Mistook for a Menace
Is Grendel a truly fearsome, mindless monster? Or is he simply a misunderstood creature capable of thinking and feeling? Does he deserve to be deemed as an outcast or should society accept him? In the novel, Grendel by John Gardner, Grendel must deal with these questions reflecting his doubts on his identity after he is mistook for an evil, monstrous character. Though Grendel has an evil background in which he is the descendant of Cain causing him to be judged by how others perceive him to be rather than from his true incentives and though his ugly appearance may cause others to cringe, underneath it all, he is a harmless and misunderstood creature only looking to change his destiny. Throughout the novel, Grendel lives
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a lonely existence and though he wreaks havoc, meets characters who leave him to reconsider his persona in life causing him to have second thoughts on his role. Though Grendel tried to embrace his innocence and show how he can display emotions so that the humans would accept him, he was still rejected and shunned by society. Grendel is a very unique, confused, and complex creature and the fact that he is misunderstood by the humans makes him resist his role as the villain even more. The Danes are so captivated by the Shaper's deception into believing that Grendel is a heartless monster incapable of emotions.
Grendel has the intent of getting back at Hrothgar but also realizes that the Danes do not deserve his sympathy and the fact that they live selfishly and innocently makes him act violently towards them. When Grendel first encounters humans and the outside world, he gets enraged when they behave badly, act angrily towards one other, use up natural resources for their own selfish purposes, and only care about wealth. Grendel also encounters the Shaper, who sings songs about lies and uses this “weapon” to manipulate Grendel's mind. Grendel listens to the Shaper's lie and conflicted he says, “It was a cold-blooded lie that a god had lovingly made the world and set out the sun and moon as lights to land-dwellers...Yet he, the old Shaper, might make it true, by the sweetness of his harp, his cunning trickery. It came to me with a fierce jolt that I wanted it. As they did too, though vicious animals, cunning cracked with theories, I wanted it, yes! Even if I must be the outcast, cursed by the rules of his hideous fable.” (55) Grendel after observing the humans realizes that none of what the Shaper said was true. Even though Grendel knew that the Shaper's words were mere flattery and should disbelieve what the Shaper muttered, he was still deeply touched by the words, tempted by their beauty, and tricked into having a strong positive outlook on his role …show more content…
as the antagonist. Not only that but Grendel says, “My heart was light with Hrothgar's goodness, and leaden with grief at my own bloodthirsty ways.” (48) After the temptations of the Shaper's songs and hearing the beauty of the Shaper's words, he realizes that some humans can create beautiful things even if they display ugly habits. He starts to reconsider his role in society and wonders if he still wants to continue with his murderous ways. He feels guilty and dislikes his role as he starts to turn his back on his beliefs and his “bloodthirsty ways”. Lastly, Grendel says “He told of an ancient feud between two brothers which split all the world between darkness and light. And I, Grendel, was the dark side...I believed him! Such was the power of the Shaper's harp!” (52) Grendel's tone emphasizes how he realizes how powerful the Shaper's words are as they begin to take effect on him and his way of thinking. He starts to truly believe in the Shaper's words losing sight of himself and believes that he is evil and is one with the dark side. He does not question himself or the Shaper and automatically accepts his fate. In general, Grendel is misunderstood and is quickly perceived as the evil monster bent on destroying them all. The Shaper comes up with stories of who Grendel is and how he is the descendent of Cain, who is the first assassin on Earth. Quickly, the Danes come up with connections that all lead up to how Grendel is evil and the Danes are quick to make assumptions based on Grendel's background. Grendel, later realizing that the Shaper's stories are not true, is angered and goes on a twelve-year raid on Hrothgar's halls quickly becoming feared and earning a savage reputation. Overall, Grendel is misunderstood due to the Shaper, who stretches the truth and uses deceit to forge assumptions into the Danes Grendel, though misunderstood, further reconsiders his role after encountering the Dragon, who alters his innocence and his mindset, realizing it is essential that he adjusts to his lifelong “responsibility”.
