Grendel In Beowulf

In the epic Beowulf, Grendel is depicted as a demon with a horrific nature. This nature is elaborated by the poet through, the incorporation of the Christian element: the story of Cain, and Grendel’s extraordinary physical strength. Coming from a Christianized culture there are many references to the bible. The Spear-Danes (majority being Christian) see Grendel as the embodiment of all that is evil. He comes from an evil that crosses the Spear-Danes values. They believe “Of [Cain’s] blood was begotten an evil brood, marauding monsters and menacing trolls, goblins and giants who battled with God a long time.” (70-73) This refers to the Biblical Cain, son of Adam and Eve, who had murdered his brother Abel because of anger and jealousy. Grendel is …show more content…
The killing of another is deeply condemned, but being the descendant of Cain, Grendel does not view it as a sin. Like Cain’s foolish reason behind killing Able, Grendel kills for his own foolish reason. Being in “....[battle] with God…”Grendel does not like the sounds that come from the celebrations at the mead hall of “...the scope’s sweet song…”(60) which were mostly centered around God’s creation and being thankful towards him. This becomes his unconscionable reason to kill the Spear-Danes’ warriors. This shows that Grendel, like Cain, has no emotion towards the sins he commits, thus walking on the path of evil. Along with his evil character, Grendel has extraordinary physical strength. The Danish warriors were the mightiest of their time. Their culture strongly surrounds the idea of “...glory in war, success in battle; retainers blood…”(38-39), yet no Spear Dane can match Grendel’s physical strength. He has the ability to “Slew thirty spearmen…”(82) at once. Even though he attacks when the warriors are most vulnerable, in their sleep, he attacks constantly for “...twelve winters’ time…”(108) This shows how strong Grendel