Similarities Between Grendel And Beowulf

Heroism is a trait that can be traced back to the beginning of human civilization and interaction, taking place within people and fictional characters throughout time. Poems and stories like “Beowulf” and Grendel are prime examples of literary pieces that contain the theme of heroism, enriching the reader with tales of monsters and noble warriors. However, despite the fact that both pieces of literature do include heroism, a similar overall plot, and the same characters, their respected views of heroism differ greatly. “Beowulf” views heroism as a noble lifestyle that earns a warrior success and popularity, while Grendel looks down upon heroism and considers it a romantic excuse for the cruelty of mankind. The illusion of heroism differs between “Beowulf” and Grendel because of the different environments and influences the main characters possess in both works.

Throughout the lines of “Beowulf”, the theme of heroism is perceived as righteous, noble, and admirable, and all of these qualities can be seen within the physical society and characters within the poem. The great

Geatish “hero” Beowulf, for example, is perceived to be a hero because he is a strong, daring, and fantasy driven man. The illusion of heroism engulfs Beowulf because he is greatly influenced by his society and peers, who persuade him to believe that heroism is a truly noble way of life through social rewards. “Behavior that’s admired is the path to power among people everywhere” (Heaney 24-25). This quotation defends the belief of Beowulf’s society, which emphasizes the fact that if a man is admirable and noble, he will be rewarded with popularity and power. Since his society revolves so heavily around heroism, nobility, and admiration, Beowulf has no choice but to turn to heroism as a means of gaining popularity and success, and as a means of fitting into society. Therefore one reason why Beowulf views heroism as a noble lifestyle is because of his persuasive and socially rewarding society.
Money and wealth is another source that influences Beowulf to believe that heroism is a noble lifestyle. Beowulf’s environment and society strongly believes that any heroic deed, such as killing a monster or being courageous, should always be compensated with gold, money, and riches. “Then Halfdane’s son presented Beowulf with a gold standard as a victory gift … So Beowulf drank his drink, at ease; it was hardly a shame to be showered with such gifts in front of the hall-troops” (Heaney 1019-1026). When Beowulf is showered with such gifts and wealth, as seen in the events after he defeats the monster Grendel, his social environment is undeniably inspiring and motivating him to perform heroic deeds. Thus, similarly to him being influenced heavily by social status and power, great wealth and riches blind Beowulf into believing that heroism is a noble way of living because it is another environmental influence that brings the great warrior success.
Unlike “Beowulf”, the novel Grendel expresses differing views about heroism throughout its pages.

Grendel looks down upon heroism and considers it a romantic excuse for the cruelty of mankind, and Grendel’s environment and surrounding influences inspire him to feel this way. The environment that encapsulates Grendel is a dark and dreary world, where the monster resides for most of his days unaccompanied and lonely. Unlike the environment in “Beowulf”, Grendel’s environment is very real, and the monster is constantly fighting against the reality that is survival and utter loneliness. When given the chance to witness the fantastic tales of heroism and speculations about mankind, he laughs and finds the human’s views unrealistic and pathetic. The ideas of heroism are so fantasy-based and ridiculous in Grendel’s perspective, especially when compared to the cruelness of his realistic

