The word “evil” has many different connotations due to its different origins, whether you look at it from a moral viewpoint or a religious viewpoint. But regardless of how you look at the term “evil”, one common fact everyone needs to realize is how subjective the term really is. Something one person could consider horrible is something another person could completely be okay with. And just like that, some people believe Grendel is evil, but I believe Grendel is good due to his ability to feel emotions and his internal conflicts.
In many religions, someone who is evil lacks emotions and only cares for himself. Throughout the book there are many times in which Grendel feels emotions which shows the better side of him. In chapter two, he talks
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about how sometimes he feels lonely, which makes him sad and the only way to cure the pain of his sadness is seeking comfort from his mother who barely talks to him, yet alone seems to care about him.”I would feel, all at once, alone and ugly… I would bawl and hurl myself at my mother and she would reach out...after that, comforted…” (Grendel 12-13). Having a mother who does not always seem to care about what you do leaves moral and behavioral standards to very loosely interpreted, leaving Grendel to have a more difficult time figure out whether what he is doing is “good” or “bad”. Even in chapter 6, there are points where he might be seen as “evil” but he battles this feeling of loneliness because he doesn’t seem to fit in anywhere, which is what he really seems to want throughout the entire book. Another strong emotion Grendel feels in chapter 7, is an emotion in semblance to love. “She was beautiful, as innocent as dawn on winter hills… she was brighter than the hearthfire…” (Grendel 87, 90). He sees Hygmod’s sister and because of her there is peace within the kingdom for a while along with enlightenment within Grendel realizing there is no point in killing someone just because you can. “I changed my mind. It would be meaningless, killer her. As meaningless as letting her live… pointless pleasure… I let go her feet… I had wrecked another theory.” (Grendel 94) Throughout the book, Grendel experiences this inner conflict trying to figure out whether what he is doing is okay or if he is just conforming to the role everyone expects him to play.
In chapter four Grendel is almost completely convinced that he is not good because of they way the Shaper portrays him. “...which split all the world between darkness and light. And I, Grendel, was the dark side… the terrible race God cursed. I believed him. Such was the power of the Shaper’s harp… letting tears down my nose… I sank to my knees, crying, “Friend! Friend!”...” (Grendel 43-44). What Grendel fails to recall is, the Shaper has a way of manipulating the truth so everyone believes what he has to say. Earlier in the chapter Grendel saw him distorting history to make some things look better and other things look worse, which makes his word unreliable. After feeling guilty for the way the Shaper portrays him, Grendel still tries to make amends by reaching out the people but they just end up attacking him when he came in peace. Later in chapter five, the dragon tries to convince Grendel that the people need someone to play the part of “monster” so he might as well live up to that role, but he still sort of believes that he can change and be better than what they think of him. “Why not frighten them?... you improve them… stimulate them… you drive them to poetry, science, religion… you, so to speak, the brute existent by which they learn to define themselves… you are mankind… if you withdraw, you’ll instantly be replaced.” (Grendel 52,
62). Because the word “evil” is subjective to the way everyone perceives it, I believe Grendel is good. He feels emotions that someone evil could not feel and has compassion for others. He fights an internal battle trying to figure out whether he is good or not, but ultimately I feel he is good.
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
Perhaps he would actually like to live a normal life with the humans. “Some evil inside myself pushed out into the trees, I knew what I knew, the mindless, mechanical bruteness of things, and when the harper’s lure drew my mind away from hopeful dreams, the dark of what was and always was reached out and snatched my feet.” (Gardner 54) It seems as though Grendel would like to change things if he could, but some outside force will not allow it. Even if this is true, Grendel is still inherently evil. Despite whatever dreams he may have. The reader simply cannot ignore the fact that he still does evil deeds with evil intentions. He is seemingly unable to feel love, or at least disinterested in it. He enjoys torturing and killing humans and rarely shows mercy. Due to these facts, it is impossible to say Grendel is a hero in this
He doesn’t believe that he has done anything wrong, therefore he doesn’t believe that he is a bad person. In the novel Grendel, Grendel states that, “I saw, is merely what pushes me, or what I push against, blindly—as blindly as all that is not myself pushes back. I create the whole universe blink by blink… (Gardner, 22)”. This internal thought from Grendel at the beginning of his story shows his belief that he holds the power to choose his future and that he creates his own reality. He truly does believe that despite his killing nature and that he is not technically human, he can still live among them and rise above his original reputation. In his encounter with the dragon in chapter 5, Grendel is told that, "My knowledge of the future does not cause the future. It merely sees it” (Gardner 63). What the dragon says in this instance sticks with Grendel in the sense that even though he is drawing away from his existentialist views, he still knows that he controls himself. Him accepting this strikes as somewhat half existentialism and half nihilism due to the character arc taking place. In addition to the evidence of existentialism in the novel itself, there is also many instances within literary criticism that suggest Grendel’s
Grendel in the Epic of Beowulf is portrayed as a monster, a creature that has no thoughts on who he kills.While in the movie Beowulf and Grendel(Gunnarsson 2005); he is much more human-like. In parts of the movie, thoughts are led to believe that in fact he is not out to kill random people he only harms those who have “hurt him”.This, in fact, leads to believe that Grendel from the film really wasn’t the bad guy:it shifted towards the fact that Hrothgar was the bad guy for killing Grendel 's father This ties to the fact that as we modernize we tend to need a reason to do things, most people will not endure things if in the end the end result they won 't benefit from it. Nevertheless, the film has changed the perspective and/ or natural view that one as a reader would have taken from the
In short, the dragon is saying, "You are evil and they are good, but the only thing that makes them good is you." In this statement, it is apparent that good and evil have inseparable, yet undefinable boundaries, and are actually two in the same. Grendel's evilness motivates the fearful people to work, to strive, to think, and to overcome their problems. In this, however indirect or abstract it may seem, Grendel is actually producing good. Amazingly, he manages to be both evil and good at the same time.
