In the book Grendel, the author made the decision to use the character Grendel as the narrator. He knew that the readers would understand more about Grendel’s feelings. To know the real Grendel, you need to read it from his point of view, not anyone else’s. The story made more sense because it was written in stream of consciousness. Stream of consciousness means that the author writes down everything that he is thinking. In Grendel we got to read everything from his heart, his true feelings about everything. The story would have been really different if we hadn’t gotten to see who he was and what he was all about.…
I wanted to begin with an interesting question what is love? Love is an intense feeling with a deep affecting to someone you really care about. However, why do we tend to be falling in love with different kinds of people and not just one. From one moment to the other we stop having feelings towards the people we thought were going to be our everything. This semester I had the opportunity to read a book about love, happiness, murder and also a possible psycho is was writing by Tim O'Brien called “In the Lake of the Woods”. The story begins with the protagonists John and Kathy Wade; both of them are talking about happiness without knowing what happiness really means. “They wanted happiness without knowing what it was, or where to look, which made them want it more” (O’Brien pg. 2) For both of them one of their biggest desires is to express their love for one another. Kathy Wade decides to cheat on John Wade, because it’s her way of showing John that she knows that he is watching her.…
Meanwhile this can be followed by the idea of hope for the world that lies within Grendel. This hope provides evidence for Grendel’s lack of damnable intentions. This is demonstrated during his time spent with the dragon, pages fifty-seven through seventy-four. The dragon is largely selfish and nihilistic, however Grendel refuses to believe the negativity presented by the dragon. On page seventy, one may read the dragon speaking of all of the world being consigned to oblivion. That is, he states that eventually all current occurrences will be meaningless. “You don't know that!” Grendel simply debates. Additionally, page seventy-one the dragon is speaks of the little to no effect that even an apocalyptic age would have on the world over time.…
The story focuses on Grendel’s different philosophies of thought. He observes the local humans, the Scyldings’ development as a civilization and as individuals. His first encounters with the outside world are both bewildering and melancholy. His encounter with a bull and humans leads to his search for personal meaning and his desire to torment the humans. All these things show that Grendel is not a monster, but a non-human who possesses human-like qualities, such as emotion and thoughts.…
In Beowulf, the cave where Grendel and his mother hide from the world is symbolic of their lives as…
Grendel was puzzled by the way nature worked, “He is frustrated by the stupidity of an old ram, the unresponsiveness of the sky to his complaints, and the very existence of the trees, birds, and animals around him.” (masterplots). From the very beginning Grendel was unsure of the meaning of the world, it was just reassured when Grendel ran into the Dragon. The dragon says, “The beginning, the present, the end. Everything” (62 Grendel). At this point the dragon believes the the whole universe will come to an end so in all reality there is no point to anything. But he does not always fully believe nihilism is the sole philosophy of the Universe, “I have not committed the ultimate act of nihilism. I have not killed the queen.” (93 Grendel). By not killing the queen, as he sees humanity in her, he does not act upon his belief in nihilism because he feels that there is a point in Queen Wealthow. Without believing in nihilism, Grendel never would have developed into the…
In writing from Grendel’s perspective, I think Gardener is trying to makes us sympathize with Grendel. While reading the story from Grendel’s point of view we can see that he also felt fear at some point in his life. Like when he caught his foot in the crack where two old treetrunks joined Grendel says “I shrieked in fear; still no one came.” In Grendel’s story he says men are dangerous thinking creatures, “Suddenly I knew I was dealing with no dull mechanical bull but with thinking creatures, pattern makers, the most dangerous things I'd ever met”. In his story we can see that they were the ones that made him a monster because they could not understand him. They just saw that he was an ogre an assumed he was a monster, so they attacked him…
