Epic of Beowulf

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Recommended: A narative perspective of grendel from beowulf

Beowulf is the largest existence among the fighters in the territory of the Geats and in the beginning of poem Beowulf embarks across the sea to the territory of the Danes to rid their land of a monstrous creäture names Grendel. Grendel arises in the reader's mind as a creäture with a type of putrid-breath, in the darkness, a terror of impact with hard-boned and immeasurably sturdy humanoid build (Heaney, Beowulf).

Grendel's advance towards the Great Hall follows a specific course which leads closer to Heorot. “"Com on wanrenihtscridansceadugenga . . . Da com of more . . . Grendel gongan . . . Wod under wolcnum . . . Com pa to recede . . . rincsidian . . . on fagneflorfeondtreddode" (702-3, 710-11, 714, 720, 725; "The walker in shadows came advancing in the dark night . . . then Grendel came walking from the moor . . . he moved beneath the sky . . . then the warrior came advancing to the hall . . . the enemy trod the adorned floor")” (Clark, Chapter 4).

As Grendel approaches Heorot, there is a sense of apprehension created as he becomes a crushing force bearing relentlessly down on the silent hall. First Grendel moves through the dark of night, then reveals himself, and moves underneath the expansive sky. He moves from the squander, an image of chaos, and crosses cleared land which is the kingdom of humanity (Clark, Chapter 4).Possibly the most significant of all Grendel's demonic associations are his relations to Cain (Lee, Heorot). Like a being of eternal darkness, Grendel knows the whereabouts of the hall unlike Beowulf and his men who comprehended its gold-adorned brilliance. Grendel's appalling footstep on the human art seems monstrous (Clark, Chapter 4).

As Grendel comes near and enters Heorot, the storyteller sequenti...

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...erature Criticism. Ed. Dennis Poupard and Jelena O. Krstovic. Vol. 1. Detroit: Gale Research, 1988. Literature Resources from Gale. Web. 11 Jan. 2012.

Morey, Robert. "Beowulf's Androgynous Heroism." The Journal of English and Germanic Philology 95.4 (1996): 486+. Literature Resources from Gale. Web. 11 Jan. 2012.

Nitzsche, Jane C. "The Structural Unity of Beowulf: The Problem of Grendel's Mother." Texas Studies in Literature and Language 22.3 (Fall 1980): 287-303. Rpt. in Poetry Criticism. Ed. Carol T. Gaffke and Anna J. Sheets. Vol. 22. Detroit: Gale Research, 1999. Literature Resources from Gale. Web. 11 Jan. 2012.

Vaught, Jacqueline. "Beowulf: The Fight at the Center." Allegorica 5.2 (Winter 1980): 125-137. Rpt. in Poetry Criticism. Ed. Carol T. Gaffke and Anna J. Sheets. Vol. 22. Detroit: Gale Research, 1999. Literature Resources from Gale. Web. 11 Jan. 2012.

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