Grendel as a character is very intelligent, he is capable of rational thought at all times. Because of this, at sometimes during the story I would forget Grendel is a monster, the way he acts in his thoughts and actions I would mistake him for a human; at times I was even feeling bad for Grendel because he is a very lonely person who tries to understand all of the meaningless of the world around him. Grendel can never get to close to
He does not act like the blood hungry beast he is seen as in Beowulf. In
In Chapter 8, Grendel exclaims, “I’m a machine. Like all of you. Blood-lust and rage are my character,” (Gardner 123). This profound statement establishes a connection between Grendel and the ambiguous “you,” the reader. The monster, though he confesses to his wrongdoing, asserts that readers are no better than he. Countless bible verses reiterate this concept: “For all have sinned,” (Romans 3:23) “[Humans] are all. .impure with sin,” (Isaiah 64:6). Gardner’s reminder to readers of mankind’s predisposition to sin earns pity for the monster. He expands on these sympathies by describing the nature of Grendel’s lonely existence. “But there was one thing worse,” Grendel states after discovering the dragon’s charm, “no weapon could cut me,” (Gardner 75). In this moment, nihilism overcomes Grendel; if fighting poses no danger, it has no purpose, and neither does he. Any reader who has had an experience which challenged his or her values cannot help but feel empathetic towards the purposeless creature. Perhaps more piteous, however, is the suggestion that Grendel has no choice in being “the dark side. . the terrible race God cursed,” (Gardner 51). The dragon condemns Grendel as “the brute existent by which [humans] learn to define themselves,” telling him that it is worthless to better his character (Gardner 72). It is not until after
Grendel also expressed his emotions throughout the story. For example, Grendel says “I looked at the foot in anger and disbelief” (Gardner 18). This clearly shows that Grendel has emotions and feelings in him. If Grendel was
Grendel is born a neutral being, perhaps even good, but nevertheless, without hate. The transition which he undergoes to become evil is due to misunderstandings between himself and humans and also meeting with a dragon who is questionably evil. As a young “monster”, Grendel knew nothing other than the cave he lived in and his mother who could not speak any distinguishable language. He was a playful creature who seemed to be like a “bla...
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.
Dictionary.com defines evil as “the wicked or immoral part of someone or something.” Within the novel, Grendel by John Gardner evil is inescapable as this topic is discussed throughout the novel. Though the story holds a resemblance to its inspiration of the epic Beowulf in its portrayal of Grendel, it fails to highlight the underlying evil within the Anglo-Saxon’s and their values. Gardner’s novel reveals that evil is everywhere as it is seen in not only Grendel's but also in human lives and is presented in a more complex way than the epic as both have their own dark sides.
“In my youth I engaged in many wars”, Beowulf boasts to his warriors, which is certainly true. Throughout his life, he faces many deadly foes, all of which he handily defeats, save one. His story focuses on the most challenging, as well as morally significant of foes, Grendel and the dragon. These creatures reveal much about society as well as Christian virtue at the time. Even after Grendel and the dragon are defeated physically, the two monsters pose a new threat to the hero on a higher plane. Beowulf is not only at risk of losing his life, but his humanity, virtue, and even spirituality.
Through Grendel's own hatred and anger, he brings his own downfall. The "sin-stained demon" has his roots in the vile creature Cain. Since Grendel is spawned from Cain, he can never feel the love of God or of people: ". . . God, / Whose love Grendel could not know." (84-85). It is because of this, that Grendel hates every mortal being he lays his eyes upon. Hatred leads to anger, constant anger, ". . . bearing God's hatred, / Grendel came, hoping to kill" (393-394). Fear is Grendel's other major flaw, "His mind was flooded with fear . . ." (435). Through his hatred and fear, Grendel seals his own fate.
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. ...