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The relationship between Grendel and the dragon is comparable to the relationship between Hrothulf and Red Horse. Red horse acts as a mentor towards Hrothulf, while the dragon acts as a mentor towards Grendel. Both mentors notice corruption, however both are truthful. Both Grendel and Hrothulf are in search of an answer when they talk to their mentors, and the dragon and Red Horse both have dark views.The dragon talks to Grendel about time and space. He says that men have such a little impact on time that everything they do is meaningless. On the other hand, Red Horse talks to Hrothulf about government. He says that the government's purpose is to protect only the people in power, and that all other people are meant to serve them. Both of these
Rudd cites various sections of the poem, describing Grendel as a “night-monster of the border lands” (Rudd 3), and the translation of the poem says that Grendel was, “...Conceived by a pair of those monsters born Of Cain, murderous creatures banished By God…” (Raffel 42). Rudd also gives evidence for Grendel being seen as demonic, and reasons that Grendel attacks the Danes out of “...not mere thirst for gore, as we might suspect… but rather… envy of the Danes’ happiness- and envy was a chief characteristic of the medieval devil.” (Ruud 5). He then ties this devilish persona to Grendel’s humanistic aspects, stating Grendel has a heathen soul, and therefore he must be human. Ruud also notes, however, that there are critics who question the validity of portraying Grendel as this three-sided figure, asking questions such as, “How can Grendel be a devil when he has a physical body? How can he be a man when he is so manifestly bestial?” (Ruud 7). Ruud believes that the original poet of Beowulf is doing this for effect rather than consistency, but a more reasonable explanation that encompasses all three characteristics is that Grendel represents the evil in
The other one who helped Grendel learn was the dragon. The dragon tells Grendel of the world and what has happened over time. Grendel would feel fear for the first time after meeting the dragon. Dragon had been said to have been around from around the beginning of time and he tells Grendel all of what he has seen and all that he has witnessed. The dragon tried to make Grendel become a nihilist which means that life is meaningless and the rejection of all moral principles. Grendel began with nihilistic beliefs and slowly moved onto solipsistic beliefs. Solipsism is the belief that you are all that exist and is known in existence. Generally Grendel and the dragon became some sort of buddies this time and Grendel would tell the dragon his plan for what he was going to do to the kingdom. The dragon would tell Grendel to not risk his life to something meaningless such as that. Saying there is no real point in even wasting your breath on the kingdom. He gave Grendel a word of advice before Grendel would leave his cave and told him to not waste your time and to just search for gold the reason being because the dragon only seemed to care for that,
Grendel's interludes with the dragon portray, at their onsets, the dragon as a worldly, wise creature with much to share. The dragon haughtily informs Grendel about his vast store of knowledge as he teases him with how much he knows. As Grendel's interests are piqued, the dragon expends the cumulative result of his travails: "Know how much you've got, and beware of strangers…My advice to you, my violent friend, is to seek out gold and sit on it" (Gardner page #). Although the dragon serves as a vessel to point out the necessity of Grendel and makes some pointed observations about mankind, all his respectability is lost with those two short sentences. The author is making an observation about materialism and the falsehood of wisdom always accompanying age. After all his years of intense scrutiny, the dragon can only grasp from human- and animalkind alike that possessions are the key to life's existence.
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 beginning of his talk with the dragon, the dragon accuses Grendel that “nothing interests [him] but excitement, violence” (Gardner 67). Grendel becomes very defensive and at this point in his life he believes that he is “trying to follow … [and] do [his] best” (Gardner 67). He still has not been completely changed by society. He is still close to his original self-view and has not turned completely to violence. After the dragon prompts him to let go of his previous views, he finds the violence within him and finally accepts that he “could walk … to the mead hall whenever [he] pleased, and they were powerless” (Gardner 76). His heart “became darker because of” his acceptance of his violence (Gardner 76). He begins to not hold back the violence that has begun to take ahold of him because he now knows there is no reason to hold back. Senseless killing has begun to be fun and exciting to Grendel. need lead in for long
No one knows who wrote Beowulf but we do know who wrote Grendel. John Gardner took the epic Beowulf and added more to the brilliant story. Grendel takes on the same story as Beowulf but from the perspective of Grendel, the beast in Beowulf. The story of Grendel is very interesting because from reading Beowulf it is completely uninspected. In Beowulf Grendel is said to be a disgusting monster that’s only job is to kill. In Grendel we really see him as very nice but turns to be evil because he is pushed into that direction.
He does not act like the blood hungry beast he is seen as in Beowulf. In
“Poor Grendel’s had an accident… so may you all.” i believe that this quote is a blessing because in the last quote it said “They watch on evil, incredibly stupid, watching my destruction” throughout the book grendel tried to convince the humans that they cannot defeat him because there is no god that will save them from grendel's destruction. Also he tries to convince the humans that his loss from beowulf was not a meant to be event. Basically this quote mean that grendel has had an accident and will die. Grendel is not wishing death upon them, he is wishing an accident which is better than death. Grendel's words are not meant to affect mankind infact they are meant to alert the people and give them a heads up. Grendel also speaks with the
Throughout the novel Grendel by John Gardner, the monster Grendel has many different encounters that change his view on the world. Whether it was through nihilism, existentialism, or idealism Grendel was influenced in many ways by all of them. The monster Grendel starts out as an existentialist, but morphs into a nihilist after he talks to the most nihilistic character in the book, the dragon. Influenced through nihilism, existentialism, and idealism Grendel is reshaped and sculpted into a new thing entirely.
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...
Beowulf outlines turmoil between three opponents: Grendel, Grendel’s mother, and the Dragon. These separate discords each serve to fulfill different metaphoric purposes. Grendel’s character epitomizes the adverse persona of how an Anglo-Saxon warrior should not be. His mother represents everything that a woman during the time era should seldom be. Lastly, the Dragon embodies all the values that an Anglo-Saxon king should not dare retain. Without a doubt, the symbolic implications of the monsters in Beowulf bring the context to a new level of understanding.
The majority of John Gardner's Grendel revolves around a monster-like character named Grendel. The reader is allowed access to Grendel's subconscious and inner monologue, giving one the sense of a very close relationship with the main character. This tends to beguile one into sympathizing with him and thinking of him as a protagonist because historically in literature the main character of a novel has always been the "good guy." However, he proves himself to be very much the anti-hero in the novel many times over. Grendel's social contact with the world is extremely limited, but his persona is greatly influenced by each brief encounter with another character.
In the poem “Beowulf,” Grendel’s mother, a monstrous creature, is one of the three antagonists Beowulf, the main character, fights against. The battle against Grendel’s mother appears to be the strangest of the three battles. The main reason for its strangeness is that Grendel’s mother is the mother of the monster Grendel, who was killed by Beowulf in the first battle. Another reason for its strangeness is that Grendel’s mother is the only female-type creature. An alternative reason for this strangeness in the battle is due to the fact that Grendel’s mother is not a true monster, aside from her physical form. Through the explanation of kinship, the understanding of the missing words from the original text, and the comparison of Grendel’s mother to other mothers in the poem, specifically Welthow and Hildeburh, it can be established that the intentions of Grendel’s mother are not monstrous even though she has the appearance of a monster.
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.