More handpicked essays just for you.
What is the importance of character development in literature
Grendel's point of view essay
Grendel's point of view essay
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Philosophy is an integral part of existence. It affirms or negates an idea of an individual with regard to existence, knowledge, and values. In the novel Grendel by John Gardner, the readers are introduced to process philosophy and its effects on the central character Grendel. Process Philosophy states that change is accidental, while the substance is eternal. This is evident as Grendel undergoes change through learning about the various schools of philosophy that the characters live by, notably the dragon, nihilism, Ork, metaphysics, and Beowulf, empiricism. These philosophies affect Grendel in countless ways but the reigning idea remains about process philosophy.
The dragon is one of the first characters who adheres to a philosophical idea
…show more content…
and one of the first characters who is not human, similar to Grendel. Grendel encounters the dragon after being treated brutally by humans. Grendels first encounter with the Humans occurs when Grendel is caught in a trap and hangs from a tree. The Humans surround Grendel and postulate that the thing in the tree [Grendel] must be a spirit. However, when Grendel makes noise, a horse neighs and rears up. The Humans take that for a sign and label Grendel as a monster. This labelling causes Grendel to attack the Humans, but is not a major factor. After being labelled as a monster and forced to run away, Grendel, a youthful teenager in all sense encounters the dragon. The dragon is one of the first non human characters that Grendel encounters. The first being his own mother. The dragon is a pivotal character as it is an omniscient being. The dragon can see the past, present, and future, however understands that it cannot be messed with. When Grendel finally meets the dragon, his first question to the dragon is about the shaper, to which the dragon replies with a simple “Illusion”(62). This has significant implications as it affirms the truth that Grendel had found before. Grendel knew that the Shaper was making up stories to entertain the thanes at Heorot but after the statement from the dragon Grendel understands it to be true. The shaper merely would talk about the past and the present while never knowing the future. The dragon mentions how susceptible the humans are as “they [shapers] work with the same old atoms, but spun together with a harp and [humans] think what they think is alive”(65). This also has significant meaning on Grendel as he realizes that the Shaper shapes the stories for the taste of the thanes and not for accurate historical recreations. This is the philosophy that Grendel was taught by meeting the dragon. The dragon furthermore mentions that everything alive, including Grendel, will reach “Death, transfiguration. Ashes to ashes and slime to slime”(73). This statement alone can be used to summarize the nihilistic philosophy, nothing in the world matters as everything will be returned to dust and individual atoms. Additionally, the dragon mentions that for Grendel to remain in the texts of the Shaper, Grendel needs to be a part of the lives of the Humans. This is because “[Grendel] is mankind, or man’s condition: in separable as the mountain-climber and the mountain. If [Grendel] withdraw[s], [Grendel will] instantly be replaced” (73). This sentence can be attributed to the reason behind Grendels’ continued attacks. Grendel realizes that, to exist and be meaningful to his existence and to that of humans, he needs to be present in their lives, even though he might one day be killed and returned to the individual atoms. Moreover, the entire conversation with the dragon highlights a key component of Grendel and the philosophy of Gardner. The mere fact that Grendel is a teenager and asking questions regarding his existence and his place in the world showcase his curiosity and thirst for knowledge. This also explains the process philosophy used by Gardner as Grendel learns about the dragon through an accident, while it may not be clear yet, the process philosophy really comes into the light when Grendel meets Ork. Ork is a character that Grendel encounters on his routine hunting trips.
Ork, is the second character to maintain and adhere to a philosophical idea, notably metaphysics. Grendel finds Ork greatly puzzling, while fascinating. Grendel first encounters Ork when Grendel goes hunting. Grendel mentions that he has eaten priests, but they sit in the stomach like duck eggs. Thus, this tells the readers that Grendel has experience with Priests, although most of them have ended up dead. Additionally, it is important to note the location of their meeting. Grendel is already sitting in the center of the ring of gods at midnight while Ork upon hearing a strange sound arrives at the right of gods to investigate. When Grendel realizes someone is coming, Grendel decides to play with the person and pipes that he is “The Destroyer”. In response, Ork realizes he might be witnessing and talking to a God stammers “O blessed, blessed lord!”. Thus it becomes evident that Ork is an older priest, and knows the various gods. When Grendel asks Ork to tell him about the King of the Gods, Ork stammers but then illustrates the concept of metaphysics. The idea that “No reason can be given for the nature of God, because that nature is the ground of rationality”(131). This signifies that the nature of God does not have a reason to act the way he does as questioning the way of God is simply questioning the existence of the individual. This would work similarly with Grendel as Grendel is a monster, thus perceived to be a supernatural being. Questioning the work of Grendel would be akin to questioning the way of God, however it does not work in favor of Grendel as God is a true supernatural being, one that exists solely due to the pure belief of the people. Grendel, does exist. People see Grendel and Grendel sees them in the kingdom of Hrothgar. However, outside Hrothgar, the idea would work similarly for Grendel and God. Additionally, Ork continues that “The King of Gods is the actual entity in
