Lastly, the thing that Grendel and Andrei Chikatilo have in common is that they are both violent, brutal, and merciless individuals. “Grendel has never shown any type of remorse and is malignant by nature”(Allen…
Another similarity between the battles is that Beowulf is unable to defeat them with mortal weapons. In his battle against Grendal, he attempts to use the weapons from his men , but nothing harms Grendal, which forces Beowulf to fight him with his own hands. While fighting Grendal’s mother Beowulf attempts to use his sword, a mortal weapon, but it…
Another similarity is that Grendel and the other unnamed narrator are easily sympathized with. They are both easy to sympathize with because they are not so different from people, but they are different enough that they are rejected by people. They both admire normal people and long for their companionship. They are very lonely characters because they obviously do not fit it with other people. They wish they could be normal and join the others,…
In the epic Grendel has no motive on why he was killing the Danes. However, in Beowulf and Grendel the film he was given a motive. In Beowulf and Grendel the film the Danes killed Grendel’s father because he took a fish from their side; that is why Grendel is now after the Danes to gain revenge for his father’s death. In Beowulf the epic they didn’t need a reason, because the audience back then they didn’t authentically look for one, but the modern audience seems to be always probing for a Cause and Effect in situations and incidencesThe modern mindset for people doesn't sanction one to just accept that he simply is after the Danes; modern media must provide an answer for their audience on why Grendel has been killing Danes. In the epic never did they mention a reason for Grendel's execration towards the Danes. However, in the film Grendel’s reasoning was proximate to…
When reading the two stories we instantly recognize similarities in the way that Grendel is depicted. Both describe him as a seemingly vicious monster, who becomes infuriated anytime he sees others displaying any form of happiness or merriment. They each recount numerous instances in which the monster breaks into the meadhall of the Danes and terrorizes them. Each author describes how terrified the people are of Grendel and how a hero named Beowulf seeks to destroy him and liberate them of their curse.…
One characteristic that Grendel has that makes him particularly terrifying to the Danes is that he comes to Danes with an attitude of “hoping to kill anyone he could trap on his trip to high Herot” (235-236). He also has a very loathsome appearance that one may not relish to look at, such as “his eyes gleamed in the darkness” (248-249) that “burn with a gruesome light” (249-250). His intentions were also very terrifying that brought death to the Danes, he always “intended to tear the life from those…
To begin, the theme of revenge is evident when Grendel begins his attacks on Hrothgar’s hall, Herot. Grendel lies in the darkness, constantly getting annoyed by the noise of warriors celebrating in Herot, and as a result, he goes to the hall and kills thirty warriors. As proof, Raffel writes, “ A powerful monster, living down in the darkness, growled in pain, impatient as day after day the music rang… when darkness dropped, Grendel went up to Herot… snatched up thirty men, smashed them… ran out with their bodies,” (Beowulf 1-3, 30-39). As one can see,…
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,…
Grendel, generally seen as a monster or giant, is one of the main antagonists in the popular Anglo-Saxon poem Beowulf. Portrayed as the epitome of evil, Grendel brutally attacks the meadhall of the Danes for twelve years before being defeated by the epic hero Beowulf. Gardner, through his book Grendel, creates a new point of view of these events through Grendel eyes, as Grendel learns about the humans and how they seem like wild animals in their actions. In Grendel by John Gardner, Gardner reveals that “Man must have evil so that he may have good to balance…” through the use of juxtaposition and aphorisms (Gardner 6).…
For example, he includes “It didn’t matter what they did to each other. It was slightly ominous because of its strangeness-no wolf was so vicious to other wolves”(Gardner 32). This is when Grendel began to see mankind's brutal characteristics as they slaughtered each other. In his death bed Grendel continues to progress before he dies. He curses everyone, including animals by stating “So may you all”(Gardner 174) suffer from a tragic ending as he has. He turns into the ultimate nihilistic once he damns everyone; but it’s ironic due to the fact his victims have felt just as he…
This passage reveals the Danes’ understanding of Grendel as a creature in direct opposition to God who destroys and literally consumes human life. They believe him to relish…
In the story Grendel, there are a lot of different themes and lessons one of the main themes in this story is isolation. Grendel is a very isolated character who is looking for his purpose in life. Grendel has a lot of hate in his heart, but there is also a lot of love in it at the same time. So throughout the story, there are a lot of moments when Grendel has a battle within his self. For example when Grendel first hears the Shaper playing in chapter 3 it starts to make Grendel think different about what he knows is true and what he wishes were true. Grendel understands the world as a brute, emotionless place that follows no meaningful pattern or laws. He knows that all the beautiful concepts of which the Shaper sings about heroism, religion, love and beauty are merely human projections on how the humans would like to see the world.…
Grendel in the novel shares many of the problems as the Monster in Frankenstein does. Grendel and The Monster both share suffering, isolation from mankind, and their monstrosity towards mankind.…
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…
According to Beowulf, the start to all the killing is when Beowulf emerged from the "swampy lowlands" and killed everyone in the mead-hall. From this night on he continued to come into the mead-hall, which Hrothgar had his people build, and kill everyone who was in it. "So Hrothgar's men lived happy in his hall till the monster stirred, that demon, that fiend, Grendel, who haunted moors, the wild marshes , and made his home in a hell not hell but earth." It is said that he was angered by the Shaper's song and that was his initiative for attacking but the Danes were unsure. "How Grendel's hatred begun, how the monster relished his savage war on the Danes, keeping the bloody feud alive, seeking no peace, offering no truce ." This is just one of the differences in how Grendel is portrayed in the two stories. Another difference is Grendel's purpose.…