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Beowulf and Grendel Essay

The epic poem Beowulf describes the adventures of a hero who saved the people of Danelaw by defeating the terrifying monster, Grendel. Centuries later, John Gardner narrates the tale as seen from the monster’s point of view. Even though both pieces of literature relate the same events, their stories differ in many ways including the way in which the character Beowulf is portrayed, the way in which the character Grendel is portrayed, their descriptions of the fight scene between Beowulf and Grendel, as well as the overall tone of each literary work. One major discrepancy between the epic poem, Beowulf, and John Gardner’s novel, Grendel, is the way in which the character Beowulf is portrayed. In the Anglo-Saxon epic poem, Beowulf, the character Beowulf accepted the challenge the horrific monster, Grendel. Beowulf chose “the bravest and best of the Geats, fourteen / In all, and led them down to their boat” (206-7). Eventually, Beowulf defeats Grendel and is celebrated as a hero: Beowulf, A prince of the Geats, had killed Grendel, Ended the grief, the sorrow, the suffering Forced on Hrothgar’s helpless people By a bloodthirsty fiend. No Dane doubted The victory, for the proof, hanging high From the rafters where Beowulf had hung it, was the monster’s Arm, claw, and shoulder and all. (829-36)
On the other hand, in Gardner’s Grendel, Beowulf is described as being cruel and being a bully. Grendel describes what happens as Beowulf smashes him into a wall, “[Beowulf whispers] ‘Feel the wall: is it not hard?’ He smashes me against it, breaks open my forehead. ‘Hard, yes! Observe the hardness, write it down in careful runes. Now sing of walls! Sing!” (171). Grendel thinks of Beowulf as an intelligent, yet crazy, lunatic: “He’s crazy. I understand him all right, make no mistake. Understand his lunatic theory of matter and mind, the chilly intellect, the hot imagination, blocks and builder, reality as stress” (172). Hence, in the epic poem, Beowulf is a triumphant hero, while he is a cruel, evil lunatic through Grendel’s perspective. A second major discrepancy is found when analyzing the character Grendel between the epic Beowulf and John Gardner’s Grendel. In Beowulf, Grendel is an evil, man-eating monster that is terrorizing the people of Danelaw. Grendel was described as a creature “Conceived by a pair of those monsters born / Of Cain, murderous creatures…” (105-106). Herot was a happy place “Till the monster stirred, that demon, that fiend, / Grendel who haunted the moors, the wild / Marshes, and made his home in a hell,” (101-3). The terrible monster “continued his crimes, / killing as often as he could, coming / Alone, bloodthirsty and horrible” (164-166). However, in Gardner’s Grendel, Grendel is hopeless and feels like he is nothing. Grendel “understood that the world was nothing: a mechanical chaos of casual, brute enmity on which we stupidly impose our hopes and fears,” (21-22). Grendel, after hearing a harp being played, a song of the feud between darkness and light, feels like he is hopeless: “And I, Grendel, was the dark side, he said in effect. The terrible race God cursed,” (51). Besides this empty and alone feeling, Grendel was also full of hatred. He says, “Him too I hate, the same as I hate these brainless budding trees, these brattling birds,” (6). Therefore, Grendel is portrayed as a lonely creature full of hatred in the novel Grendel, while being described as a evil, bloodthirsty monster in the epic Beowulf. A third discrepancy is seen when reading through the battle scenes in both, the epic poem Beowulf and in John Gardner’s novel Beowulf. In Beowulf, Beowulf waits awake while his men sleep, and watches Grendel tear one of his men apart. Then, unknowingly, Grendel snatched up Beowulf’s body, who was anticipating his arrival. Beowulf suddenly noticed he’d never fought anyone, or anything, this strong: That shepherd of evil, guardian of crime, Knew at once that nowhere on earth Had he met a man whose hands were harder; His mind was flooded with fear—but nothing Could take his talons and himself from that tight Hard grip. (750-55)
Grendel had no longer wished to kill, but just to escape back to his marsh. The battle carried on and on, until finally, Grendel had lost all of his strength and Beowulf finally was able to tear his arm off: [Grendel] twisted in pain, / And the bleeding sinews deep in his shoulder / Snapped, muscle and bone split / And broke” (815-18). On the contrary, Gardner’s Grendel describes it more as an unfortunate mishap for Grendel.