It is shown in the epic poem Beowulf, that the evil of exclusion can result in complete ruin and disaster. After being ostracized by the townspeople, Grendel seeks revenge by killing the people of Heorot every night for twelve years. Society tends to judge and ostracize people based on their appearance and heritage. The poem reveals through Grendel’s revenge that the human inclination to exclude people hurts not only the ones being excluded, but also those who exclude them.
Grendel does not understand and is deeply hurt by his exclusion from the people of Heorot. In the poem, Grendel is referred to as a demon and a “fiend out of hell” (Heaney 100). He is also thought to be “malignant by nature,” and one of the creatures that “the creator ha[s] outlawed as [an outcast]” because he descends from Cain, the first person to commit murder (137, 106 / 107). These descriptions show the people’s feelings towards Grendel; they believe him to be a monster. However, Grendel is never told why all of the people treat him differently. This confusion and uncertainty as to why the people hate him provokes a lot of sadness, and eventually, rage in Grendel. People
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tend to judge someone based on his or her appearance and heritage before giving them the chance to prove that they are different from the descriptions. This can lead to the downfall of both the outcast and the person that judges them. Grendel’s anger towards the townspeople for excluding him quickly turns into rage, and eventually, he starts killing the people of Heorot.
Grendel is confused for a long time as to why the people ostracize him, and eventually he turns to violence to cope with it and to feel better. The chaos when Grendel arrives is described as: “a panic after dark, people endured raids in the night, riven by terror” in which “all were endangered” (192 / 193, 159). The mere reason for Grendel’s raids on the people of Heorot is because they ostracize him and make him feel like an outcast. Grendel’s revenge on the townspeople shows that exclusion never does anyone good, it can only harm people. This demonstrates the consequences of society’s inclination to judge people, and how it can hurt the one judging more than the one being
excluded. Grendel feels obligated to get revenge on the townspeople for ostracizing him. This shows that society’s inevitable tendency to judge people damages themselves as well as, and many times more, than others. Excluding people, whether it be based on race, appearance, or heritage, cannot benefit anyone; it is simply a way to make oneself feel less insecure.
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
So, Grendel is the victim of God's vengeance against Cain and all of his descendants. When he attacks the mead hall, it's like he is avenging the life he never was to have: laughing, being giddy, and celebrating life. Every night for a decade, any man sleeping in Heorot at night became a victim to Grendel's vengence.
I am Grendel who once lived at the Danish neighborhood ruled by the righteous king Hrothgar who was just and fair in his kingship. I came from Cain’s ancestry. According to the bible, Cain is popularly known by Christians as the first person to commit murder. I was in isolation from humans because I came from a cursed lineage. I could not change the perception Hereots had about me as an evil monster. I did not prefer to be from Cain’s bloodline. People thought I was evil because I came from Cain’s lineage and as a result, they deemed me an outcast and did not want to associate with me.
In John Gardner’s novel, Grendel, Grendel has a lifelong struggle of finding who he is and where he fits into society. In his youth, Grendel is very new to the world around him and feels vulnerable. Soon however, Grendel meets man and begins to be influenced and shaped by their customs and ways.Through the continual influence of society, Grendel turns to and accepts his violent nature and begins to justify senseless killings, thus falling into man’s way.
Although Grendel is depicted as a hideous bloodthirsty beast because he eats the Danes at Heorot continuously, he has some characteristics of a human gone wild. Grendel possesses the ability to feel human emotions such as envy and fear. When the Danes were having a feast in Heorot, Grendel “had dwelt for a time in misery among the banished monsters, Cain’s clan, whom the creator outlawed and condemned as outcasts”(104-106). He feels envy towards the Danes for making him an outcast of society. He was jealous of the Danes that were having a great time together while he had to live a life of misery alone. Grendel feels fear as well as envy because “he was overwhelmed, manacled tight by the man who of all men was foremost and strongest in the days of this life”(787-789). During the battle between Grendel and the hero Beowulf, Grendel was unprepared for Beowulf’s fighting tactics. He, who usually is victorious after each attack in Heorot, did not expect to be defeated by Beowulf, which is shown because “his fingers weakened; it was the worst trip the terror-monger had taken to Heorot”(764-765). When Beowulf leaves his weapon and decides to wrestle Grendel, Grendel realizes that he is no match for Beowulf’s strength. He feared death just as human are afraid of death. An ordinary person would want to flee if he or she was being wrestled to the ground and about to die. Grendel felt like fleeing but Beowulf did not want to lose any opportunities to kill the villain and thus does the deed in one go. When he realizes that his end was near, “the dread of the land was desperate to escape, to take a roundabout road and flee to his lair in the fens”(761-763). Just as humans in their psychoanalytic development, Grendel had a fight or flight response. When he knew that he was going to die he immediately chose the flight response in which he could not do because Beowulf was much more powerful and aggressive. He does not let Grendel escape. Grendel’s pain is all the more acute because he is brought so close to mankind and yet always kept at an unbreachable distance from society.
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
While the classic battle between good and evil forces is a major theme of the medieval epic Beowulf, one may question whether these good and evil forces are as black and white as they appear. Scholars such as Herbert G. Wright claim that “the dragon, like the giant Grendel, is an enemy of mankind, and the audience of Beowulf can have entertained no sympathy for either the one or the other” (Wright, 4). However, other scholars such as Andy Orchard disagree with this claim, and believe that there is “something deeply human about the ‘monsters’” (Orchard, 29). While Grendel, Grendel’s mother, and the dragon are indeed portrayed as evil and violent foes, there are parts within Beowulf that can also lead a reader to believe that the “monsters” may not be so monstrous after all. In fact, the author of Beowulf represents the “monsters” within the poem with a degree of moral ambivalence. This ambivalence ultimately evokes traces of sympathy in the reader for the plight of these “monster” figures, and blurs the fine line between good and evil within the poem.
