Grendel Archetypes Analysis

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Do the poem Beowulf and the novel Grendel leave Grendel's archetype undefined? In Beowulf by Seamus Heaney, Grendel's archetype was the monster. In the poem, the storyline shows that Grendel terrorizing the Danes every night and attracts the hero's attention who that will slay him; this is a typical, epic monster archetype. On the other hand, in the novel Grendel by John Gardner it displays his first encounter with the Danes, his home life, and his thought process which indicates his archetype is more of a Social Outcast. Generally, the backgrounds of most villains and monsters archetypes have common traits that are conveyed through each of their different background stories. One common trait that is carried through is that each story has …show more content…

To give an illustration, in Frankenstein, his tragic start is being brought back to life unwilling with a deformed appearance and with X-Men Magneto he was forced to endure psychologically brutal enslavement from the Nazis. In Grendel, his tragic start was when he was growing up without a father figure. According to Our Everyday Life “The Effect on Men That Grow Up Without a Father Figure.” said that growing up without a father causes emotional distress which is seen a lot throughout the book. A third common trait that is seen is that the villains and monsters archetypes experience prejudice. For instance, in Frankenstein, Frankenstein had experienced prejudice when his own creator rejected him and then the family of the blind man who had to chase him off just for his appearance; and in X-Men Magneto had experienced his own prejudice from humans who feared him just for what he can do and the mutants just for his opinions. To relate that to Grendel, Grendel experienced prejudice when he interacted with the Danes who attack him just for how he spoke, acted, and his appearance. The last trait that is carried in the backgrounds of most villains and monsters archetypes is that they were thrown out of society. In Frankenstein, …show more content…

The characteristic of being alone or feeling alone is seen in the image of a villain or a monster. For instance, in Frankenstein, Frankenstein was made by Victor, who only made him for an experiment; Victor did not know that the experiment will truly work, so he made no others, Frankenstein was angry because no one understood him and wanted a female companion desperately, for the X-Men, Magneto was alone when his parents were taken away from him as a child and felt more alone when people both humans and mutants alike cast him out of society. To relate this to Grendel, Grendel has always felt alone in the book; his mother is mute, the animals are scared of him, and men have always tried to kill him. Hostility to people is always in villains and monsters characteristic, in every movie, show that is on, every book we read it seems that villains and monsters share no compassion for people. For example, Frankenstein is always to be seen that he is always being hostile to civilization and for the X-Men, Magneto is always having a stand against humans. Compared to Grendel, Grendel who was not at first hostile to humans it is only after his first experience with the Danes is when he gets hostile to them. Every villain and monster seem to have a unworldly strength, but let their

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