Compare And Contrast Beowulf And Grendel

Beowulf is a classical english story about a viking warrior who fights monsters written roughly 1000 AD. Grendel is a derivative novel written in 1971 by John Gardner. While the two works contain roughly the same events, how those events are portrayed is vastly different. I have read parts of each work during the last few weeks. The main difference between the two works is how the portray the monster, Grendel. While both works feature Grendel as a monster who is immune to swords and engages in a twelve year war with Hrothgar and the people of Herot, one work portrays him as a violent, inhuman beast, while the other portrays him as intelligent and surprisingly human. Gardner's version of Grendel is introspective and sapient, and clearly