale of ...