After Grendel has an encounter with the Shaper and is greatly confused by his songs, he goes to the Dragon for advice. The Dragon informs him that the Shaper's songs are all lies and that he should not listen to them. “Now you know how they feel when they see you, eh?” (59) The fact that Grendel is afraid of the Dragon is similar to how the Danes are afraid of Grendel. Grendel gets a taste of how the Danes feel since he is now in their shoes. Even though, at first, the Dragon was frightening, Grendel throughout the chapter comes to a realization that the Dragon is very hospitable and knowledgeable. Grendel should not be so quick to judge just because of the Dragon's appearance and should get to know him before making assumptions. Next, the Dragon says, “You improve them, my boy! Can't you see that yourself? You stimulate them! You make them think and scheme. You drive them to poetry, science, religion, all that makes them what they are for as long as they last. You are, so to speak, the brute existent by which they learn to define themselves.” (72) Grendel, though he dislikes his villainous role and wants no part in it, must come to terms with his lifelong job. The Danes perceived Grendel as the villain due to his “evil” appearance and vicious intentions and
immediately assigned him this role in life. The Dragon instead of having spite towards what the Danes have handed Grendel, has instead had a positive outlook and encourages Grendel to do the same by willingly accepting this role. The Dragon encourages Grendel to embrace his monstrous nature and encourages him to continue terrorizing the Danes since that is what he was meant to do. Not only that but the Dragon's tone excites Grendel. The Dragon also believes that Grendel should accept his role since he is just as important to the Danes as they are to him. He is their purpose in life since their ultimate goal is to defeat him. However, without Grendel, the Danes would have nothing to live for and would have nothing to live by. Grendel is essential in the Danes lives because his existence forces them to map out strategies as well as retain some excitement in their lives. Also, the Dragon says, “My advice to you, my violent friend, is to seek out gold and sit on it.” (74) Grendel knows that the Dragon is much stronger and knowledgeable than himself and the fact that the Dragon has outlined his life with this quote makes Grendel realize that the world has nothing to offer. The Dragon's advice encourages Grendel to revive that little bit of hope left and encourages Grendel to find his purpose and his own meaning in life. Gold is an emblem of everything people live by. Gold, or rather wealth, is essential in achieving a “purpose” and is necessary to shape our lives and make our lives meaningful since it can bring us happiness, material goods, power, and love. Grendel is persuaded by the Dragon to pursue what the Dragon perceives as gold, that is to find something greater and something that will give him the greatest happiness. In general, Grendel is misunderstood and he understands this after realizing that the Danes handed him his villainous role after making quick assumptions due to his monstrous appearance. Grendel dislikes his role but realizes its importance from his visit with the Dragon, who enlightens him and changes his mindset and way of thinking. Though he claims that he dislikes his bloodthirsty ways and does not believe that his purpose is to constantly kill the Danes, he continues to kill out of rage towards the lives that the Danes live and the fact that they “judge a book by its cover”. Out of jealousy, he raids Herot for twelve years and scares the residents. If he had not been treated as an outcast in his youth and if the Danes had gotten to know him a bit better, then it would not be necessary for him to turn evil and try to become noticed and go to extreme measures to be accepted by the outside world. Overall, even though Grendel is misunderstood and though he initially dislikes his villainous role, with help from the Dragon learns that his role just as important as that of the Danes and his existence is necessary to keep a balance between both good and evil. In both situations Grendel is misunderstood and is constantly reminded of how much he hates his role in life. He is at war with himself in his mind since he continuously reconsiders his role and believes that he never deserved to assume the role of the villain. The Shaper and the Dragon both play with his mind since both leave a profound impact, provide Grendel with insight, and leave him to question his beliefs.
