Gabrielle Falvey
Mrs. Garcia
British Literature
31 October 2017
Excluded From the Mead Hall
The cafeteria at any high school looks similar: groups or friends laughing, eating, and enjoying themselves. However, to an outsider, the cafeteria is a stressful place that amplifies their isolation from their peers. Being excluded is damaging to self-confidence and the pain builds up inside, until the person finally snaps in some way. Multiple characters in Beowulf are isolated from the rest of society, including Grendel and his mother. The poet of Beowulf fortifies that when people feel isolated and excluded from society, they turn to crime and violence because they seek love and acceptance. Grendel is one character who exemplifies how isolation …show more content…
(4) Alliteration like “greedy and grim, he grabbed” emphasizes the sudden, gruesome attack. Also “blundering back with the butchered corpses” sounds harsh when spoken to the thanes listening to the poem in the hall. “Butchered” is a brutal description of what Grendel does to the bodies, and it further shows listeners what his background and personality is like. The poet uses “grim” to show how Grendel is depressed, harsh, bleak. People with these traits, and who find joy in murdering others to ruin their fun are clearly neglected.
Grendel is not the only character who turns to violence after being isolated. Grendel’s mother lives past the dismal woods in a cave at the bottom of the lake filled with sea-monsters. It takes Beowulf hours to reach the bottom of the lake to find her, “Quickly the one who haunted those waters, / Who had scavenged and gone her gluttonous rounds / For a hundred seasons, sensed a human” (28). Grendel’s mother does not just live in the lake, she “haunts” it. Like Grendel, the dam has been isolated for “a hundred seasons,” which shows readers the scale of solitude that she has experienced. This quote has a fearful tone, and the poet uses the word to make readers think of a monster who lives to strike fear into the hearts of thanes. Instead of saying she went and killed a Dane, the poet says she “scavenged and gone her gluttonous rounds,” which makes her seem more violent and animal-like. These words show how
Mrs. Garcia
British Literature
31 October 2017
Excluded From the Mead Hall
The cafeteria at any high school looks similar: groups or friends laughing, eating, and enjoying themselves. However, to an outsider, the cafeteria is a stressful place that amplifies their isolation from their peers. Being excluded is damaging to self-confidence and the pain builds up inside, until the person finally snaps in some way. Multiple characters in Beowulf are isolated from the rest of society, including Grendel and his mother. The poet of Beowulf fortifies that when people feel isolated and excluded from society, they turn to crime and violence because they seek love and acceptance. Grendel is one character who exemplifies how isolation …show more content…
(4) Alliteration like “greedy and grim, he grabbed” emphasizes the sudden, gruesome attack. Also “blundering back with the butchered corpses” sounds harsh when spoken to the thanes listening to the poem in the hall. “Butchered” is a brutal description of what Grendel does to the bodies, and it further shows listeners what his background and personality is like. The poet uses “grim” to show how Grendel is depressed, harsh, bleak. People with these traits, and who find joy in murdering others to ruin their fun are clearly neglected.
Grendel is not the only character who turns to violence after being isolated. Grendel’s mother lives past the dismal woods in a cave at the bottom of the lake filled with sea-monsters. It takes Beowulf hours to reach the bottom of the lake to find her, “Quickly the one who haunted those waters, / Who had scavenged and gone her gluttonous rounds / For a hundred seasons, sensed a human” (28). Grendel’s mother does not just live in the lake, she “haunts” it. Like Grendel, the dam has been isolated for “a hundred seasons,” which shows readers the scale of solitude that she has experienced. This quote has a fearful tone, and the poet uses the word to make readers think of a monster who lives to strike fear into the hearts of thanes. Instead of saying she went and killed a Dane, the poet says she “scavenged and gone her gluttonous rounds,” which makes her seem more violent and animal-like. These words show how