In John Gardner’s novel, Grendel, he makes it clear right from the beginning that Grendel is just some confused and curious creature. Or is he? It is obvious that in this novel, Grendel is just a character made to capture our pity. He is an estranged individual who just desires to be a part of something. This desire, of longing to be a part of something, is the reason for his many evil actions. “I believed him. Such was the power of the Shaper’s harp! Stood wriggling my face, letting tears down my nose, grinding my fists into my elbow the corpse of the proof that both of us ere cursed, or neither, that the brothers had never lived, not the god who judged them. Waaa! I bawled. Oh that conversion!” (Gardner 51) After Grendel realizes
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Grendel is portrayed as a pensive, solitary creature that fears his life has no objective meaning. He feels this way because he is in solitary. Grendel has no one, despite the fact that he has tried over and over again to become civil with the humans. They will not tolerate a creature that has eaten their own species. With that being said, one trait of an anti-hero in which Grendel possesses includes that he is deprived of rules and consequences from society. Grendel is the boss of himself. He has no rules that he is required to follow. He is also never reprimanded for his faulty actions (killing people.) Grendel is an outlaw. He has no status in society and is forced to wander on the fringes of society. He rejects values, rules, attitudes of society, and political establishment. Grendel seeks to establish his own rules and ethics. He is a failure, crude, and sometimes unintelligent or even dishonest. The last characteristic that Grendel maintains, summing everything up, he is often angry. Grendel is so unhappy with his life, he makes himself believe that he is right and everyone around him is absolutely
Grendel is portrayed as a pensive, solitary creature that fears his life has no objective meaning. He feels this way because he is in solitary. Grendel has no one, despite the fact that he has tried over and over again to become civil with the humans. They will not tolerate a creature that has eaten their own species. With that being said, one trait of an anti-hero in which Grendel possesses includes that he is deprived of rules and consequences from society. Grendel is the boss of himself. He has no rules that he is required to follow. He is also never reprimanded for his faulty actions (killing people.) Grendel is an outlaw. He has no status in society and is forced to wander on the fringes of society. He rejects values, rules, attitudes of society, and political establishment. Grendel seeks to establish his own rules and ethics. He is a failure, crude, and sometimes unintelligent or even dishonest. The last characteristic that Grendel maintains, summing everything up, he is often angry. Grendel is so unhappy with his life, he makes himself believe that he is right and everyone around him is absolutely