Grendel has a difficult time trying to find his place in his own world, and this is made even more difficult by watching the brute, unthinking creatures who seemed to live and breathe without one iota of angst. Towards the end of the novel every piece of mechanical imagery comes together when the goat arrives. Even as it is injured, bleeding, and dying, the goat keeps climbing forward. Unlike the ram, which frustrates Grendel, and the bull, which amuses him, the goat haunts him with its mindless persistence. As the goat keeps climbing toward its imminent death, it also foreshadows Grendel’s upcoming death. While Grendel scorns the stupidity of nature, the novel also asks us to consider whether Grendel, who goes willingly to Beowulf, though…