Grendel, as a character, has a much more complex identity than just a monster and a human. Some, such as Ruud, classify him as a mixture of three different characteristics, but alone, they tend to conflict with each other. By making the connection that Grendel represents immorality, the previous idea makes more sense, while simultaneously incorporating more aspects of the character into the analysis. In either case, Grendel represents much more than meets the eye, and provides a fascinating insight into
Perhaps he would actually like to live a normal life with the humans. “Some evil inside myself pushed out into the trees, I knew what I knew, the mindless, mechanical bruteness of things, and when the harper’s lure drew my mind away from hopeful dreams, the dark of what was and always was reached out and snatched my feet.” (Gardner 54) It seems as though Grendel would like to change things if he could, but some outside force will not allow it. Even if this is true, Grendel is still inherently evil. Despite whatever dreams he may have. The reader simply cannot ignore the fact that he still does evil deeds with evil intentions. He is seemingly unable to feel love, or at least disinterested in it. He enjoys torturing and killing humans and rarely shows mercy. Due to these facts, it is impossible to say Grendel is a hero in this
Particularly in chapter 3, Grendel listens as a blind old man, the Shaper, tells the tale of Danish history to Hrothgar. Though what is told is largely fictitious, Grendel cannot help but to feel strangely moved by the brilliance of the Shaper’s story. “Thus I fled, ridiculous hairy creature torn apart by poetry—crawling, whimpering, streaming tears, across the world like a two-headed beast, like mixed-up lamb and kid at the tail of a baffled, indifferent ewe—and I gnashed my teeth and clutched the sides of my head as if to heal the split, but I couldn’t.” (Grendel, John Gardner, pg.44) In this moment, Grendel’s mind is split between what he understands to be true and the truth that is desired. The world is callous and careless, blunt and belligerent; this he knows. However, with the artistic style and formation of the Shaper’s words, he is brought to tears and is captivated by his spiritual and emotional yearnings. Grendel is also overwhelmed with disgust and shame for himself and his vile
The Shaper, a harp-playing bard, tells righteous tales about Hrothgar, the ruler, and his society. The Shaper lies and spins a web of exaggerations that romanticize the violence that has given Hrothgar his power. Grendel witnessed the fighting himself and knew what the Shaper was saying was untrue. However, Grendel cannot help himself but falling for the optimistically distorted reality of the Shaper. Throughout time and across the world, figures similar to the Shaper work to twist the truth into a favorable picture. The human perspective can often be easily controlled. This shows the fragility of independence and humanity. In response to the Shaper, Grendel says I too crept away, my mind aswim in ringing phrases, magnificent, golden, and all of them, incredibly, lies" (Gardner 43), but he also says “I clamped my palms to my ears and stretched up my lips and shrieked again” (Gardner 45). The contrast between these responses to the Shaper show how Grendel is split. He is both charmed and repulsed by the lies. Both ways, the Shaper demonstrates to Grendel the artificiality of truth in this existence. This only furthers Grendel’s dissatisfaction towards
Most authors, occasionally uses their characters to guide their personal views they want to emphasize to their audience. In the novel, Grendel written by John Gardner, Gardner uses Grendel as an agent to portray his perspective of the evil and corrupt world of humans and their place in the universe. Gardner not only uses Grendel as a vehicle, but also uses the Dragon as another source to express his opinions of people in the world. Gardner can be considered as an isolated human being, who is kept away from the affection of others; Grendel and Gardner can be closely related due to the fact that Gardner is embodied as Grendel in a more dimensional aspect. They both seem to contain repugnant thoughts towards the world they are “forced” to live in. The Dragon supports Gardner’s statement by going against the Shaper’s stories, by telling Grendel that life seems to possess no meaning and every story the Shaper tells is to alter the people’s attitudes. While Grendel is conversing with the Dragon, the Dragon mocks the Shaper, “[He] provides an illusion of reality- puts together all their facts with gluey whine of connectedness. [...] But he spins it all together with harp runs and hoots, and they think what they think is alive, think Heaven loves them” (Pg. 65). This proves that humans are weak-minded and are easily persuaded into faulty stories; this puts humans into a low ranking scale of morality. Through Grendel’s observation of Hrothgar’s kingdom, is also considered a source of perspective. Grendel witnesses Wealtheow being used as a balance of harmony between the two rivaling families, the Danes and the Helmings. As Grendel spies on them he thinks to himself, “But she was beautiful and she surrendered herself with the dignity of a s...
