John Gardner's Grendel captures and explores the meaning of an individual's purpose in life. Grendel discovers the contrasting philosophies of nihilism and existentialism. Throughout the novel, Grendel is conflicted between believing in these philosophies, and choosing to apply it to his own life. Grendel struggles to find his essence and core purpose. Grendel’s isolation makes him susceptible to believe the Shaper’s thoughts, as he develops a comprehensive view that is affected by both the interaction with the dragon and the Shaper, the Shaper has a greater effect on Grendel’s worldwide view; ultimately this causes a contrast between the Shaper’s existentialist viewpoint and the dragons nihilist viewpoint, and leads Grendel to a wholesome
…show more content…
Our society, leads us to believe we have a purpose, when some of us may not know what our purpose entails, Grendel shares this common struggle humans experience. As the story progresses, he remains uncertain about his rationale; between the Shaper and the dragon ideologies. In parallel, the poem Grendel hears complicates the situation and his internal battle for true meaning, “Thus I fled, ridiculous hairy creature torn apart by poetry--crawling, whimpering, streaming tears, across the world like a two-headed beast, like mixed-up lamb and kid at the tail of baffled, indifferent ewe--and I gnashed my teeth and clutched the sides of my head as if to heal the split, but I couldn't.” (Gardner, 44) Hearing the Shaper’s poem traumatizes Grendel, causing him to experience a dichotomy between believing the Shaper’s existentialist thoughts and the dragon’s nihilistic philosophy. The author, highlights that the interaction between the Shaper and Grendel is causing him to …show more content…
Carrying out each day thinking that life is meaningless, is a popular and well known belief of nihilists. “As you see it is, sperm build again” (Gardner, 179) These are Beowulf's first words to Grendel in a fight, ultimately, it denounces the dragons nihilists philosophy and emphasizes rebirth. The dragon is connected within Beowulf by the comparable nihilistic viewpoint. The dragon did not have as large as an influence as the Shaper due limited amount of interaction between the dragon and Grendel compared to the Shaper. “The whole damned kit and caboodle. Why did you come here? Why do you bother me?-Don’t answer! He added quickly stopping me.” (Gardner, 61) “They sense that, of course, from time to time; have uneasy feelings that all they live by is nonsense.” (Gardner, 65) Both quotes feature the overly existential viewpoint that Grendel gentility was understanding. Grendel withstood to listen to the dragon speak about his nihilistic views and about the world lacking a meaning. In particular, the dragon asks rhetorical questions about Grendel’s purpose in coming to see him, indicating that there was no original purpose and intent of meeting with the dragon. In addition the dragon exclaims about an existentialist viewpoint being nonsense, and in a greater retrospect, he believes the entire world should viewed as
Our society, leads us to believe we have a purpose, when some of us may not know what our purpose entails, Grendel shares this common struggle humans experience. As the story progresses, he remains uncertain about his rationale; between the Shaper and the dragon ideologies. In parallel, the poem Grendel hears complicates the situation and his internal battle for true meaning, “Thus I fled, ridiculous hairy creature torn apart by poetry--crawling, whimpering, streaming tears, across the world like a two-headed beast, like mixed-up lamb and kid at the tail of baffled, indifferent ewe--and I gnashed my teeth and clutched the sides of my head as if to heal the split, but I couldn't.” (Gardner, 44) Hearing the Shaper’s poem traumatizes Grendel, causing him to experience a dichotomy between believing the Shaper’s existentialist thoughts and the dragon’s nihilistic philosophy. The author, highlights that the interaction between the Shaper and Grendel is causing him to …show more content…
Carrying out each day thinking that life is meaningless, is a popular and well known belief of nihilists. “As you see it is, sperm build again” (Gardner, 179) These are Beowulf's first words to Grendel in a fight, ultimately, it denounces the dragons nihilists philosophy and emphasizes rebirth. The dragon is connected within Beowulf by the comparable nihilistic viewpoint. The dragon did not have as large as an influence as the Shaper due limited amount of interaction between the dragon and Grendel compared to the Shaper. “The whole damned kit and caboodle. Why did you come here? Why do you bother me?-Don’t answer! He added quickly stopping me.” (Gardner, 61) “They sense that, of course, from time to time; have uneasy feelings that all they live by is nonsense.” (Gardner, 65) Both quotes feature the overly existential viewpoint that Grendel gentility was understanding. Grendel withstood to listen to the dragon speak about his nihilistic views and about the world lacking a meaning. In particular, the dragon asks rhetorical questions about Grendel’s purpose in coming to see him, indicating that there was no original purpose and intent of meeting with the dragon. In addition the dragon exclaims about an existentialist viewpoint being nonsense, and in a greater retrospect, he believes the entire world should viewed as