Theme Of Monstrosity In Grendel

Monstrosity (noun): the state or fact of being shockingly brutal or cruel. On October 15th, 2015, Grendel was charged with crimes of monstrosity, which results in receiving the death penalty. Grendel, as written by John Gardner, was written about a monster, with human characteristics, named Grendel; the story is told by his point of view. A question that seems to be discussed frequently after reading this mysterious novel is if Grendel kills because he is purely evil or because he is demented and misunderstood. With that, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I firmly believe that Grendel is innocent of crimes of monstrosity due to his state of being. By defining the importance of realizing that Grendel is innocent, by refuting those who claim …show more content…
“I cry, and hug myself, and laugh… till I fall down gasping and sobbing” (Gardner 6) is what Grendel does after he calls himself a sad, old freak. Not only does this show that Grendel has human-like emotions, it shows that Grendel is capable of having feelings in general. If Grendel was such a monster, would he have pity towards himself? Not to mention, Grendel wants to be accepted by the humans; he does not want chaos between them. While running up to the hall to justify himself, Grendel bellows, “Mercy! Peace!,” (Gardner 51) to the people because he does not want to be attacked. However, the people are horrified and attack Grendel anyways. In his self defense, Grendel cries, “Friend! Friend” (Gardner 52) because he wants to befriend them; he does not see why they are attacking him. One could argue that afterwards, Grendel fights back and kills those who are hurting him, but does that not contradict itself already? How many people would not fight back while being attacked for no reason? Grendel having human like characteristics make him that much more different than a pure monster; Grendel is …show more content…
Sure, one could argue that because he wants to kill them he is guilty, but let us not forget to realize that he did not always act upon it. Grendel is fighting his own demons, his own emotions, his own self being, his own thoughts; he is constantly trying to figure out who he is through the novel. We both know that an evil monster would not pass up a chance to kill someone they have been waiting to kill. Grendel however, does the opposite. “I could finish them off in a single night… yet I hold back” (Gardner 91) proves to us that Grendel knows that he could easily kill the people he despises, but chooses not to. “It dawned on me that he was waiting for me to kill him. I did nothing,” (Gardner 87) is what Grendel realizes when battling with Unferth. Killing the Hero Unferth would be a big deal to the humans, but Grendel does not care. With this in mind, Grendel means no