Have you ever cried out to your mother when you're in a troublesome situation? Most mothers seem to come to the rescue but not for Grendel. Instead he spotted a bull in the distance that seemed to be nothing but a mechanical creature, so he was no help. Later he was approached by humans and after trying to communicate with them, it was obvious the two species didn´t seem to cooperate. Along with the miscommunications, the humans started guessing on what this creatures desires were. Grendel´s mishap of being stuck in a tree really kicked off his opinion on humans and the world around him because of his incident with the bull, his floundering with the humans and their response to his actions.
Grendel after observing the world around him while
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being stuck in a tree spotted a bull, which seemed to influence his opinions on the life around him. ¨the world snapped into position around him, as if in league with him.¨ (pg.19) this was Grendel's first observation of the bull, showing that his initial view of them is that they are almost like a part of nature; a plant or something that does basically nothing. Grendel later says ¨He´d have fought the same way against an earthquake or an eagle: I had nothing to fear from his wrath but that twisting horn.¨ (pg.21) this showing that Grendel has a belief that bulls are only one-dimensional and only have one way of thinking; they are mechanical in his opinion. This later effects Grendel´s opinion on the whole world itself, he describes it as ¨a mechanical chaos of casual, brute enmity on which we stupidly impose our hopes and fears.¨(pg.21-22). In theory, Grendel at this point in time thinks that the world is mindless, like the bull and that he exists alone. Overall, it can be said that Grendel´s incident with the bull not only shaped his opinion of the bull and other creatures, but also it shaped his opinion of believing that the world around him is a mechanical place. In addition to Grendel believing that the world is mechanical, his time in the tree showed him his basic opinions on humans. Not knowing what each other species even was, Grendel was confused as to what they were going to do. ¨I tried to move, but my body was rigid; only one hand gave a jerk.¨(pg. 24), as shown in this Grendel didn´t know how to have a first impression with these humans which caused them to be very confused and careful of this thing. Their first impression was that he was a tree fungus and was taking the sap from the tree. ¨That's it! King´s right! It´s a spirit!¨ (pg. 25), said by a man who was really deep in his investigation with the tree and Grendel, who came to the conclusion that he was a tree spirit of some sort. Still not being able to move or respond much, Grendel tried to say something but nothing came out of his mouth. ¨I laughed. They jerked away and stood shaking, looking up.¨ (pg. 26), the two species never seemed to be able to get on the same page; Grendel chuckled and the humans claimed that he was angry. As one can see, Grendel and the humans were not able to communicate well in their first encounter with each other which shaped his first viewpoint on humans that they are stupid and not understanding. Soon after this occurrence with the humans, while Grendel was still stuck in the tree, the humans ¨flipped the switch¨ on him.
¨The king snatched an ax from the man beside him and, without any warning, he hurled it at me¨ (pg.27), this quote, said by Grendel, was the human´s response when he tried to yell ¨Pig!¨ (pg.27). Their thought process went from getting him food to trying to kill him, leading him to believe that they are crazy and psychotic. After this and the roaring came Grendel´s mother ¨and before she was within a mile of us , the creatures had leaped to their horses and galloped away.¨ (pg.27). The humans in Grendel's opinion were now cowardly because they could toy around with him but once his mother who wasn't stuck in a tree came, they got out of there as fast as possible. ¨The world resists me and I resist the world,¨, Grendel woke up in his mother´s cave and said this. Now that the humans responded in the wrong way towards him, he gets down on himself and believes he is the only thing existing in the world; a world of his own. In the end, the human´s response to Grendel and to his mother lead him to believe that humans are insane and also cowardly. Not only this but they shaped his viewpoint on himself.
In conclusion, the scene in the book where Grendel was stuck in the tree was significant to his opinions of everything around him. First, Grendel saw a bull in the distance which came off as a mindless creature. Next, Grendel couldn't get the humans to communicate
with him. Lastly, the responses of the humans and his mother´s actions shaped his views on everything around him. Grendel's event of being stuck in the tree while being young and exploring the outside world shaped his opinions of different creatures (humans in particular) and the world because of the multiple occurrences that took place while he was there.
