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.…
He, a descendant of Cain, has been exiled into darkness: “Conceived by a pair of those monsters born/ Of Cain, murderous creatures banished/ By God, punished forever for the crime/ Of Abel’s death” (20-23). Therefore, as a foe of God, Grendel is angered at the fact he cannot exist in light. Given that he cannot enact his revenge upon God himself, Grendel enacts his revenge upon God's people. Other reasons why he may attack humans is that the text also specifically says that he can't stand the noise of the "harp’s rejoicing"(4) in the mead hall. Grendel is perhaps attacking because the joyful camaraderie reminds him each day of his own isolation -- owing to his connection to the Biblical Cain. He is described as child-like. Young children will lash out when they are frustrated or don't like what is going on. If a noise is too loud, they might just cry, but they might hit the person making the noise. Of course, children don't react this way out of violence or evil, but rather out of a lack of self-control. Grendal is both child-like and evil. He is unable and unwilling to control himself. His reaction to the joyful noises he hears in the hall begins as a lack of self-control and continues as an evil act of anger and vengeance against the…
The storyteller described Grendel as a “powerful monster, living down in the darkness, growled in pain…” (Line 1) He lives outside the boundaries of the human society in the swamps as an outcast after being exiled by them. It gives the impression that he is byproduct of the humans and that…
Grendel’s goodness is continuously suppressed by the misunderstanding of humans. When Grendel first encounter’s humans, the humans immediately mistake Grendel for a bloodthirsty monster because of his appearance. In the beginning when Grendel is still developing his moral and spiritual understandings of the world,…
In the poem Beowulf one of the characters Grendel has displayed evil among others and injustice throughout his life which has lead Beowulf to want to defeat Grendel and end him once and for all. His powers although scary, are plain. His background unknown, until the book begins and we find out who the real Grendel lying beyond the shadows is.…
The term monster is exceptionally ambiguous, and there are many different types of monsters. A definition a classical monster is a being that cannot reason and kills solely for the sake of killing. This definition fits Grendel as he is depicted in Beowulf, however, it does not fit him in Grendel. It is evident that Grendel is capable of logical thought and reason, and not a mindless beast. He better fits into this definition of a monster, a being that is capable of thought, reason, and that has a conscience in some form that still chooses to do terrible things. The fact that he is able to reason these things out, and that he still chooses to do them makes him even more monstrous. To understand this monstrosity one…
Grendel is one of the three major antagonists in the poem "Beowulf". We are told he is a monster and a descendant of the biblical figure "Cain" early on in the text. "Till the monster stirred, that demon, that fiend/Grendel who haunted the moors, the wild /Marshes, and made his home in a hell./Not hell but hell on earth. He was spawned in that slime/Of Cain, murderous creatures banished/ By God, punished forever for the crime/ Of Abel 's death." (Lines 101-108).…
In the story Grendel, there are a lot of different themes and lessons one of the main themes in this story is isolation. Grendel is a very isolated character who is looking for his purpose in life. Grendel has a lot of hate in his heart, but there is also a lot of love in it at the same time. So throughout the story, there are a lot of moments when Grendel has a battle within his self. For example when Grendel first hears the Shaper playing in chapter 3 it starts to make Grendel think different about what he knows is true and what he wishes were true. Grendel understands the world as a brute, emotionless place that follows no meaningful pattern or laws. He knows that all the beautiful concepts of which the Shaper sings about heroism, religion, love and beauty are merely human projections on how the humans would like to see the world.…
The book “Frankenstein” by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley discusses Victor Frankenstein's life before the creation and after. The monster wasn’t made for mass destruction but godful life. Seeking revenge for rejection from mankind, the creature creates loneliness in Victor’s life. The question “Is man born evil or is evil created in man by society” is answered in the book because the creature wasn’t born evil. Over the years he grew a dark side because of no guidance, rejection, failure, and jealousy.…
After Grendel gets pushed away from the humans, despite his openness towards them and their ideals, Grendel is forced to separate himself from society. The pain of isolation leads to taking all of it out on the humans by killing and eating them without an ounce of mercy. This just adds to his feelings of loneliness as he continues on questioning the purpose of his life. The pain of isolations contributes towards his wish to turn the world on its head without any worries of what God thinks. All the deprecation devoted towards him and the emptiness within himself leads to his thoughts about death and how much better it would be to die rather than live in such a cruel and corrupt world. Eventually his death happens after his meeting with Beowulf. Gardner’s purpose for making Grendel a evil outcast is to resonate with the reader how much we take things in life for granted as to who we are and our overall purpose.Grendel was ultimately confused with his position in the world which is one of the reasons for his inevitable…
Throughout the epic, evil contrasts God, works to oppose Him, and seeks to wreak havoc on and destroy God’s creation. Serving as a direct contrast to God, Grendel and his mother were part of "Cain's Clan, whom the creator had outlawed and condemned as outcasts" and live completely separated from God (106). The author further describes the egregious Grendel as “God-cursed,” living in opposite to all that God represents (121). Because God symbolizes complete goodness, and Grendel persists completely without God, Grendel and his mother live in complete evil and darkness, without a single remnant of light. Secondly, Grendel and his mother actively oppose God, attempting to fight back, bringing darkness whenever possible. The amount of terror and evil the two attempt to force upon the world often frighten the weak away from God as "sometimes at pagan shrines they vowed" using their complete darkness to overcome God’s subjects (175). The people once faithful to God lose faith because of the corruptive fear emanating from Grendel’s immense evil. Lastly, Grendel seeks to reign terror on those loyal to the good because he “nursed a hard grievance” toward God, wanting to find revenge for being excommunicated from joy.…
Thomas Hobbes believes men are naturally evil and in this sense the monster was evil because he was made that way. This is illustrated in Hobbes quote, “there is no place for industry; because the fruit thereof is uncertain; and consequently no culture of the earth; navigation, nor use of the commodities that may be imported by sea; no commodious building; no instruments of moving, and removing, such things require much force; no knowledge of the face of the earth; no account of time; no arts; no letters; no society; and which is the worst of all, continual fear, and danger of violent death; and the life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short” (37). Despite the monsters misfortunes, such as killing all of Frankenstein’s loved ones, he…
Most importantly, Grendel is a repulsive creature. He says that his hatred for Hrothgar is not from his original encounter with humans, so maybe his behavior is simply for no reason other than to ruin…
Later in the story the reader learns that Grendel was rejected from the Dane's society when he proposed a treaty. Hrothgar, the king of the Danes, looked at Grendel as an enemy which breaded pure evil and was not in any way a human and should be killed. When Grendel realized that he was not going to be able to be a part of the Danes, Grendel built up rage and frustration. Grendel released this rage and frustration by killing many Danes and tormenting the common people.…
The first evidence of this is found with observing his circumstances in which he is forced into. The first and foremost distinct difference between Grendel and any other typical monster is that Grendel never made a conscious choice to be evil. In Beowulf, Grendel’s circumstances were given to him, he did not choose them. “He had dwelt in for a time/ in misery among the banished monsters,/ Cain’s clan, whom the Creator had outlawed/ and condemned as outcasts.” (Beowulf 104-107). Grendel was punished for not only a crime he didn’t commit, but a crime that was carried out by a person who we merely was a descended from, a very long time ago. The punishment for what, a long past family member did, was a life of loneliness and banishment. This given circumstance is another huge way in where Grendel has a gigantic impact on the story. Grendel is a representation and symbol of evil for Christianity, but at the same time it also symbolizes the unfairness and the closed minded way of thinking that…