Comparing Innocence in Grendel, Neil Young and Portrait of a Lady

1409 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: An essay of grendel and beowulf

Fall from Innocence in Grendel, Neil Young and Portrait of a Lady

According to the Bible, God created man pure and innocent, oblivious to good and evil. The serpent of evil lured them to the tree of knowledge, however, and its fruit proved too much of a temptation. With a bite, their "eyes... were opened," and the course of their lives, and the lives of mankind, were changed (Gen. 6-7, 22). Whether or not one accepts the Christian concept of creation, countless works of art are patterned on this account of the "fall from innocence." The novel Grendel by John Gardner shows us a side of the "beast" the epic Beowulf never considered - the child-like innocence before the brutality. The song "Country Girl" by Neil Young is a subtle commentary on the effect the sexual revolution had upon one woman. In addition, The Portrait of a Lady, a film by Jane Campion, an adaptation of Henry James's novel, shows the downward spiral of a headstrong American girl in the late 1800's. These three distinct pieces cut a swath through the art world, representing an established author, a modern musician, and a feminist filmmaker, yet central to their relevance is one theme: the fall from innocence.

Innocence? In Grendel? Grendel is a monster, right? Wrong, in the eyes of John Gardner. Taking the role of the Shaper, Gardner makes us see Grendel as an ostracized person, one so lonely he "relishes the thought of acceptance," even though the idiocy of their society repulses him at times (Milosh 221). He is just a naïve teenager, searching for his role in life.

In The Portrait of a Lady (POAL), Isabel is searching as well, traveling where her caprice leads her. "You're drifting off to some great mistake," her friend Henriett...

... middle of paper ...

...

Gardner, John. Grendel. Vintage Books, 1989.

Kneubuhl, James P. Written interview. 12 April 1998.

Milosh, Joseph. "John Gardner's 'Grendel': Sources and Analogues." Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Dedria Bryfonski. Vol. 10. Detroit: Gale Research, 1979. 221-222.

Portrait of a Lady, The. Dir. Jane Campion. Gramercy, 1996.

The portrait of a lady production notes. [Online] Available http://www.hollywood.com/movies/portrait/text/1.html, April 13, 1998.

Strehle, Susan. "John Gardner's Novels: Affirmation and the Alien." Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Dedria Bryfonski. Vol. 10. Detroit: Gale Research, 1979. 218 -219.

Travirca, Chet. Written interview. 12 April 1998.

Young, Neil. "Country Girl." Perf. Young, David Crosby, Stephen Stills, and Graham Nash. Déjà vu. Atlantic, 1970.

Show More
Related

  • Grendel And Beowulf: Humanizing The Monster

    833 Words  | 2 Pages

    Grendel, as a character, has a much more complex identity than just a monster and a human. Some, such as Ruud, classify him as a mixture of three different characteristics, but alone, they tend to conflict with each other. By making the connection that Grendel represents immorality, the previous idea makes more sense, while simultaneously incorporating more aspects of the character into the analysis. In either case, Grendel represents much more than meets the eye, and provides a fascinating insight into

    Read More

  • Comparing the Act of Creation in Grendel and Frankenstein

    1212 Words  | 3 Pages

    Strehle, Susan. "John Gardner's Novels: Affirmation and the Alien." Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Dedria Bryfonski. Vol. 10. Detroit: Gale Research, 1979. 218 -219.

    Read More

  • The Perpetuation of Racism in Canada by the Mainstream News Media

    3978 Words  | 8 Pages

    39 Wilson, Clint and Felix Gutierrez. Race, Multiculturalism, and the Media: From Mass to Class Communication. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, 1995: 45.

    Read More

  • The Meaningless Life of Grendel in John Gardner's Grendel

    2577 Words  | 6 Pages

    Klinkowitz, Jerome. "John Gardner's Grendel." John Gardner: Critical Perspectives. Ed. Robert A. Morace and Kathryn Van Spackeren. Carbondale: Southern Illinois UP, 1982. 62-67.

