How Does Beowulf Present Grendel's Personality

Grendel’s self image all depends on His opinions of himself, comparisons, and opinions of other people. Three characters that change his opinion of himself are The Dragon Unferth, And His Mother. Grendel’s mother impacts Grendel’s personality because he wants to be different from her. Grendel’s mother cannot talk and is not free willed like grendel is and that seperates grendels personality apart from his mother’s. “I understood that the world was nothing: a mechanical chaos of casual, brute enmity on which we stupidly impose our hopes and fears. I understood that, finally and absolutely, I alone exist. All the rest, I saw, is merely what pushes me, or what I push against, blindly—as blindly as all that is not myself pushes back” (21). Grendel’s mother never taught him how to view the world and grendel views it as the fact that nothing matters but him. …show more content…
Grendel shows himself as somewhat pessimistic. The Dragon changes Grendel’s personality because he puts a charm on him to make him immune to injury in battle. The Dragon is a very wise character that gives Grendel several different ways to view the world. The dragon explains that Grendel is a model of evil for humankind to compare itself with. This could be his purpose that he is searching for. The dragon also explains that all of man’s systems will one day end and so to try and better one’s self is pointless. “I had become something, as if born again. I was Grendel, Ruiner of Meadhalls, Wrecker of Kings! But also as never before, I was alone” (80). Grendel finally feels like he is not alone anymore because someone is actually helping him look at the world and solve problems. Unferth changes Grendel’s personality by threatening him several times throughout the novel: "Prepare to fall, foul thing! This red hour makes your reputation or