John Gardner's Grendel Essay: A Problem Of Evil

690 Words2 Pages

The concept of evil is difficult to understand, and varies from person to person. But generally evil can be defined as wickedness or lack of morals. Throughout history evil has always been prevalent, but to a varying degree and in different ways. Every person has an evil side to them, and to suppress that evil side, it is critical to attempt to understand it and how to prevent it. John Gardner’s Grendel, a novel about a murderous monster, examines the effects of evil philosophies and how positive philosophies can counteract those. The value of Grendel is showing the reader how the evil mind works and how to halt the evil that exists in every person.
Cold-blooded murder is one typical form of evil, so Grendel’s thoughts and reasoning about …show more content…

Soon after he becomes a full-fledged killer, Grendel meets The dragon, a mysterious advice-giver inside his mind. He claims to know the past, present, and future and tells Grendel: “My advice to you, my violent friend, is to seek out gold and sit on it” (74). In this way Grendel is being offered a glimpse at a more positive way of living. One of the consequences of letting nihilism control his life is that he is backed into a corner he cannot easily escape. However, by choosing to abandon the evil philosophy and be content with the world as it is, Grendel can stop his life of senseless killing. The dragon knows Grendel’s worldview, as well as the fact that Grendel will never be able to go back to innocence, so he advises him to stop following nihilism and sit on gold, or do nothing. At the very least Grendel would waste away the rest of his life without harming others, but more likely he would eventually find happiness in something and experience the positive aspects of life. Readers of Grendel can learn from the dragon’s advice and stop the evil inside of them; all it takes is satisfaction with being unable to define and understand every working of the

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