Humanity is a raging river. People persist, caught up in their own problems and lives. Society is ever-changing, always trying to adapt to new ways of life. Humanity plays a great role in how Grendel changes. Grendel is a beast that watches how humanity develops overtime; he notices how destructive and cruel humanity has become. Despite this, he attempts to get along with the people, but they regard him as a monster and try to kill him. Eventually, he gives into and becomes what the people believe him to be: a savage beast. However, Grendel was never originally evil. In Grendel by John Gardner, the anti-hero Grendel is misunderstood by humanity even though he attempts to socialize; has clear, lucid thoughts; and feels love, but humanity continuously …show more content…
Grendel is not a brainless beast like the people think he is; he knows exactly what he is doing although it may not always be ethical. “I picked him [Unferth] up gently and carried him home. I laid him at the door of Hrothgar’s meadhall, still asleep, killed the two guards so I wouldn’t be misunderstood, and left” (Gardner 90). Grendel makes the rational choice to spare Unferth out of his own will, despite Unferth begging Grendel to kill him. In addition, Grendel realizes that he could be misunderstood by the people if he brings Unferth back alive and unharmed, so he makes the wicked decision to kill the guards outside the hall. Grendel does this based on his own thoughts and actions; furthermore, he is misunderstood by the people to be a savage beast only capable of killing, but Grendel obviously has thoughts of his own. “I decided to kill her [Wealtheow]. I firmly committed myself to killing her, slowly, horribly…and nothing alive or dead could change my mind! I changed my mind” (Gardner 109-110). Despite the will Grendel had that wanted him to kill Wealtheow, Grendel goes against his mind and his instincts and spares her. He decides to spare her after realizing that it would be meaningless to kill her, that he would gain nothing from killing her, and that killing her would not solve any of his problems. This goes …show more content…
“I bellowed for help… ‘Mama! Waa! Waaa!’ I bellowed to the sky, the forest, the cliffs, until I was so weak from loss of blood I could barely wave my arms” (Gardner 18). The love Grendel feels for his mother helps show that Grendel is not an angry beast, that humanity misunderstands Grendel, and that humanity is one of the reasons why Grendel acts the way he does towards them. Anytime Grendel is in trouble he always calls out for his mother because he loves her, and he knows that she will come to save him. Grendel is not emotionless; he has various emotions just like a human would. “She [Wealtheow] was beautiful, as innocent as down on winter hills…My chest was full of pain...and I was afraid I was about to sob” (Gardner 100). When Grendel meets Wealtheow for the first time, he thinks she is graceful and beautiful; however, eventually, after watching over her for a while, he gets agitated with her because she does not speak her thoughts and lives a terrible life away from her family. Despite this, she is one of the few people who can provoke different emotions from Grendel just by being alive. Despite feeling different emotions and expressing said emotions, humanity always turns against him. Grendel does not understand why humans would treat other humans like garbage, and the foolishness of humanity
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
Good vs. Evil in John Gardner's Grendel? & nbsp; John Gardner's novel Grendel gives the reader a new perspective on the classic "good vs. Evil" plot. From the start of the book the reader can tell that there is something very unique about the narrator. It is evident that the narrator is a very observant being that can express himself in a very poetic manner. The story is one the reader has most likely seen before, the battle between the glorious thanes and the "evil" beast. In this case, however, the "beast" is the eyes and ears of the. reader. This, of course, forces the reader to analyze situations in the book in the same way that Grendel does. By using this viewpoint, author allows his readers to see the other side of the coin. Therefore, Throughout the course of the novel the reader is able to understand how important to Grendel in defining the human. & nbsp; Grendel's first encounter with the human beings that he literally defines is not a pleasant one. After accidentally trapping himself in a tree he is discovered by a group of thanes out on patrol. Grendel expresses absolutely no hostile intentions towards these "ridiculous" (ch. 2). pp.24) creatures that "moved by clicks." (ch.2, pp.24) The thanes do not understand what Grendel is and are very uneasy about the whole situation.
He is giddy with joy for the battle that will soon commence. Before the bloodshed finally erupts the Scylding king (talks) offers his sister Wealtheow to Hrothgar as a peace gift for the powerful king. Hrothgar accepts the beautiful Wealtheow and Grendel still waiting in the thick forest is suddenly flooded with emotions. Even to the point of saying, “She tore me apart as once the Shaper’s song had done. As for my benefit, as if in vicious scorn of me, children came from the meadhall and ran down to her weeping, to snatch at her hands and dress. “Stop it!” I whispered. “Stupid!”.” Wealtheow emits propaganda not by her words but her actions. Her courage and beauty cause Grendel to see the good in humans which in a way torments him. He sees the children running to her weeping and feels as if he is a child again wanting to be comforted by her. This play on Grendel’s adolescence and lack of a strong mother figure drives her message of propaganda deeper into his subconscious. (Her courageous deeds influence Grendel to the nihilistic view of the
One night, as Grendel was sleeping soundly in his home in the swamplands, he was suddenly awakened by the sound of music. The music angered Grendel because he had been up late the night before entertaining his monster friends and was in need of his beauty rest. So he headed out the front door and headed to see what the commotion is all about.
