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Grendel and Beowulf are two feared beings who dislike each other, but are alike and different in many ways. Grendel was a powerful monster that lived in darkness and was feared by humans. He was evil, haunted the moors, and terrorized the Danes. He was not born as a human but as a demon/monster, and was described as something sent from Hell. The Harots singing awakened Grendel, which made him attack them every night. An angry Grendel made his way through the night seeking only to capture and feast on the Danes. Hrothgar and the sleeping Danes are in for a rude awakening.
Hrothgar and the villagers of Harot are awakened by an angry Grendel who captures only a handful of Danes in his claws. Hrothgar then sends his men on a journey in search
of the almighty Beowulf. Beowulf was nearly more powerful than Grendel, and was the only man who could defeat him. He was a young prince and a Viking of his village/kingdom, and he was also known to have the strength of over 30 men. He was one of Higlacs followers and was the strongest of the Geats. Beowulf sails to Hrothgar’s village and is preparing for the battle of the century. On the way to the village, Beowulf guides the sailors through the safe paths of the sea. Beowulf is the most powerful man anyone has ever seen. He is only focused on one thing and that is to protect the Danes, defeat Grendel, and bring happiness back to the village. Beowulf chooses his bravest men to fight alongside him, and they arrive in the Harots village. Beowulf has heard stories of the monster Grendel, but neither of them have come face to face before. Grendel and Beowulf both share similarities because both of them are very powerful. The only difference is that Grendel’s motives are to kill the Danes, while Beowulf is there to protect them. While the Danes feast, Grendel moves quick and angrily through the night hoping to kill anyone and anything he could get his hands on. What he does not know is that Hrothgar has a surprise in store for him waiting in Harot. Grendel gets to Harot and bursts through the doors of the hall. He is met with sleeping Danes and warriors, but he is only thirsty for blood. Grendel has awakened Beowulf, and Beowulf is ready to attack the monster among men. As the beast and the powerful warrior battle, Hrothgar’s men are in awe of Beowulf’s strength. Throughout the battle, Grendel starts to realize that his strength is no match to Beowulf’s and starts to regret ever fighting him. Beowulf gains enough power to rip the arm of Grendel of his body, which sends him fleeing back to his den where he cries in pain. The fierce battle is over and the Danes rejoice seeing that the reign of Grendel had come to an end. Beowulf had lifted the spirits of the Danes knowing they wouldn’t have to feel the wrath of Grendel ever again. Beowulf has now killed Grendel, and has kept Grendel’s arm as a token of victory proving that Grendel was defeated. They take the arm of Grendel and hang it up on the wall of the building. Beowulf was talked about all through the village about his bravery and heroicness. Horses and children are now able to roam through the woods and village freely without being terrorized by a monster every day and night. Everything may be okay now but Hrothgar and the Danes will one day feel the wrath of Grendel’s mother.
He does not act like the blood hungry beast he is seen as in Beowulf. In
There are many similarities and differences between the movie "Beowulf and Grendel", to the poem. Major differences between the movie and the poem would be Grendel himself. In the poem, he is described as an evil monster born from two demons. In the movie, Grendel is actually human, but known as a troll to the warriors and Danes. The poem doesn’t give the background of Grendel or show how the Danes killed his father and the possible reason of his revenge, like in the movie. If the witch, Selma, was not included in the storyline of the movie, the audience would not have known key information that she was used to show from more flashbacks. The witch gives more of an idea about Grendel’s past life that could have been the possibility to reasons for his actions. Some major similarities are the battles. Both epics include the battles between Beowulf and Grendel, as well as Beowulf and Grendel’s mother. The end results are the same, leading to their death, but the journey and process to the two tales are different.
Beowulf outlines turmoil between three opponents: Grendel, Grendel’s mother, and the Dragon. These separate discords each serve to fulfill different metaphoric purposes. Grendel’s character epitomizes the adverse persona of how an Anglo-Saxon warrior should not be. His mother represents everything that a woman during the time era should seldom be. Lastly, the Dragon embodies all the values that an Anglo-Saxon king should not dare retain. Without a doubt, the symbolic implications of the monsters in Beowulf bring the context to a new level of understanding.