Continuing, this now leads to the next point. That is, the curiosity found in Grendel helps to prove his actual morality. This is shown through his observance of animals, nature, and humans. The first example of this can be located on page six. Here Grendel is speaking of watching a bull go about it’s daily business. The bull mindlessly stares off into the distance, simply enjoying the cool breeze. With this, Grendel is agitated. “Why can’t these creatures discover a little dignity?” he ponders to himself. All throughout the recollection of Grendel’s life, he frequently mentions stopping to watch the sky and life around him. In a like manner, Grendel has also observed the humans. He found himself interested in the human impact on the environment…
When Grendel came up close with men while hanging from the tree, he notes how their “sounds were foreign/ it was [his] own language, but spoken in a strange way” (Gardner 23). He catches the difference of how the men and he communicate. Even though Grendel understood the men’s words, he knows he falls short from belonging at all. The slightest difference in communication immediately proves Grendel is the odd one out. The monster’s interaction with people weren’t far from Grendel’s experience. Shelley says how “the whole village was roused; [while] some fled, some attacked [him]” (Shelley 90). The village scared away the monster with obvious intentions because he seems so foreign to their kind. The people would rather shut the monster out than cease their judgmental thoughts and open their society to him. To the monster’s dismay, he wasn’t even given a chance to introduce his true heart and wishful thoughts of becoming a member of the…
“Poor Grendel’s had an accident, I whisper. so may you all” (Gardner 174). I think it is Grendel’s hatred of the society of mankind that develops throughout the novel, leading to his ultimate curse he lays upon them with those words. “I knew I was dealing with no mechanical bull, but with thinking creatures, pattern makers, the most dangerous things i'd ever met” (Gardner 27). This quote is an example of why I think Grendel's last words refer to a curse to mankind. Grendel believes mankind are the most dangerous and terrifying creatures out there and deserve to be cursed as they have treated him so bad. For example “But they were doomed, I knew, and I was glad. No denying it. Let them wander the fogroads of Hell” (Gardner 53). Grendel wishes…
Grendel’s goodness is continuously suppressed by the misunderstanding of humans. When Grendel first encounter’s humans, the humans immediately mistake Grendel for a bloodthirsty monster because of his appearance. In the beginning when Grendel is still developing his moral and spiritual understandings of the world,…
#3 This quote also shows Grendel trying to find meaning to life, or rather show his negativity towards it. He is stating that where you are a child, everything is good, but then you grow up and you have to realize the truth. Grendel is still trying to figure out his truth, and what his meaning really is.…
In the novel Grendel, by John Gardner, portrays Grendel's characteristics altering as he meets new characters; throughout his journey to mankind. Mankind teaches him vast new knowledge he's never understood. His nihilistic and solipsism is formed through the characters in the novel; envy and anger are also shown. He plays big roles in terrifying the Danes and somewhat of the Geats; they mold him into the monster they fear the most. The characters, shaper, man, and the dragon shape Grendel into the monster he so desires. They teach him of lies, false glory, brutality, never ending violence, and wisdom.…
Though their stories are different, intertwined in their own ways, their stories, when stripped to their underlying strands of text, are quite similar. Two separate beings, forged by the hands of a creator long gone, find themselves in a cold, cruel, world where their differences cast them out. They are neglected by their creators and rejected at every turn by all they come across. Without guidance and without discipline, these beings are made to grow in a world they do not know, to fend for themselves. The beings, Grendel and the Monster of Frankenstein, charge their way through a world that despises them, searching for companionship, for acceptance, and for their self-worth. Try as they might, they cannot succeed and their sorrow turns to…
The first evidence of this is found with observing his circumstances in which he is forced into. The first and foremost distinct difference between Grendel and any other typical monster is that Grendel never made a conscious choice to be evil. In Beowulf, Grendel’s circumstances were given to him, he did not choose them. “He had dwelt in for a time/ in misery among the banished monsters,/ Cain’s clan, whom the Creator had outlawed/ and condemned as outcasts.” (Beowulf 104-107). Grendel was punished for not only a crime he didn’t commit, but a crime that was carried out by a person who we merely was a descended from, a very long time ago. The punishment for what, a long past family member did, was a life of loneliness and banishment. This given circumstance is another huge way in where Grendel has a gigantic impact on the story. Grendel is a representation and symbol of evil for Christianity, but at the same time it also symbolizes the unfairness and the closed minded way of thinking that…