Anaylsis of Grendel by John Gardner

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Most authors, occasionally uses their characters to guide their personal views they want to emphasize to their audience. In the novel, Grendel written by John Gardner, Gardner uses Grendel as an agent to portray his perspective of the evil and corrupt world of humans and their place in the universe. Gardner not only uses Grendel as a vehicle, but also uses the Dragon as another source to express his opinions of people in the world. Gardner can be considered as an isolated human being, who is kept away from the affection of others; Grendel and Gardner can be closely related due to the fact that Gardner is embodied as Grendel in a more dimensional aspect. They both seem to contain repugnant thoughts towards the world they are “forced” to live in. The Dragon supports Gardner’s statement by going against the Shaper’s stories, by telling Grendel that life seems to possess no meaning and every story the Shaper tells is to alter the people’s attitudes. While Grendel is conversing with the Dragon, the Dragon mocks the Shaper, “[He] provides an illusion of reality- puts together all their facts with gluey whine of connectedness. [...] But he spins it all together with harp runs and hoots, and they think what they think is alive, think Heaven loves them” (Pg. 65). This proves that humans are weak-minded and are easily persuaded into faulty stories; this puts humans into a low ranking scale of morality. Through Grendel’s observation of Hrothgar’s kingdom, is also considered a source of perspective. Grendel witnesses Wealtheow being used as a balance of harmony between the two rivaling families, the Danes and the Helmings. As Grendel spies on them he thinks to himself, “But she was beautiful and she surrendered herself with the dignity of a s...

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...hopes to be informed of the essence of how the people live. Similar to “The Allegory of the Cave” the truth is better expressed through experience because at time language is unable to persuade people’s beliefs of subjects. In both texts the prisoners and Grendel are chained under a room masked from reality that keeps them away from finding enlightenment. In Grendel the fire snakes are his “protector” that keeps Grendel away from the corrupt and evil ways of the humans. Similarly, the prisoners in “The Allegory of the Cave” are restrained from the path that leads them into the light that possesses absoluteness. Both texts are interconnected from similar attempts to use ideas about enlightenment to guide the characters to discover certainty in their world. With all the lies and faulty stories they are shrouded under, they are motivated to find philosophical meaning.

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