The synthesis of Christian and Germanic cultures in ‘Beowulf’ is best seen in regards to the characters of Grendel, Grendel’s Mother in two ways. Firstly, through the relation of Grendel and his Mother to the biblical Cain, and how said lineage embroils them in a blood-feud. Secondly, this combination of beliefs is shown by the classification of Grendel and His Mother as ‘Monsters’ in both cultures.
It is established early on in the poem that Grendel is a descendent of the Biblical Cain; ‘...this miserable man/ lived for a time in the land of giants/ after the creator had condemned him/ among Cain’s race…’ (104-107). This is a strong example of Christian influence in two ways; first, in the idea of a monotheistic God and second in the
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It is this clear heritage that allows the Germanic principle of blood-feuds to be seamlessly incorporated. The actions of Grendel and His Mother are part of a feud that started with the murder of Abel and God’s subsequent cursing of Cain: 'when he killed Abel/ the eternal Lord avenged that death.' (107-108). As the Poem continues, it’s made clear multiple times that Grendel’s actions are done with avenging intent against God as a result of Cain’s curse. The first instance in during the early days of his assault on Heorot, ‘...Grendel strove/ long with Hrothgar, bore his hatred/ sins and feuds, for many seasons,’ (150-152). Other notable instances occur later in the poem, in the descriptions given to Grendel: 'he bore God's anger;’ (711) and ‘...God's adversary...' (786). This language, especially the use of the word ‘adversary’, gives a strong impression that Grendel and God are at odds. The …show more content…
In Christian culture, worshipping God is one of the things that confirms one’s humanity; therefore, if there is no belief or allegiance to God, then there can not be any humanity. This is the case with Grendel and his mother. Grendel is described as a ‘man’ only once in the poem, and that is only before God ‘condemned him’ (104-107). Every other time Grendel is referred to in the poem, he is described as something distinctly inhuman, and is pointedly called a ‘monster’ shortly before his confrontation with Beowulf; ‘...the monster reached out/ towards him with his hands…’ (747-748). While Christian culture condemns Grendel because of his relationship with God, Germanic culture does so due to his refusal to conform to their social norms. It is mentioned in the early days of Grendel’s murder spree that he has no understanding of pledging allegiance to a lord or the gifts offered to him: ‘ nor ceased his deadly hatred, nor settled with money/...he saw no need to salute the throne/ he scorned the treasures/ he did not know their love.’ (156-169). In Germanic culture, the unofficial laws of gift-giving and following a generous king are ones that govern people’s everyday lives. To them, the idea of someone neither understanding nor participating in these practises presents the image of someone less than human.
Rudd cites various sections of the poem, describing Grendel as a “night-monster of the border lands” (Rudd 3), and the translation of the poem says that Grendel was, “...Conceived by a pair of those monsters born Of Cain, murderous creatures banished By God…” (Raffel 42). Rudd also gives evidence for Grendel being seen as demonic, and reasons that Grendel attacks the Danes out of “...not mere thirst for gore, as we might suspect… but rather… envy of the Danes’ happiness- and envy was a chief characteristic of the medieval devil.” (Ruud 5). He then ties this devilish persona to Grendel’s humanistic aspects, stating Grendel has a heathen soul, and therefore he must be human. Ruud also notes, however, that there are critics who question the validity of portraying Grendel as this three-sided figure, asking questions such as, “How can Grendel be a devil when he has a physical body? How can he be a man when he is so manifestly bestial?” (Ruud 7). Ruud believes that the original poet of Beowulf is doing this for effect rather than consistency, but a more reasonable explanation that encompasses all three characteristics is that Grendel represents the evil in
Grendel, written by John Gardner, is a novel based off the early epic poem, Beowulf. Gardner tells the tale in the perspective of the monster, Grendel, who is struggling to understand the purpose of life and his place in the world. In Gardner’s novel, Grendel terrorizes the kingdom of Hrothgar for 12 years, killing men in the night relentlessly. With the descriptions of battles and heroic deeds, Gardener conveys to the reader, the ideals of Anglo-Saxon heroes as courageous, self-righteous, humble, and loyal beings that are humanly flawless. The book Grendel tears down all these fundamental ideologies of Anglo-Saxon heroism by giving Grendel the monster a nihilist perspective that makes heroism sound stupid and meaningless.
Our first character, Grendel, is an exceptionally diverse character. It is implied that in both book and poem, Grendel is a blood-thirsty monster. All Grendel does is go through meadhalls and kill the drunk, often asleep people. But when narrated through the eyes of Grendel, the true nature of this beast is discovered. The author of Grendel entails that Grendel is a depressed and misunderstood monster, restrained to the confinements of his own underwater cave. He is a lot like the monster in the book Frankenstein. Both Grendel and Frankenstein are born with no real purpose to life, going off of what they hear other people say and taking it as the truth. Both monsters, knowing that everyone detests them for being unattractive and different, retaliate by way of murder and mayhem. From the perspective of the people in the stories itself, Grendel is exactly how the narrator in the poem Beowulf makes him out to be. The people, or the thanes, of Hrothgar’s kingdom see Grendel as a demon from hell, representing all that’s evil in the world. He’s a supernatural creature and in this time period anything supernatural that wasn’t human was considered a spirit, a god, evil or, in Grendel...
