Cannibalism, curses, and Cain, oh my!
The poet explains that Grendel and his mother are the descendants of the Biblical Cain, which suggests not only
Grendel was strong and powerful monster. (line 1) He was so strong that he could rip men apart. Most men in the kingdom feared him. He was the most evilest monster in land.(line21-24) Even though many of the men in the kingdom didn’t know about his mother.…
3. The significance of Grendel being descended from Cain was so significant because Cain killed his own brother, Abel the first murder in the Bible.…
Grendel enters Beowulf's land, determined to kill the people. With all of his effortless kills, he expected an easy victory. Grendel wouldn't fight King Hrothgar because he was said to have God on his side. Having said this, Grendel planned to fight, and kill Beowulf (prince) without and struggle. As Grendel proceeded to the meet hall, he saw all of the soldiers resting in one, laughing he decided to feast on one body and wait until the next day to attack fully. When he does prepare to fight Beowulf, he expected a fast and easy win. What he didn't expect was a harsh, and long battle. As Grendel and Beowulf fought, Grendel learned that Beowulf had the strongest hand on anyone he'd attacked yet. Beowulf pulled back at Grendel's claws with force,…
In the first part of the book, Beowulf heard of the trouble facing King Hrothgar in Denmark and decided to take action, he arrives to find out that it has been twelve years since anyone has dared step foot inside of Hrothgar or face peril at the hands of Grendel, whose only motivation is to prevent any type of joyous noise. He is routinely described as a descendant of Cain, as a disfigured and ugly creature, with huge and lumbering features…
Grendel is the first evil that Beowulf has to face. Grendel is seen as evil because he holds the characteristics of a monster or demon. Within the poem the monster qualities of Grendel are used to reference him multiple times. Some qualities used to refer to Grendel are, “From his plundering claws:/ That shadow of death.” (158-159). His claws are what the poet uses to reference Grendel and they are the inhuman quality of Grendel that show he is not a human. Grendel being a shadow of death shows that he is dark and that he symbolizes and silhouettes death. These inhuman qualities of Grendel can be seen in the sculpture because the Grendel figure has claws to show he is a monster who is evil. He is also painted black to show darkness and how…
While Grendel was beginning his revenge, he was feeling great he couldn’t believe his luck. “ I can hardly believe my luck, and my wild heart laughs, but I let out no sound. Swiftly, softly, I will move from bed to bed and destroy them all, Swallow every last man” (Gardner 168). When Grendel found out it was all a trap to kill him, he thought he would be able to defeat them all. They were just men, he could simply eat them. But when he faces Beowulf he starts to think differently. “ I realize, have I encountered a grip like his. My whole arm was on fire” (gardner 168). When Grendel is seriously injured, he knows he has no chance against Beowulf. When Grendel is about to die a man mentions “ poor grendel’s had an accident” Grendel last words…
Grendel is the horrid creature that lives in the lake near Heorot Hall. Heorot is a mead hall of King Hrothgar. Citizens go there do drink, eat, laugh, tell stories, and do whatever they please. The creature (Grendel) is known to be the descendant of Cain, which is one of the reasons for all of his hatred. Grendel terrorizes and consumes the occupants of the mead hall. Another reason for his disgust towards the people of Heorot is that he was rejected from the community of people that occupy Heorot and the adjacent area. The main reason for Grendel’s attack on the mead hall is that he envious. The people of Heorot get to enjoy there delicious foods and intoxicating liquor, while Grendel has to live out in the cold forest and hunt for his food. Another reason for his attacks is that he just has a natural hatred for humans due to Cain’s sin and his family lineage makes him hate. In this story, lineage is extremely important, due to the time period that this story was based on. Grendel displays quality of a traditional villain.…
The relationships as elaborated in John Gardner’s Grendel also open up a new perspective to how Grendel has “fallen” from humanity into the tragic anti-hero as Gardner takes original characters such as Grendel’s mother and the dragon and transforms them from the original text into life changing characters that have helped develop Grendel’s alienation and hatred towards the world. In the original “Beowulf” not much is given about Grendel’s relationship between his mother and himself, as poem only cites how “sad” and “angry” his mother was once Grendel had died. In giving no indication of the past relationship Grendel and his mother shared Gardner takes the opportunity to develop a complex and layered relationship as Grendel states “She [mother] loved me in some mysterious sense I understood without her speaking it (18).” Ultimately, Grendel throughout Gardner story suggests that although there was no physical nor verbal interaction between the mother and Grendel, they did develop a kinship where Grendel “pities” the lifeless “hag” that she has become (Gardner, 52). However, throughout Gardner’s tale, Grendel often does not reveal his love towards his mother but hides it through various insults and slurs directed as his mother. His false hatred towards his mother is partly because he does not comprehend her lack of human emotions and actions as she throughout the tale emits “strange…
Grendel mother is an ugly, smelly beast who Grendel resents and yet loves in a dependent, childish way. She cannot speak; she tries to communicate with his son by caressing and holding him. And at times she would go too far and suffocated him. She helpless at times she has to wait for him to bring her food, but when Grendel needs her, he cries like baby, and usually she saves him. She is also fierce and terrifying. Grendel sets himself apart from his mother according to him she does not think coherently. He believes he above her. He thinks of her as a fool. “Life-bloated, baffled, long-suffering, hag. Guilty, she imagines, of some unremembered, perhaps ancestral crime.”…
The question of why we are alive, is a common one. “What is my Purpose in Life?” is asked almost daily by every single person. This question is answered along with many important philosophies being analyzed and discovered in John Gardner’s Grendel. The philosophies of solipsism, nihilism, and eventually existentialism are explored through Grendel, Grendel’s Mother, and the Dragon as Grendel learns more about himself and the world around him. These philosophies are established in the book due to the historical context of the time the book was written.…
Grendel was descendent of Cain, who heartlessly murdered innocent Danes because he felt shame for himself. When he heard of the Dane’s problem, Beowulf quickly left to go help the Danish. Although he did have backup, he started a battle with Grendel and chose to do this with no armor or weapons. Nevertheless, Beowulf would still be crowned the winner, as the arm of Grendel would symbolize his trophy. Beowulf would continue to attempt to kill Grendel’s bitter mother and a dragon, who thought the Geats had gone against him. The victory with the dragon would prove to be his last, as it took a lot out of him.…
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).…
Most monsters lurk in the shadows of their enemy. They hide and wait for just the precise time to strike their enemy. They plan out when and how they will attack and sometimes defeat their enemy.…
I read somewhere Grendel is supposed to be a descendant of Cain (from the book of Genesis). I do not know what you have to mix in down that line to get whatever Grendel is supposed to be, but I don’t think I want to know. The theory that Grendel is a descendant of Cain makes a lot of sense. I feel that in a lot of way Grendel represents several things that are wrong with the world and with society. The selfishness and the “every man for himself” mentality are factor notorious for getting people in trouble even today.…
Grendel was not human, he was an animal that eats anything he sees around him. Grendel was a lonely beast, he did not have any relationship with any human being. His Mother was the only person he knew since he was a little child. Grendel’s mother loved him is some different ways, but he was not sure about that. “I understood that, finally and absolutely, I alone exist. All the rest, I saw, is merely what pushes me, or what I push against, blindly as blindly as all that is not myself pushes back.” (P.22). He feels like his mother and he was the only being exist, but he also feels that he was separate from her. When he was crying, she would hold him against her. “Thus I fled, ridiculous hairy creature torn apart by poetry crawling, whimpering, streaming tears, across the world like a two-headed beast, like mixed up lamb…