virtue of which the entire multiplicity of eternal objects obtains its graded relevance to each stage of concrescence. Apart from Him, there can be no relevant novelty”(132). This significance is extremely relevant as it shows a key aspect of Ork. Ork has a strong belief in the presence of the Gods and his strong belief has been upheld by Grendel showing up as The Great Destroyer. When Ork tells the story to the other priests, the priests laugh and mock Ork mentioning that “Lunatic priests are bad business. They give people the willies. One man like him can turn us all to paupers”(134). This goes on to show that the younger priests were priests due to the easy life they had. They did not have to believe their preachings but simply had to preach and collect the money. Grendel is genuinely moved by this incidence as he is puzzled about the behaviour of the younger priests. Grendel notices the devotion of Ork and his strong faith, and concludes that he will affirm and stand by Ork. While this shows the curiosity of Grendel to learn about the King of Gods it also emphasizes the process philosophy. Grendel undergoes change accidentally, while Grendel was just trying to have fun he learnt an important aspect about the younger priests and the different amounts of faith they possess. Additionally, the change fuels Grendel to remain by the side of Ork and is the main cause of Grendel’s encounter with Beowulf. Beowulf is the final character that Grendel encounters before his death. Beowulf also adheres to a specific philosophical idea, notably empiricism. Empiricism is the idea that what is real is what is experienced. All knowledge comes from experience therefore what is real is the experience which is the knowledge. These different philosophies combined shape the life of Grendel. Grendel was most vulnerable to change during his teenage years during which time he met the dragon and learn about the nihilistic philosophies. Later on, during Grendels’ nightly hunts for food Grendel was able to meet Ork and learn about the philosophy of metaphysics which affected Grendel positively and negatively. Finally, encountering Beowulf and experiencing empiricism was the epitome of Grendel’s journey. Grendel learnt about the nothingness of life, gets scared by true faith, and is salvaged by Beowulf. The journey highlights the process philosophy that was used by Gardner as all of these philosophies were encountered on accident by Grendel and had an effect on Grendel but they never changed the true substance. Grendel still remained the curious monster from meeting the dragon to his fatal meeting with Beowulf, thus showing showing that process philosophy was the developed over the course of the novel Grendel by John Gardner.
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
What's the difference between good and evil? In John Gardner’s classic tale Grendel the line between good and evil is exceedingly blurred. Gardner does a phenomenal job of forcing the reader to question who the real hero of the story is. So is Grendel evil or simply misunderstood? To answer this question one must look at his basic character traits. Grendel is an unloving creature, he enjoys killing and torturing humans, and when he shows any sort of mercy, he later regrets it. Due to these facts it is impossible to label him as “good”.
Philosophies such as nihilism, existentialism, and solipsism are explored throughout Grendel, a novel by John Gardner. Throughout the book, Grendel embarks on a journey of self-discovery, in which he tries to find himself through philosophy. Despite trying many different philosophies, Grendel is only met with dissatisfaction. However, the nihilistic philosophy that is introduced by the enigmatic dragon seemingly provides Grendel with a way out of his banal existence. Despite this, Grendel couldn’t fully commit to nihilistic beliefs therefore leading to the development of his scepticism philosophy. In the end, Grendel meets his death at Beowulfs’ hands, who disproves his scepticism and forces him to die an existentialist. The fact is that if Grendel had decided to
Throughout John Gardner’s Grendel, the audience bears witness to a creature who has been ostracized by the world around him. Throughout his journey, the stories protagonist tries to live out his own life the way he wants to, despite being labeled as evil by those around him. Due to this constant criticism by his peers, he develops an inferiority complex that he desperately tries to make up for as the story progresses. Throughout his development, Grendel very rapidly moves past his existentialist beginning, through a brief phase of forced skepticism, and into a severely nihilistic point of view.
One of the prevalent themes John Gardner mentions in the story of Grendel is that perceptions of reality between people are different. Gardner reveals to readers throughout the novel that words, events, experiences, and beliefs forge character’s realities. In Grendel perception of reality greatly affects people’s actions, their viewpoints towards life, and decisions. For example, Grendel’s perception of reality is that the world is solely mechanical and is created with his words.
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
As a result of not receiving help when the bull was attacking him, Grendel develops a new theory: “I alone exist. All the rest, I saw, is merely what pushes me, or what I push against, blindly—as blindly as all that is not myself pushes back. I create the universe, blink by blink” (Gardner 21-22). Grendel’s questioning of his way of living marks a transformation of Grendel into a mature character who gains knowledge from his experience with the bull, concluding that the world revolves only around him. The utilization of ‘I’ portrays that his growing isolation from the absence of his mother during the bull attack is what permits him to believe that he is superior to everyone else and the only worthy creature to exist. This foreshadows his ultimate purpose in life which is to kill mankind. Grendel, as the creator of the world, holds the ultimate power to decide who will live, lacking the perspective that there is a higher force other than himself. In other words, the experience Grendel acquires from the bull attack enables him to mature and obtain insight on the truth of his
Part of the development of a human being involves acquiring the ability to classify good and evil as well as distinguishing right from wrong. It has become an inherent trait that is invariably used in our everyday lives. In John Gardner’s novel, Grendel, the main character, Grendel, seeks to find the meaning of life. Through his journey, a depiction of the forces of good and evil is revealed. Aside from being a novel about the search for the meaning of life, Grendel also suggest society’s good and evil have a meaningful and imbalanced relationship where good prevails evil yet facing evil is still critical.
