Differences In Beowulf And Grendel

The stories of Beowulf and Grendel are very similar in many aspects. There is only one major difference. In Beowulf, we do not know what Grendel is thinking, like we do in Grendel. Both stories portray Beowulf and Grendel as monsters, but they are both actually misunderstood humans, not monsters. Being misunderstood is one of the hardest things to be. Life is too complicated, but “so it goes” (142).
The monsters in Beowulf and Grendel are both presented the same way. In both stories, the monsters are seen as evil, and are the lowest of the low. No one human treats them with any decency. There is one major difference in the two stories. In Grendel, the reader can see what Grendel thinks and why he acts the way that he does. While in Beowulf, …show more content…
Humans are greedy by nature and this is portrayed in both stories very well. In Grendel, Grendel would basically kill any human that he wanted to for whatever reason he wanted to, but would not kill Wealtheow. “I have not commited the ultimate act of nihilism: I have not killed the queen” (93). Every human would kill Grendel, if they had the chance, but the compassion and selflessness of Wealtheow is what saved her. Grendel saw her as someone who would give of her own life to a perfect stranger in order to save her brother’s kingdom. Grendel did not see many people that would give of themselves like that for another. Grendel had wanted to be friends with the humans up until the point they tried to kill him. “‘Surround him!’ the king yelled, ‘Save the horses!’ - and suddenly I knew I was dealing with no dull mechanical bull but with creatures, pattern makers, the dangerous things I’d ever met” (27). Grendel tried to be friends, but they wanted nothing to do with it because he was different, they couldn’t understand him. This shows how humans act today, too. When humans do not understand something, they give up a lot, throwing the idea out because they do not understand it. Grendel was different from humans, he did try to understand. He watched them, studying their every move, listening to the Shaper, trying to understand. Humans should be more like Grendel, never giving up, always wanting to know more, accepting the …show more content…
If someone is a hero, they do a brave deed for the benefit of the people. Beowulf does not fit into this category. Beowulf did not kill Grendel for the benefit of the people, he wanted attention. He wanted to be praised for killing a “monster,” not because he wanted to help the people. The king says that, “Heroism is more than noble language, dignity. Inner heroism, that’s the trick! Glorious carbuncle of the soul! Except in the life of the hero the world’s meaningless” (164). By saying this, he shows how important he thinks hero’s are, but Beowulf is not truly a hero, he is greedy. He wants the pride of saying that he killed Grendel, and the riches that come along with it. Beowulf is making a bad name for hero’s around the world. A hero should not be boastful, they should do something for the benefit of the people, not for himself. Physically, Grendel and his mother can be considered monsters, but mentally, they are basically just like everybody else. They have feelings, thoughts, and dreams for the future. They were just sad and lonely. It is not fair for them to be called monsters, they are just misunderstood. “I tried to tell her all that had happened, all that I’d come to understand: the meaningless objectness of the world, the universal bruteness. She only stared, troubled at my noise. She’d forgotten all language long ago, or maybe had never known any” (28). Grendel can speak. Monsters can not