Report on Chapters 1 to 10 of Grendel

Grendel

Chapter 1:

Chapter one is mostly about Grendel’s problems: why is he the way he is? why he should kill in order to survive? and why everybody are so stupid for him? “And so begins the twelfth year of my idiotic war. The pain of it! The stupidity!”(p. 5) I wonder why did Grendel have a war with humans. He is very rageful and angry character but at the same time he is reasonable in his thoughts. He hates everything that surrounds him: “Him too I hate, the same as I hate these brainless budding trees, these breathing birds.” (p.6) These words set the tone for later revelations of Grendel’s character. His rage has an effect on the natural world around him and that even disconcerts himself. I believe that he is right about asking his mother about why do they live the way that they live. He should kill people and animals in order to survive, nobody understands him, and he is very lonely. “ ’Why are we here?’ I used to ask her. ‘Why do we stand this putrid, stinking hole?’ “ (p.11) His mother is not a very smart creature. She can’t talk intelligently at all and therefore unable to guide him. I really like how the author expresses how dangerous Grendel is: “ ‘Grendel!’ they squeak, and I smile like exploding spring. Also the description of how did the Grendel killed the Hrothgar’s people is very descriptive. Finally, Grendel left the meadhall, but the tragic mood of people in the Hrothgar was unbreakable. Even though people died, they continued to gather around the fireplace and still singed their songs.

Chapter 2:

In chapter two of Grendel, John Gardner takes the readers into a deeper aspect of Grendel’s life. Grendel’s childhood life is very innocent and we can feel how he was feeling in his past. We can rush trough a flashback of his childhood and realize why is he the way he is? Why is he not a lovely hairy Teddy Bear, but a man-eating beast? I think that Grendel is just a regular kid, who got under the unfairness of the world that surrounds him. He is a monster and everything what he was doing seemed bad for people and they just hate him for that. “I used to play games when I was young…. explored our far-flung underground world…an endless wargame of leaps…whispered plotting with invisible friends…childish games…”. (p.15) When Grendel looks out to the humans; he can’t help but recognize his own childhood ways in their lifestyle; although it was not as happy as theirs. The most important quote from this chapter, which also explains why Grendels is existentialist, is: “I exist, nothing else” (p.28) It really upset me when Grendel, the innocent monster who didn’t think of anything bad for humans, became a blood-thirsty killer. But I think it is because he understood that it is only him and no one is going to help him, even his mother.

Chapter 3:

In this chapter Grendel criticized humans for killing animals for nothing and arguing who is the strongest of them. I think he is very right about the humans. They are hunting on animals for fun, and then just throw their bodies away. “Do it now, Cowface! I think you’re not even the man your father was!” (p.33) This is how people were teasing each to show who is the strongest. I believe for Grendel they seemed stupid, because they were arguing for, “who can breathe the most,” even though all of them could die from his hand. Most of this chapter is Grendel’s view on the people and life of Hrothgar. “I watched it, season after season. Sometimes I watched from the high cliff wall, where I could look out and see all the meadhall lights on the various hills across the country side, glowing like candles, reflected starts.” (p.37) Although Grendel thought of people as not very rational creatures, he didn’t have much to do as to watch them and analyze. He watches the rise of Hrothgar, as the Dane puts an end to fighting his neighbors. “One night, inevitably, a blind man turned up at Hrothgar’s temporary meadhall.”(p.40) I predict that the Shaper, the man who sings the songs, will infuriate Grendel. He sings and makes people believe in what he sings, even though they are just sweet lies. In the end of this chapter, Grendel got really furious at the Shaper, “I clamped my palms to my ears and stretched up my lips and shrieked again: a stab at truth, a snatch at apocalyptic glee.”(p.45) The monster sees how the people believe the Shaper’s account, even though they have the witness of both their memories and their own eyes that it is false. This leads Grendel to reject the Shaper’s philosophy as deceit, even as he struggles against its pull. Chapter 4:

I could understand Grendel in this chapter because he listened to all of the, “honeysweet lure of the harp.”(p.48) Shaper’s song were very believable and ultimately sweet, that Dane really liked them and he left the harper to continue his singing. Grendel was so pissed that he just backed away. He believes that Shaper will change the world with his songs, which were both sweet and disgusting at the same time. It upset me when Grendel, the truth-believer, was treated so badly by the people to who he screamed, “ Friend! Friend!”(p.52) Without analyzing, all of them attacked him, “Their spears came through it and one of them nicked me, a tiny scratch high on my left breast, but I knew by the sting it had venom on it and I understood, as shocked as I’d been the first time, that they could kill me..” (p.52) Even though Grendel escapes he was very irritated and exhausted. I think this is really sad when you want to talk to people and say them the truth, but instead they chase you and believe to a blind guy who is lying. Grendel rages in the woods, looking for an answer to his loneliness and confusion, but finds none. Finally he returns to his underwater cave where his monstrous, imbecilic mother lies awaiting him. Grendel has been branded a monster, and a monster he will continue to be.