I represented Grendel as having half-human and half-monstrous form because he is part of Cain’s clan. In the Bible, the story of Abel and Cain where Cain kills his brother is well-known. If Grendel was a part of Cain’s clan, he would have had the evil spirit of Cain and therefore would have been murderous and cruel. Grendel was designed to be partially human and monster because I used my imagination to think of Grendel as a human just like Cain that has changed due to his evil spirit making him look and act like a monster. Just like Cain, Grendel is “among the banished monsters, Cain’s clan/ whom the creator had outlawed/ And condemned as outcasts”. In order to show the fact that he is an outcast by God and part of Cain’s clan, I put the mark
When Beowulf is at a young, strong age, all he wants to do is fight and seem larger than life to everyone around him and to those who hear his story. The first monster he encounters is a demon named Grendel. Grendel wreaks havoc on Danish warriors being jealous that he is a spawn of Cain which causes him to be forced to drift around the world with no companions and be alone forever (Bodek). Grendel’s family lives in middle earth and all they do is plan and attack man (Lee). Grendel is mad at all humans and instead of trying to make peace, for which he has no reason to, eventually, he decides to kill (Irving). The torture Grendel had been putting on Herot had grown so popular; stories were traveling to other countries (Beowulf).
Grendal, a descendant of Cain, is one of the main antagonist of the poem Beowulf. He lives under an inherited curse and is denied God’s presence. Throughout the story Grendal causes enormous grief and fear to the people of Herot. After so much pain and agony the king of Herot, Hrothgar, sends for the protagonist of the poem, Beowulf. He is a Geat and the epic hero of the poem. The wide variety of distinctions between Grendal and Beowulf is what develops the climax of the composition. Beowulf kills Grendal, so he is honored by the people of Herot for his heroic act. Since Grendal and Beowulf play opposite roles in the poem, Beowulf, they let the reader know how contrasting characters can develop the plot of the story.
Andy Stanley, author of Louder Than Words: The Power of Uncompromised Living, wrote, “Your character is not stagnant, it is either developing or deteriorating.” While his book was primarily focused on middle-aged humans, Stanley’s quote can easily be used to depict Grendel’s extensive inner journey in Grendel by John Gardner. Grendel was a one who raised himself through years of relentless observation of his surroundings. He was immature, unsure of what life was beyond his mother, and uncertain of what he was and how he fit into the world. He lived with no intention. Thus, it was not until Grendel was introduced to the Shaper, the dragon, and Beowulf that he began to evolve and then drastically devolve. Grendel, while vilified in the epic Beowulf, was the victim in his own story. His character was so
The epic poem Beowulf is an exciting literary work to read and watch, but both the movie version and textbook version of Beowulf have opposing viewpoints revolving around the legacy of Beowulf. Both versions have their ups and downs. The movie started thrilling, died down and then built its excitement back up. The textbook gradually became more interesting as the story went on. The textbook was very detailed, and the movie was very explicit.
Beowulf and Grendel (Gunnarsson 2005) depicts a very different protagonist than the one in the epic (Heaney 2000). The Beowulf in the film learns how to have mercy as the movie progresses, while the epic Beowulf is very flat. This is due to the fact that the modern culture is very different from that of the epic. Our culture isn't content with such characters. We want our characters to have more lifelike characteristics such as emotions and a change of heart.
