Grendel Character Analysis

Throughout the renowned novel Grendel, author John Gardner illustrates a captivating characterization of the monster Grendel. While the reader may initially brand Grendel as a sadistic villain, Gardner gradually reinforces the complexity of this character, to the extent where a pressing question arises and begs the reader’s attention--is Grendel truly evil? As the story progresses, it becomes evident that Grendel simply does what he knows to do, as a monster, in addition to doing what he can do, as an emotional being which often lacks favorable choices. Furthermore, Grendel’s status as an evil beast relies entirely on morals, which are wholly subjective. Essentially, because of the complicated nature of naming a creature “good” or “bad,” and

When the reader seeks to classify Grendel as good or bad, he or she contemplates a set of values, siphoned off and acquired from various sources, including the reader’s religion, culture, background, education, and other conditioning variables. The Danes who villainize Grendel are likewise conditioned, further manipulated by the Shaper, who musically recounts legends and stories. In Chapter 4, Gardner describes the Shaper’s song, which condemns Grendel as the “dark side… [t]he terrible race God cursed,” (Gardner 51). The harp’s propaganda is powerful enough to convince both the listening crowd of Danes and Grendel that it is a fact--Grendel is evil. However, it is not a proven truth that Grendel is a “cursed” race, or an evil beast. If the reader, like the Danes, labels Grendel as bad, it is because he or she is conditioned to pinpoint certain characteristics and label them as bad. This conditioned thinking does not signify that Grendel, or any other thusly judged creature, is truly wicked. Similarly, as Jared Diamond depicts the Anasazi society and its demise, in his bestselling book Collapse, he explains the controversy that surfaces as people possess different values than