Chapter 5: In the begging of this chapter it seems like dragon was waiting for Grendel and his appearance here wasn’t unexpected, “We’ve been expecting you”(p.58). Grendel was shocked when he saw the dragon. His reaction was so similar to the dragon as people’s reaction when they saw him. I really like the moral words of dragon in this chapter, “Now you know how they feel when they see you.” (p.60) Dragon understands Grendel as no one else does. Grendel. He seems like a very wise hermit who explains to Grendel why Shaper is so influential and what is going on inside human brains. The dragon sees the world as a chaotic, meaningless place, and Grendel should accept it as it is. Shaper is just a talking soothsayer who tells history and religion stories, which are nothing else than a spiritual strength or weakness for people. Grendel- is the one who makes them better by fighting with humans and causing them huge problems, which there are trying to solve, “You improve them, my boy! Can’t you see that yourself? You stimulate them! You make them think and scheme.”(p.72) Each time Grendel attacks them, they are creating more and more strong defense. Also they plan how to kill Grendel and finally live in peace. I predict that one-day humans will find a way to deal with Grendel. But for now Grendel should follow the simple suggestion that dragon gives him, “My advice to you, my violent friend, is to seek out gold and sit on it.” (p.74) Even though the songs of Shaper lures Grendel’s mind away to more abstract thoughts of love, beauty, and art, the dragon incessantly pushes Grendel toward a clear-eyed, cold-blooded intellectualism. Dragon pushed Grendel to believe in truth rather than in a sweet lies.

Chapter 6:

The talk with dragon was a turning point in the life of Grendel and it shapes his mind. He felt more concern in what he is doing after their discussion. In addition, dragon put some kind of a spell on Grendel, which protects him from weapons. Now meadhall became no more dangerous for Grendel. “I had something, as if born again… I was Grendel, Ruiner of Meadhalls, Wrecker of Kings!”(p.80) Grendel started his bloody hunt on humans and now he felt even lonelier than before. He fights with Hrothgar not as with the enemy but as with a toy to show that he is stronger than anyone of them. Grendel wanted them to be frightened of his appearance. He was laughing from their helplessness, “Another one came at me, gloating in his bleareyed heroism, maniacally joyful because he had bragged that he would die for his king and he was doing it. “(p.81) From across the hall, a thane named Unferth approaches Grendel.”Monster, prepare to die,”(p.28) Unferth challenges Grendel very lyrically, and Grendel responds sarcastically, surprising Unferth with his capacity for language. What happens next is just a cruel mockery on Unferth’s heroism. Grendel destroyed him with verbal attack and to finish his bullying Grendel begins to throw apples at Unferth. Unferth begins to cry, and finally fall unconscious. It was a total crash of his heroism. Grendel picked him up and as father carrying a tired child brought him to Hrothgar and laid him at the door of meadhall, “So much for heroism” (p.90). Unferth felt himself miserable and was totally destroyed as hero.

Chapter 7:

“Form is a function” (p.91). Grendel is a very smart creature. He can clearly sees that if he would kill everyone in one strike, he will die because there will be no future for humans so as for him. Grendel Law is, “ There is no limit to desire but desire’s needs” (p.93). It means that you can only desire something so much – for instance, Grendel desires to kill people, but once that desire reached a certain point his desire was full field. Therefore, he no longer felt that desire. He resist it because there will be not future for him if he will kill everyone. “My chest was full of pain, my eyes smarted, and I was afraid … I wanted to smash things… But I kept still,”(p.100) Grendel tell in love with an appearance of queen Wealtheon. He felt something impossible to describe towards her. Killing the queen is killing his love and that means that Grendel will choose the dragons suggestion. But closer to the ends of the chapter Grendel accidently saw Wealtheow’s genitals. This was a terrible image for Grendel because he visualizes women in different way. Now he could resist his temptation towards the queen. “I changed my mind. It would be meaningless, killing her. As meaningless as letting her live. Balance is everything, sliding down slime.” Much like the previous quote, Grendel is not ready to accept his role which dragon told him. By killing himself, he would be eliminating a major source of pain and suffering of the Danes. Grendel is at a crossroad and must choose a path. By killing either himself or Wealtheow, he is forcing himself to make a decision that he wouldn’t be ready to make, so he puts off the decision until he is ready.

Chapter 8:

A rule that Grendel makes after his poem sounded similar to me as a Law of Newton that is, every action has its opposite and equal reaction. “Any action of the human heart must trigger an equal and opposite reaction,”(p.113) is saying that even if the heart has a great passion or love or action there is a connection to a negative reaction to follow. Grendel is thus pleased to see that as Wealtheow and Hrothgar welcome their nephew, he seems to dislike them, even though they took him in. "The law of the world is a winter law, and casual" (pg. 115). He says that he can be as tough as his uncle, striving for power above all things. He thinks about his aunt: she seems to care for him, but he wants something more stable than love. Everything around him seems as dead as the ground beneath the tree. "How, if I know all this, you may ask, could I hound him--shatter him again and again, drive him deeper and deeper into woe? I have no answer, except perhaps this: why should I not?" (pg. 122), Grendel realized and state that nothing could make friendship between him and the king. He actually made king look like a wise men by putting himself in a position of bloodthirsty monster.
e. But he cannot believe that all of the pain and confusion, on both sides, could lead to nothing. Finally, Grendel imputes a horrible dream to Hrothgar.

