Is Grendel Evil? Essay

Is Grendel Evil or Victim to Circumstance? : How humanity has a tendency to put labels on people they don’t really understand.

He thinks that humans are easy to understand and yet also very difficult. According to him, humans have a good insight and great observation skills, but they are violent creatures that use weapons instead of words to get what they want. They are even violent amongst themselves, making Grendel wonder what is actually wrong with them. But they are also unwearyingly hardworking. “Meanwhile, up in the shattered hall, the builders are hammering, replacing the door for the fiftieth or sixtieth time, industrious and witless as worker ants – except that they make small, foolish changes, adding a few more iron pegs, more iron bands, with tireless dogmatism.” (7) This fragment of the novel shows that humans do not get tired easily and that they have sheer will on matters concerning their safety and

In the novel, Grendel by John Gardener, Grendel is a human-like creature capable of rational thought as well as feeling emotions. Early on in the story Gardener depicts Grendel as being very observant, critical and somewhat spiteful of the world around him. He describes himself as a murderous monster who smells of death and crouches in the shadows. Grendel watches the humans from the shadows of the trees and at first it seems as though they are the real monsters, slaughtering and pillaging all for the sake of their leaders and for power. This light that the humans are put in gives Grendel a certain charisma about him, making him seem like the one to side with in this novel. Later in the story, however, things change. Grendel seeks out the

Grendel is a monster. He has instincts that he cannot overcome. It is almost a kind of creature nature that tells him what to do. He does not have a solid reason for killing these humans brutally other then fact that they started this war with him. When asked why, Grendel asks why not. "How, if I know all this, you may ask, could I hound

            There is a stage in everyone’s life where they feel they are not accepted by someone or something. Whether it is because of one’s age, appearance, or emotional and mental stability, a sense of disproval and isolation appears to be glaring through the eyes of society. Throughout Grendel’s life, he is shunned from humanity for he was viewed as something of destruction and harm. However, not one person ever took the time out to see Grendel’s true personality or really discover what he was all about. When facing the realities of the cruel world, Grendel found himself severely struggling with some psychological deficiencies. After performing multiple psychoanalysis tests on Grendel’s behavior, his

Terrorizing a town for 12 years Grendel kills countless men and woman in the epic of Beowulf. Banished to an underwater dwelling when descendants of Cain were banished and killed, many warriors faced him but few survived. Many have herd of Grendel and his tale of horror, but who is Grendel?

Grendel exhibits human feelings and characteristics in many ways. Although Grendel is a monster “forced into isolation by his bestial appearance and limited imagination” (Butts) he yearns to be a part of society; he craves

The Old English epic Beowulf is the earliest recorded poem in Old English. The story is set in Scandinavia with the antagonist Grendel. Gendel is a monster and an insensitive character. Grendel was born into a monster and was cursed his entire life. Although Grendel was strong he wasn’t very brave because he only attacks at night when the guards are asleep. He has many characteristics that a monster would have. First and foremost, he was raised to be evil, and never had the chance to be good. Also whenever he would hear joy, he would be filled with anger and hatred. Grendel likes killing people he doesn’t feel any remorse after killing people. An example from the story that shows this is “Snatched up thirty men, smashed them unknowing in their beds and out with their bodies (Genesis,pg 4).”Talking about Grendel ties in with our next evil antagonist known as Cain. Cain is the son of Adam and Eve. He was a farmer who was jealous of his brother who was accepted by God and when Cain was rejected he decided to kill his brother Abel. Unlike Grendel Cain believed in god he just didn’t

Children typically bear some physical resemblance to at least one of their parents. The child may have the same skin color, facial expressions or height as his or her parent. Could this be the same for behavioral traits? Are behavioral traits likewise inherited? Or, are they learned? In other words, do behavioral traits come from nature (inherited) or from nurture (learned)? This question can be applied to “Grendel,” a murderous monster a in the epic poem of “Beowulf,” Was Grendel born a monster? Or, was he raised to be a monster? Or, are his monstrous behaviors a result of both nature and nurture? Descriptions of Grendel from the “Beowulf” poem give evidence that his monstrous behavior was a result of both nature and nurture; a

Grendel is put off as an evil monster, but not all monsters start out evil. Yes, he lives in a lair underneath of the earth but, why were the Danes being so loud that he could hear it that low in the ground? They say in line 20-22 that Grendel was, “Conceived by a pair of those monsters born of Cain, murderous creatures banished by God.” Just because he was a descendant of Cain, it doesn't mean he is evil. Grendel was courageous but an evil kind of courageous. I if the Danes hadn't made him angry, maybe they would still be alive.

Grendel in a situation where he is feeling different emotions that make him act a certain way. Every time Grendel terrorizes human beings, it seems vile and full of hate, but that is not the intention. People fail to acknowledge why the relationship between Grendel and humans is full of hate. The awful relationship started off when they started off with a negative impression due to the lack of communication. Grendel became scared of the humans and the only thing the humans can do is defend themselves when they see an enormous monster. While Grendel knows of his evil deeds he is still confused about what his true identity is. This failure to figure out his identity is what Grendel seems to try and achieve throughout the novel. It is not easy for him because of the position he has in life. Grendel does not truly know his place in the world and he strives throughout his life to find the answer.

The prevalence of nature’s clash with that which is unnatural is evident in the reoccurring images of animals throughout the novel. Gardner emphasizes nature’s resistance to Grendel as “[a bull] snorted through this nose and pawed more deeply, spattering grass and black earth at his sharp rear hooves…I watched him loll his weight forward, sliding into an easy lope, head tilted, coming toward me” (20). Due to the idea that Grendel is secluded from both nature and humans, he can be considered an unnatural being for he has no place in the world. Clearly, Grendel is in discord with nature as animals, such as this bull, attack him with the intent to kill. As a result, Gardner uses the motif of animals attacking Grendel to suggest that nature as a whole is against anything foreign. Furthermore, later on in the novel when Grendel is near death, he takes notice to his surroundings expressing that “animals gather around me, enemies of old, to watch me die…they watch on, evil, incredibly stupid, enjoying, my destruction” (173-74). By referring to the animals as

"The mountains are what I define them as.... What I see I inspire with usefulness... and all that I do not see is useless, a void." [28-29] Grendel then sees that the world is how he views it, and his senses make up everything: reality is dynamic. This important conclusion leads him to begin to look around him and form thoughts and opinions on all that he sees, as well as placing him at the first step down the road of the cynical death he suffers. His first impressions

Humans are not born of sins but threw are actions can grown into them.In a sense that is what Grendel is.This is supported by a verse from Romans which says”Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned”.Notice how the qoute said that it came into the world.It was not threw birth but it formed around what the man did.Grendel is not a Human but a monster… a beast…. a Demon.He is the embodiment of what evil is.This quote should be branded on Grendel’s forehead.Grendel as he is nothing but evil,living, breathing sins.Not raised but spawned out of them.He doesn’t have any traits that make him relatable.According to the story, Grendel was referred to as "spawned in that slime,” a biblical allusion to the story of Cain and Abel. Grendel was born as a monster into exile; his

Throughout human history, character flaws have shown through people and their actions. Similar to branches of a tree, the ego could grow to be too big, leading to a collapse of the whole tree crushing the person beneath it and wounding those nearby. From the end of an army wounded in battle to the end of a career, it is shown that the development of an egotistical self image leads to situations where one meets their downfall in any way possible.