Masculinity In Beowulf

The 1971 novel by John Gardner a revisitation of the antagonist character in the 1815 Anglo-Saxon epic “Beowulf”. The novel dealt with Grendel’s viewpoint and the final years of his life. In Grendel, Gardner puts an emphasis on the parallels of Grendel’s life and human’s life, but also uses the differences between the two. In chapter eleven, Beowulf says “Fate often enough will spare a man if his courage holds” this establishes the connection between fate and free will and the similarities between how a man deciphers the two and how a monster like Grendel does. The debate on fate versus free will continue to go on until the end of time furthermore, it is stated clearly in this quote. Beowulf seemed quite direct when he made this statement in Hrothgar’s mead hall, for Beowulf it is much easier …show more content…
Another similarity for masculinity in chapter eight is heroism “The hero sees values beyond what’s possible. That’s the nature of a hero. It kills him, of course, ultimately. There is no doubt that it makes the whole struggle of humanity worthwhile.” Heroism involves courage, bravery, boldness, and many more. Grendel had heroic qualities, but was not considered a hero to some may be just a coward in the novel, but a reader could infer that Beowulf was perceived as a hero by the way he spoke and he seems to have the elements of what I reader might assume one would have for instance, a strong name, courage, patience, selflessness, et cetera. The last similarity to compare between humans and monsters like Grendel would be resistance in chapter two, Grendel says “I resist the world and the world resists me.” To resist something is to fear something, Humans and monsters may both resist but of course in different situations, a human may resist to tell their crush they like them because they might fear rejection or to take their driving test because they do not think they can