Chapter 9:

Everything is slow and still. Grendel was enjoying and recording the surrounding beauty, “The trees are dead and only the deepest religion can break through time and believe they’ll revive. Against the snow, black cuts on a white, white hand” (p.125). Grendel was observing the religions ceremonies of priest, Ork, an opportunity to come up with a new system. Ork represents a new kind of priest, the only one who has “thought out.” He is a theologian, one for whom faith and reason are not mutually exclusive. Ork, like the dragon, knows that time will erase everything eventually. "Suddenly time is a rush for the hart: his head flicks, he jerks, his front legs buckling, and he's dead. He lies as still as the snow hurtling outward around him to the hushed world's rim, " (p. 127) towards the end Grendel starts feeling bad for animals, even though he is monster and he is killing everyone. When he sees bowmen, he remembered how they killed the deer. At first, the relationship of Crendel to people’s cruelty was more neutral but now he hates when unarmed an arrow kills animal.

Chapter 10:

“Tedium is the worst pain,”(p.138). Grendel is tired of waiting he is bored. Grendel is just observing what is happening. Shaper is sick and there are no more loud speeches of his to create some kind of movement. The story with the goat reminds me of a story in the first chapter with a ram. Grendel is throwing at this persistent goat but it still tries to reach the top. “Death shakes his body the way high wind shakes. He climbs toward me. I snatch a stone,” (p.140) Grendel hates stupidity, but the more he hates is stubborn stupidity – like this goat for example. “Darkness. At the house of the Shaper, people come and go, solemn faced, treading softly, their heads bowed and their hands folded for fear of seniding dreadful apparitions thorugh his dreams” (p. 142). The Shaper is very sick. People wait on him, and he asks for a woman who does not come. Grendel is pleased that the old man, who once so easily manipulated him, is now helpless. He assumes that everyone sitting at the Shaper's bedside is just waiting for him to die. The Shaper begins to speak about the future of the Danes, but before he can come to the point, he dies. “My mother makes sounds. I strain my wits toward them, clench my mind. Beware the fish, “(p.149). He feels like something is about to happen, though he thinks he knows nothing will. He feels the dragon again, and he feels conflicted he should sleep until spring. He feels vaguely afraid. Then he thinks he's being silly. He says, "Nihilo ex nihilo" (p.150). It means that after Shaper is no longer around their kingdom became very quiet and calm. The atmosphere gets very empty.

Chapter 11:

“I am mad with joy,” (p.151) finally, there is some kind of change in his daily life. Strangers have come from some kind of place to kill him. The leader, Beowulf, calmly told the guard that they were Geats. His father was famous. He came to kill Grendel. He said all this politely, but there was something unfeeling and mocking in his tone. Grendel, listening to all this, pretended to be confident, but he was nervous. I think that something sparks the Grendel as he sees Beowulf. He felt that he finally sees the real opponent to his strength. He decides to kill him to protect the honor of Hrothgar because Beowulf with his Geats are putting themselves higher than they should. The returning of failed hero, Unferth, with his mocking of Beowulf looks very dishonorable. He failed to kill Grendel and now he thinks that nobody can do it. In addition, he publicly tried to bring Beowulf’s reputation down, “I predict it will go even worse for you tonight. You may have ahd successes – I haven’t heard. But wait up for Grendel for one night’s space and all your glorious successes will be done with” (p.161). Unferth is overcome with shame, and tries to feel hopeful for Beowulf's success, as a true hero would. He cannot do it, and leaves the room quickly, upset. Hrothgar is friendly with Beowulf, telling him about his plans for the future. Grendel sees that Beowulf knows that the kingdom is doomed. Grendel is more afraid of him, and at the same time he wants to fight him even more because Beowulf promised to fight without his sword.

Chapter 12: Grendel is scared and amazed. He is having an adrenaline rush to fight with Beowulf and his Geats. “I am swollen with excitement, bloodlust and joy and a strange feat that mingle in my chest like the twisting rage of a bonefire” (p.168). Grendel guessed that all the warriors are asleep and he will kill them very quickly. After the change with Dragon, readers believe that Grendel is immortal but Beowulf cut his hand off. “It’s a trick! His eyes are open, were open all the time, cold-bloodedly watching to see how I work. The eyes nail me now as his hand nails down my arm. I jump back without thinking”(p.168). It was unexpected twist for Grendel that he lost his arm. Beowulf trick him really hard. Crying, Grendel escaped from Hrothgar to the edge of a cliff and there he feels that he is going to throw himself into the darkness below, willingly and unwillingly at the same time. Animals he has tormented in the past gather to watch him die. He felt joyful and sad at the same time. Grendel speaks to the animals that stare at him stupidly. "Poor Grendel's had an accident. So may you all"(p. 174). For the first time he made a fatal mistake in his life. He is dying but he feels joy. Finally his tortures on this world will end.