Adolescence And Power In John Gardner's Grendel

769 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Beowulf in grendel john gardner

John Gardner’s Grendel brings a new perspective to the the way the story of Beowulf is told and interpreted. (Grendel’s ability to be influenced by the multiple sources around him changes his outlook on life. It also changes the reader’s ideas of who Grendel is as a character as he develops and changes in the book.) Grendel’s ability to be influenced with ease by multiple characters throughout the book shows his true adolescence and nature to follow others. These multiple characters such as the Dragon, the Shaper, and Wealtheow all are able to use their propaganda to instill into Grendel a new value or trait. Grendel’s adolescence therefore results in multiple sources of propaganda being so influential on him as a character. (is the reason why propaganda from many different sources influences him so heavily.) …show more content…

He is giddy with joy for the battle that will soon commence. Before the bloodshed finally erupts the Scylding king (talks) offers his sister Wealtheow to Hrothgar as a peace gift for the powerful king. Hrothgar accepts the beautiful Wealtheow and Grendel still waiting in the thick forest is suddenly flooded with emotions. Even to the point of saying, “She tore me apart as once the Shaper’s song had done. As for my benefit, as if in vicious scorn of me, children came from the meadhall and ran down to her weeping, to snatch at her hands and dress. “Stop it!” I whispered. “Stupid!”.” Wealtheow emits propaganda not by her words but her actions. Her courage and beauty cause Grendel to see the good in humans which in a way torments him. He sees the children running to her weeping and feels as if he is a child again wanting to be comforted by her. This play on Grendel’s adolescence and lack of a strong mother figure drives her message of propaganda deeper into his subconscious. (Her courageous deeds influence Grendel to the nihilistic view of the

Show More
Related

  • Grendel And Beowulf: Humanizing The Monster

    833 Words  | 2 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • John Gardner's Grendel: The Differences Between Good And Evil

    885 Words  | 2 Pages

    Grendel does not love, at least not in the way humans do. One could make the argument that he loves Wealthlow, but all signs point to the fact that this is just mere infatuation. Grendel doesn't love her. He's

    Read More

  • How Does Gardner Present Grendel's Character Development

    1275 Words  | 3 Pages

    Theme is the message of the story, while character development is the way the author creates the character within the novel. In the novel Grendel, by John Gardner, the reader gathers a lot information in regards to the changes of Grendel’s development. The way Gardner presents Grendel is a key element towards the plot of the story. Gardner does a great job to embody the stages towards the change of Grendel’s image. Throughout the story, the reader could see Grendel first not knowing the real world, then finally realizing what life is. Grendel is used in Grendel as symbol that represents evil. It does not matter if a character thinks there on the good side or bad side; it is how the society views them. Grendel is a victim of ancestry and society, which which implies that Grendel is automatically fraud. Gardner also potrays the theme of with isolation, could create hatred to the world and a different way of living.

    Read More

  • John Gardner's Grendel and the Greater Power

    2239 Words  | 5 Pages

    Many of the characters in Grendel have direction and purpose in their lives. Wealtheow is self- sacrificing, and Hrothgar is out for personal glory. Unferth and Beowulf spend their lives trying to become great heroes so that their names may outlast their flesh. The dragon believed in nihilism, and the Shaper used his imagination to create something to believe in. Some of the characters’ philosophies may not have been commendable, but Grendel could not find any direction or purpose for his life whatsoever. Grendel looked for the intervention of a power higher than himself to lay the truths of the world upon him, an experience that the Romantics would characterize as an experience of the sublime. John Gardner portrays Grendel as someone who wants to find a philosophy, whether his own or someone else’s, that fits him and gives him an identity or a reason to live. By looking at the text from this perspective we can see how Gardner believes people should pursue, or rather, embrace a power greater than themselves.

    Read More

  • Grendel's Sympathy In Beowulf

    496 Words  | 1 Pages

    John Gardener’s Grendel is another version of the epic Beowulf, except in a differing perspective. This story is retold from the viewpoint of Grendel. Gardener wants us to empathize with Grendel through his own thoughts and emotions. The way one sees the monster in Beowulf is completely different than how one would think of him in Grendel. One is forced to view someone else’s opinion versus getting to form an opinion for oneself.

    Read More

  • Morality In John Gardner's Grendel: Good And Evil

    753 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Shaper, a harp-playing bard, tells righteous tales about Hrothgar, the ruler, and his society. The Shaper lies and spins a web of exaggerations that romanticize the violence that has given Hrothgar his power. Grendel witnessed the fighting himself and knew what the Shaper was saying was untrue. However, Grendel cannot help himself but falling for the optimistically distorted reality of the Shaper. Throughout time and across the world, figures similar to the Shaper work to twist the truth into a favorable picture. The human perspective can often be easily controlled. This shows the fragility of independence and humanity. In response to the Shaper, Grendel says I too crept away, my mind aswim in ringing phrases, magnificent, golden, and all of them, incredibly, lies" (Gardner 43), but he also says “I clamped my palms to my ears and stretched up my lips and shrieked again” (Gardner 45). The contrast between these responses to the Shaper show how Grendel is split. He is both charmed and repulsed by the lies. Both ways, the Shaper demonstrates to Grendel the artificiality of truth in this existence. This only furthers Grendel’s dissatisfaction towards

    Read More

  • John Gardner's Grendel As An Anti-Hero

    501 Words  | 2 Pages

    Some of the greatest villains in literature are characters who have merely been misunderstood. While we are drawn to literary heroes and admire their strengths, we often forget to consider the point of view of their enemies. Many of these enemies also possess strengths that the reader does not realize. Along with traditional heroes, the villain in a story can be considered an anti-hero. In the story Grendel, by John Gardner, the reader is challenged to contemplate the thoughts and feelings of the anti-hero, Grendel. Exploring heroes like Beowulf, and anti-heroes like Grendel, and the Beast in Beauty and the Beast, causes the reader to develop a better understanding of the relationship that exists between the characters and their society.