For ages, humanity has always told stories of the classic struggle between man and monster. The battle between Beowulf and Grendel is a prime example of this archetype, but is Grendel only purely a monster? In his article “Gardner’s Grendel and Beowulf: Humanizing the Monster”, Jay Ruud makes a point that Grendel is a hybridization of both monster and man, particularly in John Gardner’s novel Grendel. In the poem Beowulf, Grendel is depicted as a purely evil monster who terrorizes Hrothgar and his people, but the novel provides a more humanistic backstory to the fiend. Throughout the novel, Grendel tells of his internal struggle between his thoughts of filling the role of the monster versus attempting to make amends with the humans. This conflict
the men as the "beasts" and Grendel as the victim. & nbsp; Another aspect of the humans in the story that Grendel defines is their concept of a hero. Not only does he allow for heroes to exist he gives them their purpose in life. Grendel is the monster in the darkness. that every loyal thane would defend his king against. Without Grendel this unique situation would not exist. On the other hand, Grendel has the ability to humiliate and cause a man to be named a coward. He does. this to none other than Unferth. Unferth is treated like a hero because he would defeat the "monster" Grendel, or die trying. When Grendel does not. allow him to complete this task he is shamed by his fellow thanes. Grendel realizes that by killing the man he will be defining him as a hero in the eyes of the humans. Considering the way Grendel was treated by Unferth. and others like him, it becomes easy to sympathize with him extracting this.
Perhaps he would actually like to live a normal life with the humans. “Some evil inside myself pushed out into the trees, I knew what I knew, the mindless, mechanical bruteness of things, and when the harper’s lure drew my mind away from hopeful dreams, the dark of what was and always was reached out and snatched my feet.” (Gardner 54) It seems as though Grendel would like to change things if he could, but some outside force will not allow it. Even if this is true, Grendel is still inherently evil. Despite whatever dreams he may have. The reader simply cannot ignore the fact that he still does evil deeds with evil intentions. He is seemingly unable to feel love, or at least disinterested in it. He enjoys torturing and killing humans and rarely shows mercy. Due to these facts, it is impossible to say Grendel is a hero in this
This ‘beast’, the protagonist of the story, fights an internal struggle, of which is a part of the Hero’s Journey. Grendel is unable to decide what to make of himself and of the world surrounding him. He has only ever known the world as wild and mechanical, yet he is charmed by the artistic brilliance of the Shaper’s words. Grendel ultimately meets a brutal yet peaceful demise. Standing on the face of the same cliff he found himself in the beginning of the novel, surrounded by mindless eyes, he states, “Poor Grendel’s had an accident. So may you all.” (Grendel, John Gardner, pg.174) Previous to this, he questions if what he is feeling is joy. The reader is lead to believe that Grendel must feel nothing but peace. This, is the concluding moment of his
Throughout John Gardner’s Grendel, the audience bears witness to a creature who has been ostracized by the world around him. Throughout his journey, the stories protagonist tries to live out his own life the way he wants to, despite being labeled as evil by those around him. Due to this constant criticism by his peers, he develops an inferiority complex that he desperately tries to make up for as the story progresses. Throughout his development, Grendel very rapidly moves past his existentialist beginning, through a brief phase of forced skepticism, and into a severely nihilistic point of view.
He derives a satisfaction from his interactions with the Danes that he cannot get from interactions with any other creature. violent outbursts and antagonistic relationship with humans can be seen as the result of a lonely creature’s misunderstood attempts to reach out and communicate with someone else. Grendel was amused by the humans, observing of their violence that (ch 3) He was sickened by the waste of their wars, all the animals killed but not eaten. Ashamed of his monstrousness, what better that to be like the thing you envy the most.
