Compare And Contrast Existentialism And Nihilism

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Recommended: The importance of the dragon in Grendel

Let’s say that you had to choose to believe in one of the following schools of philosophies: Existentialism and Nihilism. Which one would you choose? You wouldn’t take a long time deciding because these two are significantly different from each other. Existentialism is appreciating life and living life passionately. It is believing that one’s actions determine his own fate, meaning that it all depends on the choices one makes throughout life. Nihilism, however, is the exact opposite. Anything that restrains you from living life to the fullest is considered nihilistic. It is the belief of not believing in anything, assuming it’s worthless. In Grendel, the two most dominant schools of philosophy presented are Existentialism and Nihilism. Grendel …show more content…

Grendel starts out as an existentialist. He questions all things around him and is anxious to know and hear answers based on what he sees and experiences outside of his cave. He is a lonely outcast who is unwelcomed in society. One day he decides to enter a whole new world he has never seen before. All of a sudden, confusion and doubt surround him. In the new world, Grendel encounters the Danes from Hrothgar who apparently shares similar thoughts and views as his. For the first time, Grendel feels and predicts that his life might consist of bigger purposes than just roaming around the forests while living in a cave with a monster that can’t answer the questions he asks. Grendel begins to think that he might as well perceive the smallest hope of becoming like the Danes, and finally gets rid of the stereotypes that have been following him all his life. However, things didn’t seem to proceed as he wished. When he realized that he could understand the language of the humans, he tried to answer them back, but all that came out from his mouth were loud roars that terrified the Danes …show more content…

This is important because it functions as a complete turning point in Grendel’s life. In chapter 5, Grendel encounters a very smart and highly evolved red dragon in his luxurious cave. The dragon explains to Grendel about the idea of how his actions for gain are useless because the world consists of nothing that can bring forth meaning for him. He convinces Grendel that the Shaper’s purpose is to only search for submission and to give a false sense of security to the Danes. At first, compelled by the dragon’s words of knowledge, Grendel plans to invade Hrothgar’s mead hall and kill all the warriors. During that time, Grendel slowly steps into the transitional stage that would change him from being an existentialist to a nihilist. His job to murder the Danes becomes easier because of the spell that the dragon puts on Grendel. Through his job he starts to feel relief. However, I think that Grendel fails to become a perfect nihilist because he fails to kill Wealtheow, the queen. Grendel feels lost when he looks at the queen and is distracted by her physical appearance, which did not occur as a healthy obsession. As a result, he comes up with a devastating plan to murder her. Grendel then becomes typecasted because of all the horrific occurrences he had done to the Danes under the reign of queen Wealtheow. Grendel continues to feel strong hatred towards Wealtheow because she continues to provoke Grendel.

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