Morally Ambiguous Character In 'Grendel' By John Gardner

In John Gardner’s, Grendel, the main character, Grendel, is a morally ambiguous character. This is because although he does commit evil in killing the men, through his eyes he is doing good by riding the world of these men. Grendel chooses to kill many men in Herot which is view as immoral but according to Grendel this is his purpose and he is right by doing so. To the reader Grendel is morally ambiguous as we know the crimes he commits are wrong but in the end, the reader still is sympathetic towards Grendel. Grendel commits evil acts for the purpose of good deeds which is where the reader's sympathy becomes prevalent.
Killing hundreds of thousands of men over the course of twelve winters is pure evil. If those hundreds of thousands of men

are evil than that is good. Grendel possesses both good and evil as he commits evil deeds for the purpose of good results. To Grendel’s perspective these men are evil but this resentment is fueled by his, “gradually...increasing isolation” which is why, “he finds fault with all great human values” (3). Values like love, respect, and sympathy all are lacking by Grendel. Grendel lacks love as the closest thing he has is his mother and seemingly the entire novel he talks bad about her. His only interactions are with his mother and the dragon and he lacks respect to both. Sympathy is nonexistent in his life as he kills so many men with no remorse or any consideration of the repercussions of his actions. He does not possess any of these traits causing him to break away from society and ultimately causing his resentment towards it. His outcasting is the stem of his hatred of humans and their wastefulness. He decides to kill the humans in order to rid the world of imperfections as he finds human’s to be undeveloped. His killings of the humans, an evil deed, is a noble act in his eyes causing his moral ambiguity. Grendel own’s both good and evil within himself in turn, inducing sympathy from the reader by the end of the novel and giving himself the characteristic of moral ambiguitiy.
Gardners’ overall purpose in making Grendel morally ambiguous was to show the reader how not to live. Gardner wants to portray to the reader, “that Grendel’s story is a sort of tragedy” (5). Seeing Grendel’s life go so horribly and end just as worse should be a wake up call to the reader. Grendel’s moral ambiguity causes himself pain and torment as it causes him to live a pointless life. Gardner does not want to see a Grendel in our own society as Gardner points out, “faith and awe, [are] two qualities Grendel tragically lacks” (5). Gardner’s purpose by making Grendel a morally ambiguous character was to show the reader how one should not live their life. Grendel owns no moral definition causing him to remain stagnant which allows, “ the dragon’s advice to Grendel on this point is that it gives Grendel an excuse not to strive for good” (6). Gardner praises Unferth as the unsung hero because unlike Grendel who does not strive for good, Unferth, “go[es] on living, he does keep trying” which is what Gardner wants from all people (6). Gardner’s purpose is to prevent Grendels in our society and instead have more Unferths who although fail, still continue to strive for good.