Examples Of Archetypes In Grendel By Dantes Inferno

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While archetypes are constant throughout literature Divergent blatantly shows creatures of nightmares in a unique way. Tris Prior, a young girl from the helpful Abnegation faction, grows through the trials of the relentless Dauntless faction into a powerful, divergent woman. Along her way, she encounters Jeanine, the leader of Erudite, whose mission is to get rid of all divergents and make Erudite the leading faction. During Jeanine’s crave for power, she makes a mind controlling serum that makes an army that relentlessly kills Abnegation, the current lead faction. Finally, Tris shuts down Jeanine through the help of Four and using Jeanine’s own serum. While at first Jeanine appears intelligent and reasonable, she is really the stereotypical …show more content…

He is a disgusting creature that lives in a place that is closest to hell and in murky dark waters. Grendel causes mass havoc on the Geets by killing them by the dozens. He feasts on them for dinner and swallows them whole. The creature of nightmare not only represents the antagonist, but represents anyone who does not think human thoughts and only desires satisfaction for themselves. It can also represent a monster that is summoned from the darkest part of human existence who comes into the world for power or death. Grendel craves for death as he kills the soldiers for his food. Once killing becomes routine and natural, that is when a creature of nightmare is developed. The author of Beowulf states, “The monster’s/ Thoughts were as quick as his greed or his claws:/ He slipped through the door and there in the silence/ Snatched up thirty men, smashed them” (“Beowulf” 34-37). Grendel, the monster described above, clearly showcases his creature of nightmare traits as he desires killing and treats it as a natural occurrence. Grendel also contains the trait of being able to take down any opponent, except for the hero. The hero is the only person that can take down the creature of nightmare and that is just what Beowulf does. Additionally, creatures of nightmares usually are infuriated with the world around them and want to change it for the worse. Grendel, in this case, was infuriated with the Geets after they …show more content…

Once again, there is a creature of nightmare that lurks around not just external, but internally for Ralph and his gang. While the beast isn’t a tangible thing, it still causes literal nightmares in all of the little kids throughout the novel. We learn that human nature resorts to evil, just because a so called creature of nightmare can take over one person’s mind, thus infecting the rest. As stated above, the only thing that can exterminate the creature of nightmare is the hero. In this case, Simon, symbolizing Jesus, eradicates the beast by figuring out that it is not real. Earlier in the book Simon states, “Maybe there isn’t a beast… Maybe it’s just us” (Golding 80). He eventually figures out it is just a pilot in a parachute that had been terrorizing the kids for months. Once again, the hero defeats the creature of nightmare. Although the beast may not be real and fit the archetype perfectly, it does resemble most of its characteristics and requires deeper thought to realize its true

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    “The monster’s thoughts were as quick as his greed or his claws: He slipped through the door there in the silence snatched up thirty men, smashed them…” (Raffel Lines 34-37) In other words, Grendel is characterized as a monster whose only desire is to kill. However, the humans chose to forget their beginning encounters with Grendel and don’t realize that they are the true cause. When Grendel tries to communicate with the humans because they speak the same language, he is repelled by the Danes. “The harper broke off, the people screamed. Drunken men rushed me with battle-axes. I sank to my knees, crying, “Friend! Friend!” (Gardner 52) In other words, Grendel wants to be friends with the humans but they immediately judge him based on his appearance and reject him. This causes Grendel now have become isolated from both the humans and animals. This isolation leads to Grendel to start killing the humans as a form of interaction. Sadly like with animals, the only form of communication with the humans Grendel will receive is through killing them like the Grendel we see in Beowulf. Overall, due to Grendel being surrounded by humans who misjudge him, he is motivated by isolation in which the only attention he will get is from killing

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  • Grendel And Beowulf: Humanizing The Monster

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    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

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  • Lord Of The Flies: Rejecting Savagery

