What Is Grendel's Relationship In Beowulf

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
In defining the isolation and hatred that Grendel has experienced throughout his whole life, Gardner creates an anti-hero that has more defining characteristics than that in the “Beowulf” text. In all, without “Grendel” the reader would not be able to experience a different perspective that differs from its medieval origins but adds a new layer to complex