In the novel Grendel is an evil character that attacks and kills multiple humans. Later in the book, Grendel meets the Shaper, and they have a meeting together. The Shaper talks to Grendel about how the people view him and he tries to change Grendel for the better. “ The man had changed the world, had turn up the past by its thick, gnarled roots and had transmitted it his way- and so did I” (Garnder 43). The Shaper talks to Grendel and tries to convince Grendel that he should be nicer to people and people will maybe change how they see him and he will not be an outcast anymore. He tells Grendel that his past is his past and basically that he can have a fresh start with people if he starts to be nice to them. The quote , “It was a cold blooded lie that a god had lovingly made the world and set out the sun and moon as lights to to land-dwellers that brothers had fought, that one of the races was saved, the other cursed. Yet he, the old Shaper, might make it true, by the sweetness of his harp, his cunning trickery. It came to me with a fierce jolt that I wanted it. As they did too, though
Soon afterwards however, Grendel meets man. While they first mistake him as being a part of the tree, they immediately give a violence to him when they assume that “the spirit’s angry” and that “it always has been… [and] that’s why it’s killing the tree” (Gardner 26). In his very first instance with man, they tell Grendel that he is inherently angry and murderous. This starts the evolution in Grendel to feed the violence within him. Before he interacts with man, he knew his place in the world and he would never kill without a justified purpose. Even after observing man for some time, Grendel “was sickened, if only by the waste of” (Gardner 36) the countless animals and men that they would kill and leave to rot. Grendel still has a sense of worth to the creature’s life around him, if only if it is to keep a sustainable food source. After however, he begins to become infatuated with man’s ways and their views. Scott Kenemore states, “Grendel's encounters with humans … present him with a colorful variety of worldviews and ideologies”.
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.
Grendel as a character is very intelligent, he is capable of rational thought at all times. Because of this, at sometimes during the story I would forget Grendel is a monster, the way he acts in his thoughts and actions I would mistake him for a human; at times I was even feeling bad for Grendel because he is a very lonely person who tries to understand all of the meaningless of the world around him. Grendel can never get to close to
With the introduction of the Shaper, Grendel’s ideals are transformed by another’s words. The Shaper is able to show Grendel that he can have an identity and not just be a mere obstruction in the dark. The Shaper created his own theories and stories about life and fed them to the people in a way that enabled them to follow what he said as truth. The Shaper gave the Danes a purpose by telling them what great feats they had overcome and his words excited and encouraged the men to become even more magnificent. The more Grendel listens to the Shaper’s songs, the more apparent it is that Grendel is captivated by the Shaper’s perspective on life. The Shaper’s songs tore at Grendel because he wanted to believe in everything said, but felt ashamed to live his life believing in lies: “I listened, felt myself swept up. I knew very well that all he said was ridiculous, not light for their darkness but flattery, illusion, a vortex pulling them from sunlight to heat, a kind of midsummer burgeoning waltz to the sickle” (Gardner 47). Grendel wanted to believe in the Shaper and his theories but he knew that in the end they were all lies meant to deceive, to fool, and to ensnare the listener. It was the Shaper’s skill and imagination that stirred him, but as much as Grendel wanted to accept the Shaper’s tales, he knew they were not the truths he was looking
Grendel's negative view of the world stems from the Dragon due to their close compani...
Grendel is born a neutral being, perhaps even good, but nevertheless, without hate. The transition which he undergoes to become evil is due to misunderstandings between himself and humans and also meeting with a dragon who is questionably evil. As a young “monster”, Grendel knew nothing other than the cave he lived in and his mother who could not speak any distinguishable language. He was a playful creature who seemed to be like a “bla...
One of Grendel’s archenemies is the human. Humans refuse to look beyond Grendel’s unattractive exterior, and spend most of their days trying to kill Grendel. One night when Grendel is watching their mead hall, he sees them “treating their sword-blades with snake’s venom”(Gardner 29). Another conflict between humans and serpents develops when Grendel is watching the Shaper for the first time. As he listens, he “snatche[s] up a snake from beside [his] foot”(40), and holds it in his fist as he listens to the Shaper sing. The snake represents the deceptive weaving of history that the Shaper performs in Hrothgar’s mead hall. Grendel interacts with one of the priests, Ork, in the circle of Gods, by pretending to be the Great Destroyer. Ork predicts that the Great Destroyer will eventually fall, foreshadowing Grendel’s battle with Beowulf. Ork tells his fellow priests about his conversation with the Great Destroyer, but they just “look down at him as they would at a wounded snake”(118). In Grendel’s eyes, all humans are evil, because they refuse to take the time to understand him. Because of this, Grendel battles the humans throughout the novel until one of them finally takes his life.
Grendel is the embodiment of all that is evil and dark. He is a descendant of Cain and like Cain is an outcast of society. He is doomed to roam in the shadows. He is always outside looking inside. He is an outside threat to the order of society and all that is good. His whole existence is grounded solely in the moral perversion to hate good simply because it is good.
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.