Comparing Beowulf And Grendel

Amanda Davidson

Two Tales of the Aforementioned
They say good first impressions are important, but these characters find themselves in an unfortunate plight. In the original and famous poem, Beowulf, GRENDEL is the evil, most abominable creature on the planet. His grim and naturally monstrous appearance haunts the Danes and people of the mead hall. His heart is heavy and dark, according to Beowulf, but in John Gardner’s Grendel, he explains in much detail how he truly feels about himself and his actions. Being raised alone (occasionally by his mother), Grendel’s inability to realize things show when trying to be gentle. Unaware of his strength, accidental murders have happened. He is a misunderstood little boy trapped in a large body. Then
there’s Unferth, perceived as childish yet strong and loyal. In both Grendel and Beowulf, Unferth was a coward, but helped others. In Gardner’s novel, Unferth’s encounter with Grendel was full of wisdom words and a silly incident that lead to Unferth’s yearning of suicide. Meanwhile in the poem, Unferth’s cowardly behavior and large ego show when he tries to say he can defeat Grendel. He believed his fame could give him strength, leading Beowulf to call him “clever with a quick tongue”. All in all, comparing the characters in both texts is a game of perspective, for it can be interpreted in almost any way. While Beowulf portrays Grendel as naturally monstrous and destructive, in Grendel, he comes across as a confused being who’s unaware of his strength.
“Grendel was the name of this grim demon haunting the marches, marauding round the heath and desolate fens.” (Beowulf, 102-105) Grendel’s acts and behavior were simple, childlike, yet his size and fierce appearance haunted the Danes. What was going on in Grendel’s head was not that of a grim demon but of a harmless soul trapped in a large and intimidating body. “I sank to my knees, crying, ‘Friend! Friend!’ They hacked at me yipping like dogs.” (Grendel, p.52) Grendel’s curiosity and love for the Shaper’s music led to many attacks by the Danes, for they didn’t understand why Grendel was overlooking them almost every day. Grendel’s cry of the word “friend” simply means he meant no harm, but it frustrated him since they couldn’t understand him. “Malignant by nature, he never showed remorse.” (Beowulf, 137) Beowulf and his crew believed that Grendel was born a monster and based his personality off of his appearance and actions. Although Grendel was a bane of the Danes, none of them went out of their way to find positives in Grendel’s existence. “I discovered that the dragon had put a charm on me: no weapon could cut me. I could walk up to the mead hall whenever I pleased and they were powerless. My heart became darker because of that.” (Grendel, pp. 75-76) Grendel is depressed that the minstrel would sing songs of hate about him;
he believed himself to be a “respected guest”. This pretty much proves that Grendel isn’t destructive by nature but the Danes’ perception of him hurt him. Whether it’s raiding the mead hall of simply listening to the minstrel’s songs, Grendel’s unintended monstrosity overpowers his actual heartfelt feelings. Although Unferth demonstrates his envy and weakness in both Beowulf and Grendel, he shows himself to be sensitive and capable of strength and loyalty.
“He screamed and thrashed, trying to get at me and at the same time trying to see if the others were watching. He was crying, only a boy, famous hero or not: a poor miserable virgin.” (Grendel, p.85) Unferth’s wimpy reaction to Grendel’s apple throwing made Grendel see right through Unferth’s fame, and reveal his real personality. Unferth is perceived as this majestic hero but he has a hard time coping with petty situations. “When he lent that blade to the better swordsman, Unferth, the strong-built son of Ecglaf, could hardly have remembered the ranting speech he had made in his cups.” (Beowulf, 1465-1468) Unferth envied Beowulf for his strength and might but when handing over Hrunting, he knew who was right to fight on Grendel. This action shows Unferth’s ability to overcome his jealousy by being loyal to the people; he knew he couldn’t match his abilities with Beowulf’s. “You killed your own kith and kin, so for all your cleverness and quick tongue, you will suffer damnation in the depths of hell.” (Beowulf, 587-588) Beowulf’s knowledge of Unferth’s large ego made Beowulf believe that Unferth didn’t take battling Grendel seriously. Unferth thought that his fame and so called “strength” was enough to kill Grendel but Beowulf thought it took more than that. “‘I’ll kill myself,’ he whispered. He shook violently now.”
(Grendel, p. 90) Unferth is a coward; he takes things out on his solitude and his losses, seeking attention. After Unferth’s rant about being a hero and what he thought a hero was, he drops this bomb to Grendel and all Grendel does is laugh and question the term “heroism”. Unferth has multiple personalities, some good, some bad; his intentions are to leave a mark and a legend, but his capabilities are far from matching up to those who are stronger and more able. Reviewing these characters’ backgrounds in both texts made me question what the term “hero” really meant. After all, most characters, even Grendel, demonstrated heroism in the simplest of ways. I find it fascinating how some characters are completely different in both texts and the similarities in other characters. For example, Unferth’s personality is clear and consistent in both texts. Gardner’s Grendel also teaches lessons related to our real life and teaches about human nature. Our natural instincts are to attack one that is supposedly “monstrous” to protect ourselves, but we don’t know the motive or true feelings of that being. Many situations like that were in Grendel. Events like the Danes attacking Grendel while he was listening to the minstrel made me understand more why Grendel suddenly turned dark and did what he did in Beowulf. Before then, he didn’t have bad intentions. As for Unferth, his wimpy yet strong personality shines in a series of events in both texts. Needless to say they’re the same characters in both texts, Unferth and Grendel’s actions and events they were involved in shaped their personalities to be the best they could be.