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    While they agree that the beast is not a traditional monster, it is Simon’s philosophical understanding that allows him to fully realize the meaning of the beast. At the assembly, Ralph plans to discuss the beast, hoping to bring the fear to an end. Simon suggests that the boys themselves are the beast. Later, when Simon encounters the “Lord of the Flies” in a hallucination, the reader learns the extent of his understanding. The Lord of the Flies mocks Simon by saying, “Fancy you thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill...You knew, didn’t you? I’m part of you?”(128). Simon realizes that there is something within humans that can cause them to act savagely. However, at the assembly, in an effort to understand what Simon meant about the beast, the boys suggest that the beast could be a ghost. Piggy firmly rejects this idea because he approaches the beast in the same way he handles most situations: logically and scientifically. As Piggy states, “Life… is scientific, that’s what it is…. I know there isn’t no beast- not with claws and all that, I mean- but I know there isn’t no fear either… unless we get afraid of people” (72). Piggy understands fear can have detrimental effects, but he does not yet understand that fear is within every person, and this is the “beast” that can cause people to act without

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  • Archetypes in Grendel

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    Consistent in literature throughout every era and culture, archetypes represent a recurring image, pattern, or motif mirroring a typical human experience.  An idea developed by Carl Jung, archetypes in literature exist as representations reflecting vital perceptions of the human psyche expressing the manner in which individuals experience the world.  Using Jung’s concept, writers of all epochs embeds archetypes in structures, characters, and images of their narratives.  John Gardner, in his novel Grendel, integrates several of Jung’s archetypes into his epic tale derived from the early story Beowulf.  Gardner associates Jung’s personas of the outcast, the shadow, and the mentor-pupil relationship through the identities of Grendel, the narrator of events, and the dragon.

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  • The Characters' Personalities in "Grendel" and "Beowulf"

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    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...

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  • Depictions of Grendel in Beowulf by Seamus Heaney

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    Although Grendel is depicted as a hideous bloodthirsty beast because he eats the Danes at Heorot continuously, he has some characteristics of a human gone wild. Grendel possesses the ability to feel human emotions such as envy and fear. When the Danes were having a feast in Heorot, Grendel “had dwelt for a time in misery among the banished monsters, Cain’s clan, whom the creator outlawed and condemned as outcasts”(104-106). He feels envy towards the Danes for making him an outcast of society. He was jealous of the Danes that were having a great time together while he had to live a life of misery alone. Grendel feels fear as well as envy because “he was overwhelmed, manacled tight by the man who of all men was foremost and strongest in the days of this life”(787-789). During the battle between Grendel and the hero Beowulf, Grendel was unprepared for Beowulf’s fighting tactics. He, who usually is victorious after each attack in Heorot, did not expect to be defeated by Beowulf, which is shown because “his fingers weakened; it was the worst trip the terror-monger had taken to Heorot”(764-765). When Beowulf leaves his weapon and decides to wrestle Grendel, Grendel realizes that he is no match for Beowulf’s strength. He feared death just as human are afraid of death. An ordinary person would want to flee if he or she was being wrestled to the ground and about to die. Grendel felt like fleeing but Beowulf did not want to lose any opportunities to kill the villain and thus does the deed in one go. When he realizes that his end was near, “the dread of the land was desperate to escape, to take a roundabout road and flee to his lair in the fens”(761-763). Just as humans in their psychoanalytic development, Grendel had a fight or flight response. When he knew that he was going to die he immediately chose the flight response in which he could not do because Beowulf was much more powerful and aggressive. He does not let Grendel escape. Grendel’s pain is all the more acute because he is brought so close to mankind and yet always kept at an unbreachable distance from society.

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  • Sympathy in Beowulf

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    The first opponent Beowulf must face in the land of the Danes is Grendel, textually described as “a fiend out of hell … [a] grim demon / haunting the marches, / marauding round the heath / and the desolate fens” (Beowulf, line 100 – 104). The author also provides us with a moral description, explaining how Grendel is “merciless … malignant by nature, he never showed remorse” (line 135-137). As we can see here, the author’s physical and moral portrayal of Grendel is rather unforgiving. We also resent Grendel further once we learn that he has wreaked havoc upon the Heorot hall for twelve years, “inflicting constant cruelties on the people / atrocious hurt” (line 165).

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  • Anxiety In Beowulf

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    Grendel isn't just a monster that scares little kids, he is a full-blown nightmare that is hard to wake up from. Grendel is a villain against humanity that eats those he can catch for dinner. Anxiety much like Grendel will eat you alive, maybe not physically but mentally anxiety can destroy you. Little by little anxiety will take your life if you don't control it.