Grendel, a horrible demon who lives in the swamplands of Hrothgar’s kingdom. Grendel terrorizes the Danes every night, killing them and defeating their efforts to fight back. The Danes suffer many years of fear, danger, and death at the hands of Grendel. Eventually, however, a young warrior named Beowulf hears of Hrothgar’s condition and makes it easier and safer for the others. Inspired by the challenge, Beowulf sails to Denmark with a small company of men, determined to defeat Grendel and other unexpected creatures. Giving up weapons shows how little Beowulf fears death in his quest for fame and great deeds. “Accept the challenges so that you may feel the thrill of victory.” I am saying this because when I get thrown obstacles in life I do not let it take me down, I challenge myself to do better and not be on the same level. I love the challenge and others should realize to never give up because we have so much potential to strive for what we want as
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley tells the story about a lone scientist who decided to play God and create a creature of his own; who he deemed would surpass humanity. He worked hard on his creation for years, but in the end he realized he made an error and abandoned it. The creature took revenge on his creator and they faced off each other until their dying moments. Grendel by John Gardner takes a look at the tale of Beowulf from the point of view of the main villain in the epic: Grendel. We take a look at Grendel’s life from his younger years, to encounters with humans, to him building a hatred for them, to him terrorizing and bringing chaos, and finally to his death at the hands of Beowulf. A common theme that connects these two distinct stories is loneliness and isolation. Both is experienced by Grendel and Frankenstein’s creation, and
The world is a big secretive place full of wrongness, hate, evilness, greed, and bloodlust. At the beginning humans were scared of the unknown. Humans were scared of theses feelings that are decaying hands reaching to destroy. To counterpoise this fear humans wrote about that the unknown as foreign monster causing havoc and ending with a untainted Hero killing this immoral substance an example is Beowulf. Beowulf is the first english tale written down however Grendel by John Gardner reveals Grendel a self pitying monster side of the story; “Poor Grendel will hang here and starve to death and no one with ever miss him!” He is the antagonist in both Grendel and Beowulf. Gardner conveys that Grendel is reflection of the his surrounding humans
The story of Beowulf is a heroic epic chronicling the illustrious deeds of the great Geatish warrior Beowulf, who voyages across the seas to rid the Danes of an evil monster, Grendel, who has been wreaking havoc and terrorizing the kingdom. Beowulf is glorified for his heroic deeds of ridding the land of a fiendish monster and halting its scourge of evil while the monster is portrayed as a repugnant creature who deserves to die because of its evil actions. In the epic poem, Beowulf the authors portrays Grendel as a cold-hearted beast who thrives on the pain of others. Many have disagreed with such a simplistic and biased representation of Grendel and his role in the epic poem. John Gardner in his book, Grendel set out to change the reader’s perception of Grendel and his role in Beowulf by narrating the story through Grendel’s point of view. John Gardner transforms the perceived terrible evil fiend who is Grendel into a lonely but intelligent outcast who bears a striking resemblance to his human adversaries. In Grendel, John Gardner portrays Grendel as an intelligent being capable of rational thought as well as displaying outbursts of emotion. He portrays Grendel as a hurt individual and as a victim of oppression ostracized from civilization. The author of Beowulf portrays Grendel as the typical monster archetype as compared to John Gardner’s representation of Grendel as an outcast archetype.
This was a gloomy period and the disturbing effects of Grendel had taken its toll on the Danes. Many had given up total faith that things would ever get better. They desired a hero, someone who symbolized strength, decency, and bravery. So came Beowulf, not only was he a hero, but he was also a man of faith that had fought in battles and won. His adventures were described as events that are meant by God to bless the people. Beowulf was considered to be a vessel of God, an example of righteousness called by God to do His will for the Danes. In plain contrast to his good, is the enemy, Grendel, the personification of evil. Grendel was everything that Beowulf was not. He is an adversary of the people, and according to the text even an adversary of God. Grendel is a vicious and mortal creature that is completely opposite to all that is good. The writers of Beowulf intended to draw a religious
In most books the author talks about a heroic adventure in which the hero kills the villain and the hero wins, similarly the world in Grendel by John Gardener and Beowulf by an anonymous author is talking about heroic feats and battles but there is a deeper meaning into it, the idea that the entire world is meaningless, everything is unplanned, unknown and is a huge accident in which nothing matters. This can be proven and denied in the books Beowulf by an anonymous author and Grendel by john gardener the dragon from Grendel by john gardener believes that existence is futile on the other hand where Beowulf believes life is given by god himself and seeks