The Enemy Outside and Within: Grendel and His Mothe

In the old English epic, Beowulf, a pattern is begun of making monsters out to be outsiders, witnessed through the descriptions, attitudes, and actions of the fiend Grendel and his horrific Mother. In this and many other stories throughout ancient times, the antagonistic monsters have been the focus for the problems within society, causing any number of woes for the people. However, although the troubles the monsters cause occur within Human society, the monsters themselves, especially within Beowulf, are quite often distanced and set apart in numerous ways from the peoples whom they plague, including physically, mentally, emotionally, symbolically, and oftentimes ideologically as well. There exists, however, a paradoxical symbolism within the epic's framework concerning this beast and his mother in which they serve as examples of the negative aspects of the Germanic society in which the story originated. Therefore, while they are still placed outside of the boundaries of Human civilization, they are, at the same time, a part of it as they represent the evils of the culture whose imagination spawned them.
            From the moment he appears in the story, Grendel is an outcast in every conceivable manner.   He is described as a monster, a powerful demon (ln. 86), and a fiend out of hell (ln.100). His form, although vaguely humanoid, is hideous and deformed with fiery eyes where "flame, more then light, flared from" (ln. 727). Grendel has swift, hard, and "open claws" (ln. 747), and enormous teeth that snatch the life out of his victims, which are numerous. This "shadow stalker, stealthy and swift" (ln. 703) doesn‘t stop at killing, but also eats of the flesh and drinks the blood of his prey. "He bit into his bone-lappings, bolted down his blood/and gorged on him in lumps" (ln741-742). Not only is Grendel set apart from humanity by his grotesque appearance and monstrous actions, but by his bestial mindset which   renders him "malignant by nature" (ln.137). His mind... [continues]

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