Are Some Humans Born Evil In Grendel, By John Gardner

The question of what determines our moral code has been debated for centuries. Are some individuals born evil, or is it a learned trait? In Grendel, John Gardner gives the one-dimensional antagonist from ¨Beowulf¨ his own story. Grendel is a “demon” who lives in an isolated cave for much of his early life. When he ventures into the outside world, he becomes so mad at the Danish king, Hrothgar, that he starts a “war” where he attacks Hrothgar’s mead hall every night for twelve years. Hrothgar’s people view it as savagery, but Grendel seems himself as a punisher of humanity's sinful ways. Grendel merely decided what was right and wrong based on what the humans were doing; the punishment was just in his eyes. He realizes that humans are wasteful,

In Grendel, John Gardner shows that Grendel’s sense of right and wrong is shaped by the sins of man. Grendel watches the humans commit unnecessary acts of violence, and he uses them to justify his war with Hrothgar. He watches human tribes fight with one another, and is appalled by how they waste livestock, burn villages, and slaughter people. He finds himself “sickened, if only by the waste of it.” (Gardner, 36) Grendel doesn’t understand why the humans kill unnecessarily, but he is viewed as a monster when he kills for his own survival. Hrothgar becomes the most powerful king in the land, and Grendel has watched him waste and sin more than anyone else. Grendel sees himself as better than Hrothgar, which justifies attacking him for punishment. A similarly influential event occurs when Grendel steps on a dead man one night while listening to the Shaper sing. The Shaper says a

The Shaper is a blind man who comes to Hrothgar’s hall one day, promising to sing for their entertainment. He weaves an embellished tale of how Hrothgar’s ancestor, Scyld, had “rebuilt the old Danish Kingdom from ashes.” (Gardner, 42) Grendel witnessed the disorganized fighting that led to Hrothgar’s tribe consolidating his power, but the artful skills of the Shaper’s song almost lead him to believe that the lies are true. This confuses Grendel, because the Shaper must know the truth (one can’t lie about the past if they don’t know how it happened), so why does he say things that are blatantly untrue? More importantly, why does Grendel lose himself in the words of the Shaper? Grendel finds himself hanging onto every word the Shaper says, just because the songs he sings are beautiful in and of themselves. When Hrothgar builds a magnificent mead hall and celebrates with all his subjects, Grendel actually starts to believe that Hrothgar is a benevolent, wise king. He knows this isn’t true, but the Shaper continues to sing about Hrothgar’s greatness, and Grendel mentally goes along with it. All of this backfires, however, when the Shaper sings about Grendel being cursed by Cain. When Grendel is chased out of the hall after he finds the dead man, he realizes that the Shaper has his own version of what is right and what is wrong, just like everybody else. He says “if the Shaper’s vision of goodness and peace was a part of