environment.
The Shaper is one of the numerous characters in Grendel that influences and inspires Grendel to feel so negatively about heroism. Through poetry, the Shaper represents the power of art and imagination, and he constantly changes the Dane’s perceptions about themselves, their world, and their heroic codes throughout Grendel. Grendel constantly found himself battling between the Shaper’s fictitious stories, all of which he believed were solely based on lies, and reality. Every time the distressed monster was ever majestically taken by any of the Shapers tales, even for an extremely short amount of time, reality never failed to fall right back down on him again. “I knew what I knew, the mindless, mechanical bruteness of things, and when the Harper’s lure drew my mind away to hopeful dreams, the dark of what was and always was reached out and snatched my feet” (Gardner 54). During certain parts of the novel, Grendel’s environment influenced him to begin analyzing heroism in a more fantastic way, but once he realized that all the fantastic stories were fictitious lies the monster soon chose to go against the idea altogether. Since all of the Shaper’s tales turned out to be fictitious fantasies, which all failed to help Grendel escape reality, he inevitably chose to go against heroism.
While the Shaper is antagonized because of his fictitious and fantastic ideas about heroism, the dragon brings the concept of logic and reality to Grendel’s world. The dragon, like Grendel, chooses to have a rational and practical perspective when analyzing the concept of heroism. “It’s one thing to listen, full of scorn and doubt, to poets’ versions of time past and visions of time to come; it’s another to know, as coldly and simply as my mother knows her pile of bones, what is” (Gardner 75). As expressed by this quote, Grendel is undeniably influenced by the dragon’s realistic and logical outlook on heroism after his encounter with the beast. Throughout the rest of the novel, Grendel also continues to sense the dragon’s presence lingering around him as a smell in the air, particularly when the dragon’s factual and logical words are nagging him, which proves further how much the dragon influences him. Taking this into consideration when comparing the works, the dragon influences Grendel’s beliefs similarly to how society and riches influences Beowulf’s beliefs on heroism. Both characters have their respected views of heroism due to their very influential environments.
A third and final character that strongly influences Grendel to undermine heroism and its followers is Unferth. Unferth is a character that is very similar to Beowulf in regards to his strong beliefs of heroism, believing that heroism is a noble, heroic, and rewarding lifestyle. He represents a man who believes wholeheartedly in the heroic ideals of his warrior culture. However, Unferth influences Grendel to think of heroism as a joke and how pathetic mankind acts when he goes to Grendel’s cave and says, “Except in the life of a hero, the whole world’s meaningless. The hero sees values beyond what’s possible. That’s the nature of a hero. It kills him, of course, ultimately. But it makes the whole struggle of humanity worthwhile.’ I nodded in the darkness. ‘And breaks up the boredom,’ I said” (Gardner 89). In this passage, Grendel ridicules Unferth’s beliefs because Unferth is simply trying to justify mankind’s ludicrous actions through heroism, stating that they are the acts of heroes. But Grendel does not even listen to him, for he only sees a man who cannot accept the harsh realities of life, a man who retaliates against it. “‘I’ll kill myself,’ he whispered. He shook violently now. ‘Up to you,’ I answered reasonably, ‘but you’ll admit it may seem at least a trifle cowardly to some” (Gardner 90). When Grendel says these words to Unferth, it expresses how he believes that mankind cannot face reality and is in no way noble. Grendel perceives suicide as cowardly because it is just another medium for humans to escape reality. Overall, Unferth represents another pathetic and weak man who is blinded by his warrior culture, and, in Grendel’s perspective, he is a prefect model of the illusion of heroism.
Heroism is an important theme that takes place in both “Beowulf” and Grendel, and the overarching theme is perceived in opposing ways when comparing the two literary pieces. However, although both novels are different in many ways, there are also a few similarities between the two works. The clash of fantasy and reality yields one similarity linking the novels together, because both of the main characters had trouble facing reality at one point or another in their respected stories. The Danes and Beowulf were almost always driven by fantasy, and even though Grendel typically perceived heroism in a very realistic way, he too found himself occasionally being sucked into the heroic, fantasy-driven poems of the Shaper. The only influence that held Grendel back from wholeheartedly accepting the Shaper’s beautiful words were the rational thoughts from the dragon. Another similarity is the how significantly the peers and social environments in the opposing works influenced both Grendel and Beowulf, with Grendel being influenced heavily by the dragon and Beowulf being influenced by wealth and popularity. However, although the physical environments and settings are arguably the exact same in both stories, the influences and perspectives are entirely different in regards to heroism between the main characters.
The opposing environments and influences in both “Beowulf” and Grendel allow both works of literature to perceive the theme of heroism in entirely different ways. Beowulf’s environment showers any noble man with social status, gold, riches, and prosperity, and all of these factors undeniably influence Beowulf’s perception of heroism, which he believes to be a noble and admirable way of living. Grendel, on the other hand, feels that heroism is a cowardly and unrealistic illusion, and characters like the fictitious Shaper, reasonable Dragon, and spineless Unferth all influence him to feel this way. Overall, even though both stories took place in similar environments, the perspectives of the main characters were drastically different, and without the creation of the successor to “Beowulf”, the modern interpretations of the medieval classic would have never been as controversial as they are today.