During a session in the House of Commons during the 1930s, Winston Churchill remarked to Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin that “history will be kind to me for I intend to write it.” The idea of history being written by the victors has existed for centuries, with original phrase attributed variously to figures ranging from Niccolò Machiavelli to Walter Benjamin to Napoleon Bonaparte. Historical revisionism—history rewritten—is a theme that is discussed in John Gardner’s Grendel in the form of the Shaper, a minstrel who sings at the court of Hrothgar, king of the Danes. The Shaper frequently sings ballads that seek to enhance the status of Hrothgar and his allies, and portray others as weak or threatening, regardless of actual historical fact.
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In Grendel’s first encounter with the Shaper, the bard tells of Scyld Shefing and how he formed the Danish kingdom. Grendel knows this whitewashed retelling of Danish history is patently false: he remembers their true violent history, the “ragged men fighting each other till the snow was red slush” (Grendel, 44). Yet, the Shaper’s message almost seems real to him, and he feels as though it is implanted in his brain as a memory alongside his other “real” memories. The Shaper is a historical revisionist, retelling Danish history in a way that benefits his master Hrothgar. The idea that history is written by the victors fits the Shaper well. Hrothgar has defeated all of his enemies and has become the most powerful ruler in the kingdom of the Danes. Therefore, he is able to control the historical narrative that is told to his citizens, with the Shaper as his mouthpiece. The Shaper’s story about Hrothgar’s supposed heroic ancestor Scyld Shelfing only serves to increase the king’s credibility, by portraying him as the descendant of heroes. Grendel’s later encounters are similar, with the Shaper telling greatly exaggerated accounts of the beauty of Danish society. This optimistic and light-hearted view of life propagated by the Shaper contrasts heavily with Grendel’s decidedly nihilistic and gloomy outlook, which only serves to anger him
In Grendel’s first encounter with the Shaper, the bard tells of Scyld Shefing and how he formed the Danish kingdom. Grendel knows this whitewashed retelling of Danish history is patently false: he remembers their true violent history, the “ragged men fighting each other till the snow was red slush” (Grendel, 44). Yet, the Shaper’s message almost seems real to him, and he feels as though it is implanted in his brain as a memory alongside his other “real” memories. The Shaper is a historical revisionist, retelling Danish history in a way that benefits his master Hrothgar. The idea that history is written by the victors fits the Shaper well. Hrothgar has defeated all of his enemies and has become the most powerful ruler in the kingdom of the Danes. Therefore, he is able to control the historical narrative that is told to his citizens, with the Shaper as his mouthpiece. The Shaper’s story about Hrothgar’s supposed heroic ancestor Scyld Shelfing only serves to increase the king’s credibility, by portraying him as the descendant of heroes. Grendel’s later encounters are similar, with the Shaper telling greatly exaggerated accounts of the beauty of Danish society. This optimistic and light-hearted view of life propagated by the Shaper contrasts heavily with Grendel’s decidedly nihilistic and gloomy outlook, which only serves to anger him