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Negative impact of humans
Analysis of grendel
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Grendel lives in a dark and gruesome underground cave with his mother and dozens of cold, unmoving creatures. He is very curious and, in his early years, finds a way to escape this terrible place and enter the world. Every night he wanders outside his cave, exploring the land around him. One night, he gets trapped in a tree. A band of human beings led by King Hrothgar approaches and, after some hesitation, attacks Grendel. They close in for the kill, but Grendel's mother arrives just in time to save him.
Years after his encounter with Grendel, Hrothgar's power and influence grow until he rules an immense territory. He builds a glorious meadhall, the greatest in the land, and names it Herot. He builds roads to connect his kingdom and hires an immensely gifted Harper to play at special occasions. Grendel is fascinated by the Harper's music and tries to join the humans, but he is attacked by the frightened guards and must flee. Feeling lonely and rejected, he visits an ancient dragon that lives within the kingdom. The dragon speaks for some time, and his wicked, tired cynicism infects Grendel. He puts a charm on the young monster, making him impervious to human blades. After this, Grendel becomes a creature of pure destruction. At the onset of each subsequent spring, Grendel carries out several raids on Hrothgar's meadhall. He is very careful about this, leaving just enough men behind to rebuild and grow for the next spring.
Several years after he builds his meadhall, Hrothgar ...
The climax of the story is when Miles is shot by the Bonewoman. The reader comes to realize that Miles’ choice to live life on the safe side was a mistake:
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
Grendel, though he needs to kill to do so, functions very well in his own sphere. Grendel survives in a hostile climate where he is hated and feared by all. He lives in a cave protected by firesnakes so as to physically, as well as spiritually, separate himself from the society that detests, yet admires, him. Grendel is "the brute existent by which [humankind] learns to define itself"(Gardner 73). Hrothgar's thanes continually try to extinguish Grendel's infernal rage, while he simply wishes to live in harmony with them.
Grendel, written by John Gardner, is a novel based off the early epic poem, Beowulf. Gardner tells the tale in the perspective of the monster, Grendel, who is struggling to understand the purpose of life and his place in the world. In Gardner’s novel, Grendel terrorizes the kingdom of Hrothgar for 12 years, killing men in the night relentlessly. With the descriptions of battles and heroic deeds, Gardener conveys to the reader, the ideals of Anglo-Saxon heroes as courageous, self-righteous, humble, and loyal beings that are humanly flawless. The book Grendel tears down all these fundamental ideologies of Anglo-Saxon heroism by giving Grendel the monster a nihilist perspective that makes heroism sound stupid and meaningless.
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.
Grendel, surprisingly, adapts quite well to his society despite its detestation of his existence. Grendel live is a rattlesnake-guarded cave, which allows himself to detach from his society, giving him the necessary space to cope with the troublesome thoughts among his people about Grendel. Unlike Frankenstein, Grendel tries to associate with the members of his civilization but is rejected every time he tries to do so. Every night Grendel goes to Herot to listen to the Sharper’s stories because the history interests him. He is quite intrigued and appreciative of the tales he hears, but when he comes in contact with those from Herot, they do not reciprocate the appreciation of his presence in Herot. The ones he admires so much taunt and torture him to the point they try to kill him for “intruding.” As retaliation, Grendel fights back and raids Herot every night.
Throughout the novel, this monster, Grendel, seems confused as to whether he wants to view life like his existentialistic dragon mentor, or like the ignorantly optimistic humans on which he feeds. At times he is captivated by the romantic songs of the Shaper, and feels no desire to kill, while at others he thrives on the "knowledge" of the dragon, and goes on bloody rampages. At one point during Grendel's insecure state, the dragon tells him something that changes his outlook, and gives him a new feeling of self-worth.
Evil. It’s a concept that has baffled philosophers, religious figures, and the common man alike for thousands of years. In this millennium, people may exemplify evil as terrorism, genocide, or, perhaps, placing an empty milk carton back in the refrigerator. However, many remain conflicted about the exact definition of evil, as the dispute over the character Grendel, from the John Gardner novel, makes evident. To conclude that Grendel is not evil, readers must first operate under the assumption that the beast is unequivocally and thoroughly evil. Having done so, readers will notice the fallacies within this thought process. By asserting that Grendel is evil, readers blatantly disregard the ambiguity with which humanity defines its actions, as
Then the Danes decide to go back to Herot and while they are sleeping, Grendel’s mother comes to attack them in order to even the score for the killing of her son. Then she leaves, taking the body parts of her son and Esher (which is one of Hrothgar's close friends) with her. Beowulf attempts to save him by entering the monster-filled lake, although the sword that he uses is useless against the skin of Grendel’s mother. As he continues to fight, he grows tired, but then notices that there is a huge sword on the wall of the battle hall where he was dragged to. The sword just so happened to be a magical one that was blessed by the giants that made it.
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.
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.
In “Gubbinal” by Wallace Stevens metaphors are used to prove the main purpose of this poem which is that there are many ways to view the same thing and that our inability to compromise and understand our opinions as well as the opinions of others makes us fools. The name of the poem quite literally means fools, now a fool is someone who believes that they understand and are right about everything, as you see throughout the poem the narrator argues with someone who is referred to as “you” about whether the world is beautiful or not. The narrator and “you” both seem too stubborn to even really take in each other’s opinions, both believe themselves to be correct and they become fed up with each other, as seen in the first stanza of the poem where
The prevailing opinion is that European explorers came to the America’s to peacefully colonize and gradually begin mutually beneficial relationships with the native people. However, Howard Zinn proves that the majority of explorers could not coexist with the native tribes, as the conquerors slowly stole their land, and did not return the initial hospitality most of the natives had showed to them. Therefore, the European colonizers blatantly ignored the rights of the Native Americans and acted with violence towards them. In order to conquer the natives, the colonizers “set fire to the wigwams of the village” and “ [destroyed] their crops” (Zinn).
The short story, “Unlighted Lamps,” by author Sherwood Anderson is about a relationship between a father and his daughter. Their relationship is a stressful one because neither of them talk to each other, nor show their emotions. Throughout the story, you find out why their relationship is the way that it is, and why it is hard for her father to talk to her. The unlighted lamps in the story represent flashbacks of memories wherever light dances across something.
The story of Beowulf begins with a beast terrorizing a kingdom by killing many soldiers and people for over a decade. The news of the terror travels far and wide and so far that Beowulf hears of it. He organizes a party with his kings approval made up of the best of the best to assist him in his journey to Herot. Once in herot Beowulf and his men meet with king Hrothgar to get his blessings to defeat the beast named Grendel. After a great feast, like clockwork, grendel comes from the marsh to kill,only to be confronted by Beowulf. Once a great battle breaks out grendel realizes he has been defeated, he runs to his home where hell opens its arms to accept the dying beast.