    Read More

  • Impact Of Mass Media On Black Men

    870 Words  | 2 Pages

    The mass media being one of the greatest influencers of public perceptions, their false portrayal of black males significantly impacts how the public perceives and behaves toward them, how black males see themselves as well as their the opportunities and achievements. But the mass media canbe part of the solution. Of course, the responsibility is not the media’s alone. But the media, as the public looking glass, can and should show the full spectrum of the lives of black men and boys.

    Read More

  • Symbolism In Grendel

    1504 Words  | 4 Pages

    John Gardner’s Grendel portrays a monster searching for his purpose in life. The characters know the meaning of their lives, but Grendel tries to discover his role and what life has to offer him. Grendel discovers his identity through other characters’ actions and beliefs. In Grendel, John Gardner illustrates the contrasting views of each character to show their view of society and the influence they have on Grendel.

    Read More

  • The Role of Storytelling in The Things They Carried

    2570 Words  | 6 Pages

    Heberle, Mark. "Contemporary Literary Criticism." O'Brien, Tim. The Things They Carried. Vol. 74. New York, 2001. 312.

    Read More

  • Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorne and The Most Dangerous Game by Richard Connell Have a Loss of Innocence

    895 Words  | 2 Pages

    Both “ Young Goodman Brown” and “ The Most Dangerous Game” have themes of a loss of innocence, yet each store employs a different way of getting there. The exact meaning of this loss of innocence also differs in each story. In “ Young Goodman Brown”, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, shows us a man that loses his innocent view of the world. By the end he is a man with now hope and no faith. In “ The Most Dangerous Game”, written by Richard Connell, we watch as a man falls from a powerful hunter into a savage murderer.

    Read More

  • The Humanization of Grendel

    1051 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Frankenstein And Grendel Comparison Essay

    837 Words  | 2 Pages

    Grendel is an intelligent monster who is capable of being just as human as anyone else in John Gardner’s novel. Aside from Grendel’s hideous appearance and his emotional outbursts, there was very little that separated him from the rest of the world. Just like the Danes, Grendel was moved by the words that were being spoken out of the Shaper’s mouth. He was moved by the

    Read More

  • Violence in Television

    1911 Words  | 4 Pages

    addition the average American child will witness over 200,000 acts of violence on television including 16,000 murders before the age of 18 (DuRant, 445). Polls show that three-quarters of the public find television entertainment too violent. When asked to select measures that would reduce violent crime “a lot”, Americans chose restrictions on television violence more often than gun control. Media shows too much violence that is corrupting the minds children, future leaders of our society. In a study of population data for various countries sh...

    Read More

  • Analyzing the Hunger Games

    1818 Words  | 4 Pages

    Mantsios, G. (2013). Media magic: Making class invisible. In M. L. Andersen & P. H. Collins (Eds.), Race, class and gender: An anthology (pp.386-393). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

    Read More

  • Media Creates Negative Psychological Impacts towards Racial Stereotyping

    968 Words  | 2 Pages

    of racial minorities on prime time television: A replication of the Mastro and Greenberg study a decade later. Retrieved March 11, 2014, from http://pcasacas.org/SiPC/32.2/Monk-Turner_Heiserman_Johnson_Cotton_Jackson.pdf.

    Read More

  • Biracial Identity Analysis

    1974 Words  | 4 Pages

    “The media serve as a tool that people use to define, measure, and understand American society” (Deo et al., 149). Thinking of the media as a tool for the American people also extends into the realm of race and ethnicity. The United States has had a long and difficult history pertaining to the racial and ethnic identities of the many different people that reside within and outside of it’s borders. That history is still being created and this country still struggles with many of the same problems that have plagued this area since before the founding of the U.S. As stated above, the popular media has a large impact on the way that race and ethnicity are understood by people, especially when considering the prevalence of segregation in the U.S.

    Read More

  • A Feminist Perspective of The Lady of Shalott

    2170 Words  | 5 Pages

    Abrams, M.H., ed. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. 6th ed. Vol. 2. New York: Norton, 1993.

    Read More

More about Comparing Innocence in Grendel, Neil Young and Portrait of a Lady

Open Document