Good And Evil: An Exploration Of Morality Through Grendel

Good and Evil: An Exploration of Morality Through Grendel Morality is a matter of perspective. The definitions of good and evil differ from one person to the next. John Gardner’s novel Grendel, an alternate take on the famous epic Beowulf written in the monster’s perspective, explores this position, and challenges the typical definitions and ideas of good and evil. In Grendel, Gardner utilizes the characters Grendel, Beowulf, and the Dragon to explore the theme that good and evil are never black and white. The original author of Beowulf portrays the monster Grendel as a personification of evil, however, Grendel, written from the monster 's perspective, offers different explanations of good and evil. Grendel spends most of the novel talking …show more content…
One of the first times Grendel hears the Shaper sing of the glory of battle, he feels groundbreakingly moved by his words and terrified of the effect those words can have on him. He throws back his head and screams; “the sound went out, violent… like a thousand tortured rat-squeals crying: Lost!” (Gardner 45). In this passage, Grendel obsesses with what he knows to be the truth compared to what the Shaper claims to be the truth. He understands the Shaper bases some of his words upon truth, but Grendel remains unsure of the rest. His fear of not knowing what he doesn’t know and the Shaper’s strange combination of truth and fiction inspires such a discomfort in him that his scream, “the sound”, comes out of him without his consent, as if he watches himself as he does this. Grendel’s monstrous, nefarious, and “evil” part of him is something he has no control over. Grendel is also not without the conscious thoughts of good. He believes that no one and nothing could ever understand true goodness, as expressed when contemplating the Shaper himself again. “If the Shaper’s vision of goodness and peace was a part of himself, not idle rhymes, then no one understood him at all, not even Hrothgar.” (Gardner 53). Grendel also mentions just a few paragraphs earlier that God’s finger is “bloodless”, insinuating that everyone but God has blood on their hands. This thought combined with that of the Shaper shows that Grendel believes that understanding …show more content…
In the original epic, Beowulf is the hero and the ultimate source of good. However, once Grendel first observes him, he begins stripping Beowulf of his humanity and thus dubbing him almost otherworldly. One of Grendel’s first descriptions of Beowulf included “muscled shoulders… sleek as the belly of a shark.” (Gardner 155) Grendel uses the imagery of a fish to describe Beowulf more than once. The novel alludes to the bible countless times, and in this instance, the fish symbolize Jesus. The comparison to Jesus makes Beowulf seem larger than life. Grendel mentions previously that he believes humanity cannot comprehend goodness, nor does it belong on Earth. This herculean description of Beowulf tells the readers that the only reason Beowulf represents good is because of his inhumanity. Grendel describes many things as mechanical in the novel, but never does he describe humanity as mechanical until he sees Beowulf. Grendel says he “could see his mind working, stone-cold, grinding like a millwheel.” (Gardner 161). Using imagery and adjectives never previously used for humans takes away from Beowulf’s humanity completely and further solidifying that humanity is incapable of Beowulf’s type of heroism. However, Beowulf does not represent good in a typical fashion. He is chaotic, as shown in his fight with Grendel, when “he stretches his blinding white wings and