We can think of Grendel and the monster as two bullied high schoolers that aren’t part of any clicks. As they go through their lives, they are persistent in befriending anyone, however, because of their appearance, they are both rejected. Whenever they try to enter a click through any means, they are punished for it violently, which leads to their mental decay and instability, and possible their deaths. Grendel, from John Gardner’s Grendel, and the Monster in Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, are rejected from society because of their appearance; nevertheless they are persistent and they try to involve themselves with man through women, which fails, and develops the motif that man will always judge you.
Grendel and the monster attempt to enter …show more content…
As the monster makes his demands to Victor, he states that the main character, "'must create a female for [him], with whom [he] can live in the interchange of these sympathies necessary for [his] being'" (Shelley 104). Depicted here is the monster's seeming need to insert himself in a world where he can experience more than just hate and sadness. The monster believes that through compassion he can create an image of himself that will be accepted by man, whom will ignore his appearance thanks to his capability to love. In order to do this however, the monster must develop the deepest kind of love, companionship. Grendel's need for love however, is much more cyclical, as seen after he first sees Wealtheow he experiences, "a bad winter. [He] couldn't lay a hand on them, prevented as if by a charm" (Gardner 101). Grendel is discouraged when he sees Wealtheow as he realizes he must be good if he wants to be accepted. Hence, he begins to question the dragon's authority and advice simply because Wealtheow has caused him to stray from evil and attempt to become good. In this the reader can see Grendel's cyclical structure as he becomes bad, and then when he finds someone who drives him to do otherwise, he becomes good. Ultimately however, both monsters fail in their quests for companionship, as victor destroys his second creation and Grendel's overdeveloped id takes over.
Grendel and the monster attempt to enter …show more content…
As the monster makes his demands to Victor, he states that the main character, "'must create a female for [him], with whom [he] can live in the interchange of these sympathies necessary for [his] being'" (Shelley 104). Depicted here is the monster's seeming need to insert himself in a world where he can experience more than just hate and sadness. The monster believes that through compassion he can create an image of himself that will be accepted by man, whom will ignore his appearance thanks to his capability to love. In order to do this however, the monster must develop the deepest kind of love, companionship. Grendel's need for love however, is much more cyclical, as seen after he first sees Wealtheow he experiences, "a bad winter. [He] couldn't lay a hand on them, prevented as if by a charm" (Gardner 101). Grendel is discouraged when he sees Wealtheow as he realizes he must be good if he wants to be accepted. Hence, he begins to question the dragon's authority and advice simply because Wealtheow has caused him to stray from evil and attempt to become good. In this the reader can see Grendel's cyclical structure as he becomes bad, and then when he finds someone who drives him to do otherwise, he becomes good. Ultimately however, both monsters fail in their quests for companionship, as victor destroys his second creation and Grendel's overdeveloped id takes over.