Grendel Mood Analysis

Chapter Title Literary Element Text Evidence Analysis
1 Innocence Mood “Behind my back, at the world’s end, my pale slightly glowing fat mother sleeps on, old, sick at heart, in our dingy underground room. Life-bloated, baffled, long-suffering hag. Guilty, she imagines, of some unremembered, perhaps ancestral crime. (She must have some human in her.) Not that she thinks. Not that she dissects and ponders the dusty mechanical bits of her miserable life’s curse.” Grendel describes his cursed mother in the cave that is wracked by guilt. Grendel does not understand the nature of their existence. This sets a mood for readers to feel sorry for Grendel because it was not Grendel’s choice to be a ridiculous monster that “stinks of death.” Readers
Grendel’s realizes that the world is just like the bull, mindless and destructive. The author repeatedly uses the phrase, “I understood that” in order to help the reader understand the importance of the bull attacking. Grendel’s revelation is a major turning point in the book as Grendel’s transition into adulthood, learning an entirely new philosophy.
3 Split Foreshadow “Thus I fled, ridiculous hairy creature torn apart by poetry… like a two-headed beast, like mixed-up lamb and kid at the tail of a baffled, indifferent ewe.” Grendel reacts to the Shaper’s song for the first time. The Shaper’s song split Grendel, while he clutched his head. This foreshadows the same feeling that he receives later between the dragon and the Shaper. He will later feel the pull between his emotions and his mind.
4 Isolated Conflict Why can’t I have someone to talk to? I said. The stars said nothing, but I pretended to ignore the rudeness.” Grendel experiences the same internal conflict that has stuck with him throughout the novel. He is isolated from the rest of the world and is alone. Grendel has nobody to talk to and nobody to care for him. This conflict within himself presents part of the foundation for the entire
It’s coming, my brother… Though you murder the world, transmogrify life into I and it, strong searching roots will crack your cave and rain will cleanse it: The world will burn green, sperm build again.” Beowulf paints an image of spring emerging from winter, stressing the equal importance of rebirth in life. This imagery reflects the song sung at the Shaper’s funeral, which also sees the coming of spring as a time for violence and death as well as a new beginning. This idea of the seasons as a natural cycle contradicts Grendel’s thoughts about the seasons. This imagery creates a clearer understanding of Grendel’s