Grendel as a character is very intelligent, he is capable of rational thought at all times. Because of this, at sometimes during the story I would forget Grendel is a monster, the way he acts in his thoughts and actions I would mistake him for a human; at times I was even feeling bad for Grendel because he is a very lonely person who tries to understand all of the meaningless of the world around him. Grendel can never get to close to
As a result of not receiving help when the bull was attacking him, Grendel develops a new theory: “I alone exist. All the rest, I saw, is merely what pushes me, or what I push against, blindly—as blindly as all that is not myself pushes back. I create the universe, blink by blink” (Gardner 21-22). Grendel’s questioning of his way of living marks a transformation of Grendel into a mature character who gains knowledge from his experience with the bull, concluding that the world revolves only around him. The utilization of ‘I’ portrays that his growing isolation from the absence of his mother during the bull attack is what permits him to believe that he is superior to everyone else and the only worthy creature to exist. This foreshadows his ultimate purpose in life which is to kill mankind. Grendel, as the creator of the world, holds the ultimate power to decide who will live, lacking the perspective that there is a higher force other than himself. In other words, the experience Grendel acquires from the bull attack enables him to mature and obtain insight on the truth of his
In the beginning Grendel’s perspective of himself leads to various encounters that help him discover the meaninglessness to his very own existence. From the beginning through many centuries of pondering Grendel has come to the idea that the world consists entirely of Grendel and not-Grendel. Thus Grendel begins his search for meaning of his very own life with an existential philosophy, the belief that emphasizes the existence of the individual person as a free and responsible agent determining their own development through acts of the will. While Grendel’s overall perspective of nature is that of mindless and mechanical machine, he believes that he is a separate entity from this machine. Furthermore he holds the philosophy that he himself is a god like creature that “blink by blink” creates the world. This philosophy undermined when Grendel notices that events occur before he can think them into existence. Grendel witnesses the death of a deer by the hands of humans: “Suddenly time is a rush for the hart: head flicks, he jerks, his front legs buckling, and he’s dead. He lies as still as the snow hurtling outward around him to the hushed world’s rim. The image clings to my mind like a
Grendel feels like an outcast in the society he lives in causing him to have a hard time finding himself in the chaotic world. He struggles because the lack of communication between he and his mother. The lack of communication puts Grendel in a state of depression. However, Grendel comes in contact with several characters with different philosophical beliefs, which allows his to see his significance in life. Their views on life influence Grendel to see the world in a meaningful way.
Grendel is born a neutral being, perhaps even good, but nevertheless, without hate. The transition which he undergoes to become evil is due to misunderstandings between himself and humans and also meeting with a dragon who is questionably evil. As a young “monster”, Grendel knew nothing other than the cave he lived in and his mother who could not speak any distinguishable language. He was a playful creature who seemed to be like a “bla...
...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.
Grendel is the embodiment of all that is evil and dark. He is a descendant of Cain and like Cain is an outcast of society. He is doomed to roam in the shadows. He is always outside looking inside. He is an outside threat to the order of society and all that is good. His whole existence is grounded solely in the moral perversion to hate good simply because it is good.
...zes humanity in this scene by portraying them as the evil beings instead of Grendel who is the helpless victim of their savage assault. The men attack Grendel solely because they could not understand him and because of his appearance. Grendel makes no attempt to harm the men but to communicate with them while they are the ones that savagely tried to kill him. John Gardner portrays the men as the real monsters who mercilessly tried to kill Grendel while he was defenseless. Grendel has another revelation due to this attack in where he states. “The world resists me and I resist the world… “That’s all there is.”(Gardner, 28) Grendel makes this assertion as a means to organized the ways he perceives the world. While he once saw the world as a confusing array of frightening images, now he can separate the world into categories: those who do not resemble him and himself.
The magic that Grendel is capable of conjuring up explains the evilness of his entire being. Grendel’s supernatural capabilities help to defend himself against Beowulf as he battles him to the death.