Archetypes In Grendel

Fear has controlled the world and shaped humans into what they are now. New technologies have been created, because of the fear humans have. Over time new fears have evolved, and illnesses occurred due to anxiety and depression from these fears. The terror that runs through each individual is different. Without fear there would be no evolution or protection.

In John Gardner’s Grendel, he uses the literary devices of archetypes, foreshadowing, and imagery to develop the theme of fear.

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

reasons to kill unknown to them. While Grendel is listening in on the shaper, he narrates to himself about the man's song, “He told of an ancient feud between two brothers which split all the world between darkness and light. And I, Grendel, was the dark side, he said in effect. The terrible race God cursed,” (Gardner 51). The Danes’ have a consensus that from the very beginning, God had cursed Grendel, due to his relation to Cain. They on the other hand, believe themselves to be a pure, and good race. Grendel being on the ‘dark side’ adds to the fact that he will always be looked upon with dread by others, especially the human race. Him being painted into a creature of nightmare in the minds of the Danes’ has, along with other literary devices, developed the theme of fear.
Throughout the novel, Gardner uses the element of foreshadowing to expand the impression of fear. Towards the middle of the book, many characters, including Grendel himself, feel an impending doom. This ominous feeling is displayed by his mother, when she attempts to keep Grendel in the cave, for fear of the death that awaits him. Yet Grendel also understands that something or someone is coming, and the ending might not be in his favor. While Grendel is watching the town, he says to himself, “Something is coming, strange as spring. I am afraid. Standing on an open hill, I imagine muffled footsteps overhead,” (Gardener 126). While the humans possessed fear of Grendel, the roles have switched at some points during the story, such as this part. The ‘earth rim roamer’ senses the battle that awaits him, and Gardner depicted Grendel in a way that shows fear, rather than courage. Unlike what the Danes’ view him as, Grendel is capable of fear, even if that fear is a human.
Gardener uses imagery, along with the other literary devices, to further imply the novel and characters within it feel, and revolve around the fear that is taking place.

Descriptions of gruesome events, such as the one narrated by Grendel, set some fear into the mood of the events taking place. They also make the reader feel some of the fear that the humans are suffering in the hands of Grendel. While Grendel is going around killing every soldier in proximity, he thinks to himself, before being confronted by Beowulf, “I seize up a sleeping man, tear at him hungrily, bite through his bone-locks and suck hot, slippery blood,” (Gardner 168). Gardner describes how the soldiers were murdered in a way that portrays what the Danes’ feel when they think of Grendel. The adjectives used to describe the blood, and even the mention of the blood, causes a reader to feel uneasiness and horror. Just the action of him ravaging through the mead hall sets the negative tone. Overall, imagery is used constantly throughout, and represents the theme in a subtle way, compared to the other literary

devices.
The theme is shown in more ways than one, and in more than one perspective. Grendel, his mother, and especially the humans feel fear throughout the novel. The fears’ of one another intertwine, from Grendel being afraid of his future encounter with Beowulf, to the Danes’ fear of being killed by Grendel himself. Gardner has used this emotion to better develop the plot, as well as impact the reader. Fear possesses the world of Grendel and the Danes’ in more ways than one.