Finding a mate is hard for Grendel, especially because he’s the last of his species. However, he still has the same emotions as humans when it comes to love. He first encounters these unfamiliar emotions when Hrothgar is given a wife named Wealtheow. Grendel thinks she is beautiful, and starts to rethink his war on the humans when he contemplates killing Wealtheow, saying to himself “It would be meaningless, killing her. As meaningless as letting her live. It would be, for me, mere pointless pleasure, an illusion of order for this one frail, foolish, flicker-flash in the long dull fall of eternity.” (108). Even though he is a monster, he still feels the same emotion of love that humans do.
As children, we were taught that good and evil were black and white terms. The fairy tales that our parents would read to us have conditioned us to believe that characters such as the princess in distress or the prince in shining armour were nothing but friendly and good, while the troll guarding his own bridge or the fire-breathing dragon were the most frighteningly evil creatures of all. However, as we grew up, we learned that these distinctions are never so easily black and white, but more-so different shades of grey. We learned that the characters that we initially deemed evil had reasons for acting that way, and most of them out of their control. Such is the case with the main character in John Gardner’s Grendel. The character Grendel
In Grendel, John Gardner shows that Grendel’s sense of right and wrong is shaped by the sins of man.
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.
He even manages to witness a few attacks from certain villages on others during the nights. “With luck, I might see, on a soft summer night, as many as three halls burning down at once.” (Gardner, 37) Another variable to Grendel’s madness at the end of the book, may have possibly been his witness to human sabotage between villages and tribes, leading to him thinking violence is acceptable. He even has a few encounters with the humans, and kills a couple when he is attacked, as they are threatened due to his appearance and monstrosity. When he eavesdrop on The Shaper, he is comforted by his kind words, and he tries to make peace with the Danes. “He sang how they’d fought me. It was all lies. The sly harp rasped like snakes in cattails, glorifying death.” (Gardner, 54) However, when he is attacked and chased out, he realizes that everything The Shaper has said was all comforting lies, he is astounded and furious with the whole situation. After fleeing the scene, Grendel comes across a mighty dragon who deemed the world as pointless and torments Grendel as Grendel himself torments the humans. ““Like a rabbit!” he brought out. “Nyee he hehe! When you’re scared you look--nyee hehehe--exactly… (gasp) exactly…”” (Gardner, 59) After Grendel had gotten a taste of what fear is from a force larger than him, he realizes that his torment on the humans was
In conclusion, Gardner has Grendel use vivid imagery and personifies him to convey the idea misinterpretation may lead to isolation throughout Grendel’s self-journey. Imagery that spares no detail of the repulsive reality Grendel creates for himself is used. Also, Grendel is given humanlike characteristics to increase the likelihood of an emotional response from the audience and to add dimension to his character. Grendel is the result of the isolation he encountered his entire life from the inability to communicate his thoughts. He was treated like an animal instead of the thinking and rational creature that he is and because of this, embraced his animalistic side and murdered humans whenever the urge arose. {"The world
The first reason why Grendel is not inherently evil is because he was disliked by many people and animals. In the text, the author writes, “Till the monster stirred,
Grendels motive to causing all of this chaos is because he does not like people to be happy. It makes him miserable to see people full of joy and happiness. He is the monster that brings fear to the people and he likes that. He knows that this gives him power over everyone else. In order to have power there needs to be fear installed first. Grendel is a man of violence, and is not afraid to show
Grendel himself did not have much confidence. He saw himself as an almost evil curse sent to live among the humans. He believes the harp when it describes him as “the terrible race God cursed” (51). He recognizes how he related to the humans and his closeness to them but sees himself as the evil within them. He even describes himself as “an alien” or a “rock broken free of the wall” (23). This clearly shows the reader that he has confusion and disappointment within himself. Therefor, this affects the way he knows the people see him and causes his mind to have thoughts of depression and evil.
At first, Grendel is not even remotely hostile towards the humans, and he even asks, “Why can’t I have someone to talk to” (Gardner 59)? He is obviously very alone and desperate to reach out to someone; every person in this world needs another to talk to. He simply wants to at least observe the humans and watch their march of progress go on. Eventually though, he becomes stuck in a tree, and without any prompting, the humans immediately try to kill and torture him. This obviously has a lasting effect on Grendel, and from Grendel’s point of view, “there are plenty of men who, because of their craziness or insanity, are objects of derision” (Sanchez 47). They are evil and wicked to him without cause, and they deserve his scorn. He perhaps justifiably begins to hate the humans. The final nail in the coffin comes, however, later, when Grendel makes one last stab at forming a relationship with the humans. After hearing the Shaper’s tale, Grendel becomes an emotional wreck, and in desperation, runs toward the humans hoping they will accept and embrace him. Instead, they again turn him away without a moment’s hesitation, and Grendel’s last hope at happiness is snuffed out. This rejection fills him with hate once more, and he now has no one in life to turn to. His hate of the humans is complete. At that point, it is almost understandable where
Grendel sometimes does seem to be more compassionate than some of stubborn humans in Grendel. Grendel has a variety of, almost human-like, approaches to life, especially when he says “I picked him up gently and carried him home. I laid him at the door through Hrothgar's meadhall, still asleep, killed the two guards so I wouldn't be misunderstood and left." (Gardner, 90) While he did kill those guards, he did do that because he prefers the reputation that he has and that can be interpreted as simply being egotistical. Though he does have compassion for Unferth. Grendel is shown as more human in his perspective, instead of the cold hearted monster in