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  • The Importance Of Evils In Beowulf

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    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

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  • Grendel Criticism

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    However, this stranger is unlike any human Grendel has ever met before. When Grendel attacks the mead hall that night, he discovered that this stranger is not only much stronger and smarter than he imagined, he is also much more cruel. “He’s crazy. I understand him all right, make no mistake. Understand his lunatic theory of matter and mind, the chilly intellect, the hot imagination, blocks and builder, reality as stress” (Gardner 172). This insane man is actually the hero Beowulf. However, in this story, Beowulf is portrayed as one of the worst humans of them all. He cannot just kill Grendel, he has to see Grendel suffer up to his death. He forces Grendel to sing and humiliates him in front of the other men. This unearthly cruelty is what finally took down Grendel. But it also shows that even though Grendel was physically the monster, that he was not the worst creature on earth. Grendel was not as cruel as Beowulf; in the end, man becomes the monster and the monster becomes the

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  • Theme Of Cruelty In Beowulf

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    Grendel, the monster terrorizing Heorot, is introduced as being estranged from the rest of the world. He is described as an outsider, a descendant of “Cain’s clan” (107). Grendel’s outcast status leaves him living in darkness, his envy growing the more he hears the celebrations of the Danes. Envy and social status motivate Grendel’s cruelty, filling him with anger towards those who are human. When Beowulf and the Geats arrive, it is not solely out of honor that Beowulf vows to kill the beast. Beowulf’s father, Ecgtheow, had an unpaid debt at the time of his death. Beowulf’s pledge that he would kill Grendel was a repayment, as well as an honorable feat. However, as Beowulf is introduced, the boasts he makes of his heroic feats and his “awesome strength” (29), only prove his barbarity. He boasts that “they had seen me boltered in the blood of enemies when I battled and bound five beasts, raided a troll-nest and in the night-sea slaughtered sea brutes” (419-422). He goes on to blame the enemies for the vengeance that he wrought upon them. Beowulf dehumanizes his enemies, states that they were foul beasts who tainted the land, and he purified it. This is a sadistic view of life and battle, contrasting cruelty for the

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  • Beowulf: Grendel is Pure Evil

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    Time after time he charges into Herot Hall, slaughtering the warriors like sheep, and feasting on them. Denmark trembles in fear and grief as Grendel terrorizes their land. The people live in fear for their family and friends. Grendel is the Anglo-Saxon embodiment of what is dark, terrifying, and threatening. Grendel is an enemy of God. He can not know God’s great love. He is a powerful ogre that resides in the dark, wet marshes. He is a shadow of death that grows impatient with the Danes. He delights in their slaughter. No crime or savage assault would quench his thirst for evil. For evil can never be quenched. Grendel is a shepherd of evil and a guardian of crime. Grendel exhibits his envy towards the warriors as Cain did to his brother. Jealousy breed loneliness.

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  • Archetypes In Grendel

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    In the final chapters of the novel, Grendel, by John Gardner, the literary theory of psychological is highly evident. This type of criticism can be broken down to Samuel Freud's perspective according to the mind and Carl Jung's ideology of mythological criticism which has to concern with archetypes in literature.

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  • Beowulf Vs. Grendel

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    Grendal is known as a monster and portrays one of the many villains in the poem. He is referred to as the "guardian of his sins". Grendal depicts a heathen the physical image of man estranged from God. Basically, Grendal reflects a physical monster, an ogre who is hostile to humanity. Grendal’s constant visits to Hrothgar’s mead hall for bloody feasts made him feel powerful over God’s humanity. Unfortunately, the night Beowulf lies in wait for him, he assumes that his bloody feasts will continue and Grendal gives no attention to his method of attack. Grendal is then killed.

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  • A Comparison of Beowulf and Grendel

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    The author of Beowulf demonizes Grendel by depicting him as being purely a monster as compare to John Gardner who depicts Grendel not as a savage monster but as an intelligent being who has human like qualities and characteristics. In the traditional story Grendel is depicted as a blood-thirsty fiend driven by his greedy animal instincts. ...

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