Compare And Contrast Grendel And Beowulf

Natalie Martin

Henning/Lunn

AP Language and Composition

17 August 2014

Beowulf vs. Grendel

In life, people are always told to be good. Parents tell their children not to steal, hit, or kick. As a society most people are taught to do the right thing. So, what happens if someone is bad? There are hardly any stories written about the bad person. The epic poem, Beowulf by Seamus Heaney, is written about the “bad guy”. While Grendel, by John Gardner, and also the book that comes after Beowulf, is written about the “good guy”. There are many other differences in the writing styles other then, one book is about the good person and the other the bad. Beowulf and Grendel both use kennings and alliteration, are written in different time periods, and

also have different writing styles in their tone, diction, and point of view.
The use of kennings and alliterations are used all throughout the epic poem, Beowulf.

A kenning is an expression used in Old English with a meaning that can be translated to New English. An example of a kenning can be found on one of the first five pages of the poem. It states, “They stretched their beloved lord in his boat, laid out by the mast, amidships, the great ring-giver” (Heaney 5). A ring-giver is a king. In this quote the narrator, a Christian, is talking about Shield and how they had to bury him. Shield, was the king. An example of an alliteration in Beowulf is, “The wide water, the waves and pools” (Heaney 111). The word alliteration means that there is an occurrence of the same letter or sound around the words in the sentence. Wide water, has the same letter, so therefore it is an

alliteration.
Both Beowulf and Grendel were written in different times periods. Beowulf is an epic poem and Grendel is not because Beowulf was written first. Beowulf was first published around 700 and 1000 A.D. but, has later been republished, for example Seamus Heaney’s version was published in they year 2000. Grendel, by John Gardner was published in 1971. Times changed between 1000 A.D. and 1971. There were technology advances, education advances, and even writing advances. Writers began to develop new ways of writing, and new vocabulary. The new ways of writing and vocabulary is what makes Grendel and Beowulf so different.
In Beowulf, Seamus Heaney uses an eager tone while in Grendel, John Gardner uses a knowledgeable tone.

For example in lines 738-739 Heaney writes, “Nor did the creature keep him waiting but struck suddenly and started in…” (Heaney 51-52). It shows that Heaney was awaiting Beowulf to start the fight. Heaney did not even give Grendel a chance to start the fight but instead just lets Beowulf dive right into the fight. In Grendel, John Gardner, writes with a more collected tone. For example Gardner writes, “He gave his head a jerk, as if clearing his brains, then turned and loped back to where he’d charged from me before. He’d struck too low, and even in my terror I understood that he would always strike too low: he fought by instinct, blind mechanism ages old” (Gardner 21). Grendel uses more of a sense of knowledge, unlike Beowulf. Beowulf just does, he does not think before he acts. Grendel actually plans out what he is going to do before he does

it.
Beowulf and Grendel are also both written in different forms of diction. Beowulf is written in Old English. Meaning it uses words that we now do not use in everyday life. For example, “… my comrades in his arms” (Heaney 103). In English today most people, when speaking do not use the word “comrades”, that is an example of Old English. However, Grendel is written in the English people use today.
The epic poem Beowulf and novel Grendel use different character point of views. Beowulf is written in third-person point of view, a Christian is telling the story. While Grendel is written in first-person point of view with, Grendel telling the story. Different point of views in stories make a difference in the books. First-person point of view can usually be told with more vivid detail than stories in third-person. For example, in Beowulf, “The embrace ended and Beowulf, glorious in his gold regalia, stepped the green earth” (Heaney 129). Beowulf had just been told he could become the king of the Geats but, the narrator cannot explain how Beowulf is really feeling inside. He was probably feeling proud and excited but, the reader will never know because the third-person cannot tell how a person is feeling. However, in Grendel, the reader can know how Grendel is feeling, “I am swollen with excitement, bloodlust and joy and a strange fear that mingle in my chest like the twisting rage of a bonfire” (Gardner 168). The reader is able to know that Grendel feels excitement and joy, rather than not knowing how Grendel feels.
Both Beowulf and Grendel use different writing styles. Beowulf tells the story of the villain while Grendel tells the story of the “hero”. Both stories are written in different time periods, have different tone, point of view, and diction. Because the stories used different diction and point of view it gave the reader a different way of interpreting the stories. It made the reader have to think about what they were reading.