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...
...n very human feelings of resentment and jealousy. Grendel was an unstable and saddened figure because of his outcast status. Though Grendel had many animal attributes and a grotesque, monstrous appearance, he seemed to be guided by vaguely human emotions and impulses. He truthfully showed more of an interior life than one might expect. Exiled to the swamplands outside the boundaries of human society, Grendel’s depiction as an outcast is a symbol of the jealousy and hate that seeks to destroy others' happiness and can ultimately cripple a civilization. This take on the outcast archetype ultimately exposes the Anglo Saxon people’s weaknesses, their doubts and anxieties towards the traditional values that bounded nearly every aspect of their life.
Grendel then began to show even more human traits than before. He became envious their happiness and starting becoming the cruel one. He started torturing and killing humans quite frequently. He starts to enjoy being cruel during his first raid. “I felt a strange, unearthly joy. It was as if I’d made some incredible discover, like my discovery long ago of the moonlit world beyond the mere. I was transformed” (79). This kind of cruelness came easily to Grendel, not unlike the humans had watched for so long. Grendel slowly becomes more and less human. He starts to lose his humanity but shows off just how human he is. Grendel becomes what he hates the most, cruel and pointless. Though Grendel enjoys the human’s suffering, it only makes him feel worse. “I feel my anger coming back, building up like invisible fire, and at last, when my soul can no longer resist, I go up - as mechanical as anything else - fists clenched against my lack of will, my belly growling, mindless as wind, for blood” (Gardner 9). Grendel falls into the trap and start to enjoy the suffering of others. While this isn’t a problem at first, Grendel eventually realizes just how pointless this is. How pointless everything is. Grendel sees that the world doesn’t do anything for anyone. He won’t be given anything and he probably won’t ever be happy. As a result, Grendel learns to live with this hatred and continues
Time after time he charges into Herot Hall, slaughtering the warriors like sheep, and feasting on them. Denmark trembles in fear and grief as Grendel terrorizes their land. The people live in fear for their family and friends. Grendel is the Anglo-Saxon embodiment of what is dark, terrifying, and threatening. Grendel is an enemy of God. He can not know God’s great love. He is a powerful ogre that resides in the dark, wet marshes. He is a shadow of death that grows impatient with the Danes. He delights in their slaughter. No crime or savage assault would quench his thirst for evil. For evil can never be quenched. Grendel is a shepherd of evil and a guardian of crime. Grendel exhibits his envy towards the warriors as Cain did to his brother. Jealousy breed loneliness.
87-91). Hearing all the jubilation that he cannot share in makes Grendel bitter. Because nothing that can be done to make Grendel’s resentfulness subside, he “[wages] his lonely war, inflicting constant cruelties on the people, atrocious hurt” (ln. 164-166) to make himself feel better. Every day he finds satisfaction in killing and eating the men who fall asleep in the hall after they have drunk and partied the evening away. Causing harm to human society is Grendel’s means of compensating for his loneliness.
Through Grendel's own hatred and anger, he brings his own downfall. The "sin-stained demon" has his roots in the vile creature Cain. Since Grendel is spawned from Cain, he can never feel the love of God or of people: ". . . God, / Whose love Grendel could not know." (84-85). It is because of this, that Grendel hates every mortal being he lays his eyes upon. Hatred leads to anger, constant anger, ". . . bearing God's hatred, / Grendel came, hoping to kill" (393-394). Fear is Grendel's other major flaw, "His mind was flooded with fear . . ." (435). Through his hatred and fear, Grendel seals his own fate.
It's after the making of Heorot that is threatened by "a powerful demon, a prowler through the dark, / nursed a hard grievance. (86-87) The use of imagery emphasizes the threat that Grendel imposes, with this, the reader is able to perceive that Heorot is outstanding in this society as its "meant to be a wonder of the world forever" (70) and when a "demon" who is "a prowler through the dark" (86) it emphasizes the differences between Grendel and Heorot. Heaney's translation of Grendel's introduction into the poem implies that Grendel is the other, suggesting evil. This is evident were Grendel "dwelt for a time/ in misery among the banished monsters." (105-106) The notion of 'the other' is the alienation of a person. The utilize of allusion to Christian and Pagan explains why Grendel is viewed as the other in terms of nature and religion. The monsters are outcasts because of Cain's clan whom God "had outlawed" because "for the killing of Abel the Eternal Lord." (107-108) Due to the killing, it reveals the seven deadly sins are
Present in this poem are certain forms of evil. The greatest of these is the descendent of Cain’s evil against his brother Abel. After Cain killed Abel God punished him by exiling him from the kingdom of God. From Cain’s soul came evil monsters, one in particular, Grendel. He was a demon; a fiend who haunted the moors, the wild marshes and made his home in “hell” (actually earth). King Hrothgar finished a great mead hall for his warriors to relax and reside in when away from war. Grendel, amused by the sound of drunkenness coming from the hall, kills all who reside there. This punishment and evil went on for twelve years. The people turned to the worship of pagan Gods, hoping they would take the demon back to the pits from whence it derived.