Monsters In Beowulf And Grendel's Mother

Do you really understand what a monster is or who the monster is? A monster could be anything or anyone. People think that monsters are just supernatural creatures and ugly and huge, but that is not exactly true. Everyday people could be monsters and sometimes they are the worst types of monsters. When you read “Beowulf”, you could say that Beowulf, Grendel, and Grendel’s Mother were all monsters in some way.

Monsters are extraordinary or unnatural. Grendel was unusual because he lived in a swamp with his mom. He had scary claws and huge jaws that he used for deadly reasons. Grendel and his mother were capable of doing things that other humans and creatures couldn’t.

Beowulf was very extraordinary. He was a man of great strength and mighty

courage. He never backed down from any fight or battle. He used his amazing strength to help defeat the other enemies. He was seen as indestructible from his peers and as a mighty hero.
All of that race from the earth. I swam
In the blackness of night, hunting monsters
Out of the ocean, and killing them one
By one; death was my errand and the fate
They had earned. (155-159)
Monsters are imaginary or constructed by body parts of other animals.

Grendel was a monster made of many different body parts. He had huge claws like a dinosaur and huge jaws like a shark. Grendel was scary in sight and he used is body to do terrible things to the people of Dane. The narrator explains, “The monster’s/Thoughts were as quick as his greed or his claws…”(34 -35)

Monsters are people of inhuman and horrible cruelty or wickedness. Grendel was a master or destroying things and people. He once killed about thirty men just by smashing them and ripping them apart, while completely destroying the mead-hall Herot. The poem says, “Snatched up thirty men, smashed them/Unknowing in their beds and ran out with their bodies…”(37-38). Unlike Grendel, Grendel’s Mother was mischievous, rather than an assassin. She would lure the King into her layer and she would put a curse on that King. The King would be lost in how beautiful she was and be trapped.

Beowulf was cruel for killing Grendel. Grendel meant a lot to his mother and she was furious about the situation. Beowulf destroyed their family and put a lot of fear into Grendel when they were fighting. Beowulf had intimidated his enemies and killed many different people and

“monsters”.
A monster is animal of huge size or has vast and unwieldy proportions. Grendel was a monster that was described as being big and having deadly claws with monstrous jaws and everything. The narrator says, “Waiting to see his swift hard claws,/Grendel snatched at the first Geat/He came to, ripped him apart, cut/His body to bits with powerful jaws”(261-264).
Beowulf wasn’t huge in size but he was huge in strength and courage. He didn’t fear anyone and depended on his fate to keep him alive. His strength was the characteristic that made him larger-than-life because he killed many “monsters” using that power.
You may be confused about what a true monster is! It can be anyone and anybody depending on that person’s point of view. Monsters come in all types: short, tall, skinny, fat, ugly, beautiful, supernatural, and human. You never know a true monster until you look behind the layers.