Irrationality In John Gardner's Grendel, And Beowulf

Throughout John Gardner’s Grendel, and Seamus Heaney’s Beowulf, many events and situations make it clear that the stories talk about the same character. Throughout Beowulf, Grendel is seen as a demon that lacks any real motive for his crimes, by the end of Grendel the this side of his is shown after his transformation from innocents to evil. The one key trait that can be seen throughout both Grendel and Beowulf is irrationality. This trait of irrationality is caused in the stories by many of the same reasons as in real life. In John Gardner’s Grendel and Seamus Heaney’s Beowulf, Grendel’s constant perception fluctuations reinforce the themes of irrationality that cause him to act the way he does.

The way that Grendel is seen in Beowulf stays the same throughout the story. He is

After being introduced to Heorot, the new mead hall the reader becomes acquainted with Grendel, “Grendel was the name of this grim demon / haunting the marches, marauding around the heath / and the desolate fens; he has dwelt for a time in misery among the banished monsters, / Cain’s clan, whom the creator had outlawed / and condemned as outcast” (Heaney 9/100). Through this first encounter with Grendel, the reader learns that he has been haunting and marauding uncivilized lands up to this point with other monsters, because he appears directly after the introduction of the new mead hall it can be assumed that he has found a new place to haunt. Grendel along with the other monsters who are thought to have patrolled the area are referred to as Cain’s clan referring to the Old Testament story about Cain and Able, the sons of Adam and Eve. In the story, Cain kills Able out of jealousy and is condemned by God. Murder is considered an irrational and radical act, and the comparison of Grendel to the “first murderer” project these characteristics onto him. Later, after Grendel’s second attack on the mead hall the Danes realize that the attack