In the beginning Grendel’s perspective of himself leads to various encounters that help him discover the meaninglessness to his very own existence. From the beginning through many centuries of pondering Grendel has come to the idea that the world consists entirely of Grendel and not-Grendel. Thus Grendel begins his search for meaning of his very own life with an existential philosophy, the belief that emphasizes the existence of the individual person as a free and responsible agent determining their own development through acts of the will. While Grendel’s overall perspective of nature is that of mindless and mechanical machine, he believes that he is a separate entity from this machine. Furthermore he holds the philosophy that he himself is a god like creature that “blink by blink” creates the world. This philosophy undermined when Grendel notices that events occur before he can think them into existence. Grendel witnesses the death of a deer by the hands of humans: “Suddenly time is a rush for the hart: head flicks, he jerks, his front legs buckling, and he’s dead. He lies as still as the snow hurtling outward around him to the hushed world’s rim. The image clings to my mind like a
In Chapter 8, Grendel exclaims, “I’m a machine. Like all of you. Blood-lust and rage are my character,” (Gardner 123). This profound statement establishes a connection between Grendel and the ambiguous “you,” the reader. The monster, though he confesses to his wrongdoing, asserts that readers are no better than he. Countless bible verses reiterate this concept: “For all have sinned,” (Romans 3:23) “[Humans] are all. .impure with sin,” (Isaiah 64:6). Gardner’s reminder to readers of mankind’s predisposition to sin earns pity for the monster. He expands on these sympathies by describing the nature of Grendel’s lonely existence. “But there was one thing worse,” Grendel states after discovering the dragon’s charm, “no weapon could cut me,” (Gardner 75). In this moment, nihilism overcomes Grendel; if fighting poses no danger, it has no purpose, and neither does he. Any reader who has had an experience which challenged his or her values cannot help but feel empathetic towards the purposeless creature. Perhaps more piteous, however, is the suggestion that Grendel has no choice in being “the dark side. . the terrible race God cursed,” (Gardner 51). The dragon condemns Grendel as “the brute existent by which [humans] learn to define themselves,” telling him that it is worthless to better his character (Gardner 72). It is not until after
Now what is the reader to make of all this? A brief summary of Sartre's description of consciousness may help. According toSartre man exists on the level of being-in-itself(as a body in a world of objects) and on the level of being-for-itself(consciousness ). The key to understanding Grendel's view of the world is this distinction between the in-itself and the for-itself.Since, for Sartre, being-in-itself is uncreated(he can find no evidence of a creating God) and superfluous("de trop"), it reveals itself as a sort of absurd, meaningless outer reality. But being-for-itself, on the other hand, is the awareness that consciousness is not the being of the in-itself. Its being is revealed in a more paradoxical way-- as an emptiness in the center of being. How can it be aware of itself as an object?Impossible says Sartre. Simply put, the for-itself is the absence or the lack(thus Grendel's "lack") of the objectness of the in-itself . It reveals itself as the nothingness that remains when you realize that your consciousness is not an awareness of an object(such as your body), but rather an awareness of the lack of an object; or,to put it another way, it is an awareness of a nihilated presence.Grendel is proof that only an
In Grendel, each character tells of his or her view on philosophy, theory, and life. Grendel is a monster who is not sure where he fits in life. “Grendel is not just searching for one philosophy; he is just searching for the best way to live in the world” (Simmers 183). He goes to extreme limits to discover his character. Grendel shows a self-centered approach to the world as he exclaims, "The world resist me and I resist the world" (Gardner 28). Nothing in the world is going right for Grendel. Grendel feels resistant to life. Therefore, if society does not need him, then he does not need the society. The Dragon also views the world negatively, as a result of his praiseworthy perception of himself. Out of all the characters in the novel, the Dragon is one of Grendel's closest companions greatly impacting Grendel. The Dragon’s destructive philosophy views the world as meaningless. The dragon shares his selfish approach of life with Grendel telling him, "My advice to you, my violent friend, is to seek out gold and sit
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...
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.
What is the true definition of process philosophy? When we turn to our textbook we can see that process philosophy “represents a process view of life that emphasizes becoming and progressive knowledge leading to a perfect society, which stand in direct contrast to absolute philosophy or an absolute view of life that is the basis of for Biblical Christianity” (Ferdon, 2014, p.114). Process philosophy came to be around the 1870s, after the “second American Revolution, when the search for an absolute authority within the central government arose” (Martin, 2006, p. 121). The term process philosophy is also closely associated with the work of Alfred North Whitehead and Charles Hartshorne, who were both