"Ah, the unfairness of everything, . . . " says Grendel after seeing a deer run away from him in fright (Gardner 8). This is only the beginning of John Gardner 's long plight to help readers understand the complex character of Grendel in the novel, Grendel. After reading the original epic Beowulf, many view Grendel as an evil, terrifying monster whose favorite pastime is munching on humans. Readers then learn of the impressive killing of Grendel by the heroic Beowulf, and rejoice in the fact that the wicked monster is dead. And so, this fulfills the archetypal idea that has been in stories for all time, good prevails over evil. However, Gardner 's rendition of Grendel, leads us to a different conclusion about Grendel 's character. While reading
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In Beowulf, the narrator explains the origins of Grendel. “He [Grendel] was spawned in that slime, conceived by a pair of those monsters born of Cain . . .”(Beowulf 104-6). The reason why the narrator included the story of Cain, from the Bible, in a culture where most worshipped pagan gods was to further worsen the reputation of Grendel. In Anglo-Saxon culture, one of the worst things that a person can do is kill their own kin, and even more appalling not pay wergild or "man price", compensation for killed man 's family. Grendel is descended from Cain, a brother-killer, and is therefore perceived as evil and immoral. In the novel, when Grendel hears the story of Cain, sung by the shaper, he makes a realization. “He told of an ancient feud between two brothers which split all the world between darkness and light. And I, Grendel, was the dark side . . . The terrible race God cursed” (Gardner 51). After hearing this story, Grendel questions why he was deemed cursed instead of the humans who were wasteful and careless. Looking for forgiveness, Grendel mistakenly goes into Herot pleading for mercy, “I sank to my knees, crying, 'Friend! Friend! ' They hacked at me, yipping like dogs. I held up a body for protection” (Gardner 52). Grendel tries to understand why the reputation of his 'supposed ' ancestor effects the humans ' view of Grendel. What Grendel does not realize is, momento mori …show more content…
He understands that the way the humans view him will never change, even if Grendel does try to explain and show that he is not evil. Grendel’s conversation with the Dragon only reinforces the idea that Grendel 's wyrd, or personal destiny, is to be a monster and terrorize the humans acknowledging his fate will never change because of his reputation horrible, as believed by the Anglo-Saxons. While tormenting the Danes, Grendel meets Unferth, who attempts to salvage his reputation as a brother killer by defeating Grendel and is instead, pelted with apples by an amused Grendel. Unferth then again attempts to kill Grendel by following him to his cave and ends up half killed by the fire snakes. As Unferth lays dying, Grendel thinks, “I had an uneasy feeling that he was close to tears. If he wept, I was not sure I could control myself. His pretensions to uncommon glory were one thing. If for even an instant he pretended to misery like mine . . . ” (Gardner 87). Grendel almost relates to Unferth 's misery except for the fact that Grendel recognizes that Unferth deserves his misery whereas Grendel does not. This cements Grendel 's cynical, nihilistic view of the world and humans, especially when seeing Unferth, an immoral character, only being 'heroic ' for the fame and
In Beowulf, the narrator explains the origins of Grendel. “He [Grendel] was spawned in that slime, conceived by a pair of those monsters born of Cain . . .”(Beowulf 104-6). The reason why the narrator included the story of Cain, from the Bible, in a culture where most worshipped pagan gods was to further worsen the reputation of Grendel. In Anglo-Saxon culture, one of the worst things that a person can do is kill their own kin, and even more appalling not pay wergild or "man price", compensation for killed man 's family. Grendel is descended from Cain, a brother-killer, and is therefore perceived as evil and immoral. In the novel, when Grendel hears the story of Cain, sung by the shaper, he makes a realization. “He told of an ancient feud between two brothers which split all the world between darkness and light. And I, Grendel, was the dark side . . . The terrible race God cursed” (Gardner 51). After hearing this story, Grendel questions why he was deemed cursed instead of the humans who were wasteful and careless. Looking for forgiveness, Grendel mistakenly goes into Herot pleading for mercy, “I sank to my knees, crying, 'Friend! Friend! ' They hacked at me, yipping like dogs. I held up a body for protection” (Gardner 52). Grendel tries to understand why the reputation of his 'supposed ' ancestor effects the humans ' view of Grendel. What Grendel does not realize is, momento mori …show more content…
He understands that the way the humans view him will never change, even if Grendel does try to explain and show that he is not evil. Grendel’s conversation with the Dragon only reinforces the idea that Grendel 's wyrd, or personal destiny, is to be a monster and terrorize the humans acknowledging his fate will never change because of his reputation horrible, as believed by the Anglo-Saxons. While tormenting the Danes, Grendel meets Unferth, who attempts to salvage his reputation as a brother killer by defeating Grendel and is instead, pelted with apples by an amused Grendel. Unferth then again attempts to kill Grendel by following him to his cave and ends up half killed by the fire snakes. As Unferth lays dying, Grendel thinks, “I had an uneasy feeling that he was close to tears. If he wept, I was not sure I could control myself. His pretensions to uncommon glory were one thing. If for even an instant he pretended to misery like mine . . . ” (Gardner 87). Grendel almost relates to Unferth 's misery except for the fact that Grendel recognizes that Unferth deserves his misery whereas Grendel does not. This cements Grendel 's cynical, nihilistic view of the world and humans, especially when seeing Unferth, an immoral character, only being 'heroic ' for the fame and