Beowulf is believed to be the Christian Savior while Grendel is the pagan monster. Grendel is described to be a terrorist of Herot Castle. There are several pagan references that are used in correlation to Grendel. The word's "devil", “evil" and "hell"(Beowulf, 5) are all examples from
In Chapter 8, Grendel exclaims, “I’m a machine. Like all of you. Blood-lust and rage are my character,” (Gardner 123). This profound statement establishes a connection between Grendel and the ambiguous “you,” the reader. The monster, though he confesses to his wrongdoing, asserts that readers are no better than he. Countless bible verses reiterate this concept: “For all have sinned,” (Romans 3:23) “[Humans] are all. .impure with sin,” (Isaiah 64:6). Gardner’s reminder to readers of mankind’s predisposition to sin earns pity for the monster. He expands on these sympathies by describing the nature of Grendel’s lonely existence. “But there was one thing worse,” Grendel states after discovering the dragon’s charm, “no weapon could cut me,” (Gardner 75). In this moment, nihilism overcomes Grendel; if fighting poses no danger, it has no purpose, and neither does he. Any reader who has had an experience which challenged his or her values cannot help but feel empathetic towards the purposeless creature. Perhaps more piteous, however, is the suggestion that Grendel has no choice in being “the dark side. . the terrible race God cursed,” (Gardner 51). The dragon condemns Grendel as “the brute existent by which [humans] learn to define themselves,” telling him that it is worthless to better his character (Gardner 72). It is not until after
In the poem Beowulf, Grendel is portrayed as a vicious human-eating monster to society. Many men fear combat with Grendel because of his hideous appearance and great strength. In Grendel’s society he fears the gain of civilization in for the humans. Grendel is your typical outcast in life, "So Grendel wages his loney war" (164). The mead hall represented civilization in human society. The dancing and singing irritated Grendel. He was a loner, so he never knew what it was like to interact with society. He was an outcast by the sins of his forefathers Cain, who killed his brother Abel "He was the Lord's outcast" (169). By him being an outcast, he did not want anyone out celebrating with happine...
In his translation of the excerpt, Raffel uses dark diction to introduce Grendel and his perspective in this poem. He describes Grendel as “Out from the marsh, from the foot of misty hills and bogs, bearing God’s hatred”(Raffel 1-2), immediately informing the reader that Grendel is a negative character. Lucien Dean Pearson uses the same dark diction while introducing Grendel, saying “Grendel
Grendel has an evil of his own. He was out casted because of his lineage. It was said he was a descendant of Cain, a Satan-like being. “... from Cain there sprang/ misbegotten spirits, among them Grendel,/the banished and accursed” ( 1264-1265)This, and the fact that they were “fatherless creatures” , made him resentful of the warriors in the mead-hall (1355). To get back at the warriors, he began the killing spree, also attracting Beowulf. Grendels resentment, led him to his
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.
Grendel represents Paganism. The killing of Grendel and his mother, represents the ending of Paganism and the beginning of Christianity. The cause of Beowulf’s pride and self-centered personality may come from the belief in the afterlife. Literary critic, Alfred Bammesberger supports this claim by stating, “The poem focuses on the royal glory… on the heroic achievements of Beowulf” (Bammesberger). All glory would carry over into the afterlife, meaning that the deeds that he performs will follow him into the afterlife. All the conflicts come back to those beliefs. In addition, Beowulf displays characteristics of pure pride, as well as carelessness, while battling the external conflicts which leads to his death. To conclude, “Beowulf” has many distinct conflicts and even more hidden meanings and
Grendel’s alienation from society motivates his cruel behavior, but Beowulf’s idolization leads him to be revered for the same actions. In Anglo-Saxon culture, social standing was determined by family. There was an idea that a person’s place in society was predetermined by God, and fate
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
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.
Grendel exhibits human feelings and characteristics in many ways. Although Grendel is a monster “forced into isolation by his bestial appearance and limited imagination” (Butts) he yearns to be a part of society; he craves companionship while he is isolated. With his “ear pressed tight against the timbers [of Hart]” (43), he watches and listens to the humans and what goes on in Hart, the meadhall of King Hrothgar, to feel like he is a part of civilization. He also has feelings in relation to specific humans. Just like the citizens of Denmark, he is extremely affected by the Shaper and his songs that are “aswim in ringing phrases, magnificent, golden, all of them, incredibly, lies” (43). Grendel is profoundly “moved by the power of the Shaper’s poetry” (Butts). Queen Wealtheow shows Grendel the feminine, sweet, and kind side of life. “She had secret wells of joy that overflowed to them all” and her peaceful effect on those around her is a main cause of Grendel’s almost obsessive fascination with her and in turn, drives Grendel to feelings of rage. Grendel’s humanlike feelings show that his personality is similar to that of a human, helping those who read his story to relate to him.
In history, evil men have reigned supreme across many cultures. Some people say that being evil is inherent in every human. If this is true, then writing may be the ultimate way of releasing hatred of the world without hurting anyone. In Beowulf, all of society's evil men can be personified within the demons of Cain. The main demon presented in Beowulf is Grendel. Grendel personifies the exact opposite of what the Anglo-Saxons held dear. Beowulf, the story's hero, is the embodiment of what every Anglo-Saxon strove to become in their lifetime. Grendel is constantly angry, afraid and unsure of himself; while Beowulf is fearless and loyal to his king.