    Read More

  • How Does The Transformation Of Grendel Fit Into Society

    1064 Words  | 3 Pages

    In John Gardner’s novel, Grendel, Grendel has a lifelong struggle of finding who he is and where he fits into society. In his youth, Grendel is very new to the world around him and feels vulnerable. Soon however, Grendel meets man and begins to be influenced and shaped by their customs and ways.Through the continual influence of society, Grendel turns to and accepts his violent nature and begins to justify senseless killings, thus falling into man’s way.

    Read More

  • The Importance Of Good And Evil In John Gardner's Grendel

    1054 Words  | 3 Pages

    In order to save her brother and her kingdom, she willingly became queen to King Hrothgar, and thus was named as the “holy servant of the common good” (Grendel 100). She seemed so enchanting that even Grendel described her as “beautiful, as innocent as dawn on winter hills” (Grendel 100). To all, Wealtheow seemed to embody all the good of humanity- she was strong, innocent, and kind. At least, until Grendel decided to challenge that belief. In a fit of rage, he bursts through the meadhall door, and pushes aside anyone in his path towards the queen. Once he has her, surrounded by a circle of unsure guards, he describes her “unqueenly shrieks” as if they were the “squeals of a pig” (Grendel 109). As he contemplates what to do next he notices the acts of those around him. “No one would defend her, not even suicidal Unferth” he explains, even after she calls for help, yet they were all willing to pray to their “dead stick-gods” to save her (Grendel 109). The gods do nothing. In his single act of threatening the queen, Grendel reveals that the queen is no angel, that Unferth is no hero, and the gods no help to the humans.

    Read More

  • Symbolism In Grendel

    1504 Words  | 4 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • The Epic Of Grendel's Metaphamental Monsters In Beowulf

    1017 Words  | 3 Pages

    Beowulf outlines turmoil between three opponents: Grendel, Grendel’s mother, and the Dragon. These separate discords each serve to fulfill different metaphoric purposes. Grendel’s character epitomizes the adverse persona of how an Anglo-Saxon warrior should not be. His mother represents everything that a woman during the time era should seldom be. Lastly, the Dragon embodies all the values that an Anglo-Saxon king should not dare retain. Without a doubt, the symbolic implications of the monsters in Beowulf bring the context to a new level of understanding.

    Read More

  • Grendel: The Outcast

    1429 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...n very human feelings of resentment and jealousy. Grendel was an unstable and saddened figure because of his outcast status. Though Grendel had many animal attributes and a grotesque, monstrous appearance, he seemed to be guided by vaguely human emotions and impulses. He truthfully showed more of an interior life than one might expect. Exiled to the swamplands outside the boundaries of human society, Grendel’s depiction as an outcast is a symbol of the jealousy and hate that seeks to destroy others' happiness and can ultimately cripple a civilization. This take on the outcast archetype ultimately exposes the Anglo Saxon people’s weaknesses, their doubts and anxieties towards the traditional values that bounded nearly every aspect of their life.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Grendel And His Mother

    1050 Words  | 3 Pages

    Despite her evil actions, it is evident that there is less malice in her than Grendel and she is less of a symbol of pure evil than he is. For example, her attack on Heorot is somewhat appropriate and could be considered honorable by the standards of warrior culture, as it marks an attempt to avenge one’s son’s death. In fact, the motive for her attack is similar to Beowulf’s motive for his attack on her: avenging the death of a loved one. One of the most interesting aspects of Grendel’s mother’s attachment to this vengeance-demanding code that the warriors follow is that she is depicted as not entirely alien or monstrous. Her behavior is not only comprehensible but also justified. In other ways, however, Grendel and his mother are indeed portrayed as creatures from another world. One aspect of their difference from the humans portrayed in the poem is that Grendel’s strong parental figure is his mother rather

    Read More

  • Literary Analysis Of Grendel By John Gardner

    852 Words  | 2 Pages

    The British novelist Laurence Sterne inscribes how no one can understand the struggles of being torn by two opposing ideals with equal force at the same moment, except one who is in that position or dealing with that problem. Stern asserts that opposing forces plaguing a man can destroy his sanity. In the novel, Grendel by John Gardner, Grendel is the protagonist who deals with two conflicting ideas on how he should live his life. Throughout the novel, Grendel contemplates the meaning of life and seeks to discover the workings of the universe, observing how men interact with each other. One significant observation is one of the Shaper who is a storyteller who creates meaning out of life that Grendel longs for. As the story continues, Grendel

    Read More

  • Monsters in Beowulf

    2103 Words  | 5 Pages

    There are three prominent monsters in the Beowulf text, Grendel, his mother, and the dragon. While the dragon proves to be the most fatale of foes for Beowulf, Grendel and his mother do not simply pose physical threats to the Germanic society; their roles in Beowulf are manifold. They challenge the perceptions of heroism, a sense of unrivalled perfection and superiority. Moreover, they allow the reader to reconsider the gender constructs upheld within the text; one cannot help but feel that the threat that these monsters present is directed towards the prevalent flaws in Beowulf’s world. Moreover, what makes these monsters is not their physical appearance; it is what they embody. Both Grendel and his mother have humanlike qualities yet their monstrous appearance arises from what their features and mannerisms represent. The challenge they pose to societal paradigms makes them far more terrifying to our heroes than any scaled flesh or clawing hand. These monsters provide the ‘most authoritative general criticism […] of the structure and conduct of the poem’. Their presence provides contrast and criticism of the brave society (Heaney 103).

    Read More

More about Adolescence And Power In John Gardner's Grendel

Open Document