Analysis Of Grendel From Beowulf Grendel English Literature Essay

1. Grendel sees his war as stupid but yet he continues to pursue it. He makes this very clear in stating, “And so it begins the twelfth year of my idiotic war…..” (Gardener 5). He is saying that the war he is fighting is dumb yet he has continued to fight in it for twelve years, we see how he contradicts his viewpoints. He views himself as a monster fighting against everyone else.

3. Grendel’s relationship with his mother is complicated, he realizes that she loves him because he is her son but he also says that she looks at him as if she wants to eat him. He isn’t sure where he stands in her eyes but he does realize she loves him. He says ” I understood without her speaking it. I was her creation. We were one thing, like the wall and the rock growing out from it” (Gardener 17). This backs up the point that his mother loves him because he is her son and shows us that Grendel feels this way to.

4. While Grendel is a young monster he sees that humans are very smart and that they are the most dangerous thing he has ever encountered. Before he meets the dragon Grendel uses humans for his own pleasure. After Grendel encounters the dragon he realizes that humans are deceptive and slanderous creatures. He decides he wants to be the humans enemy after he meets the dragon, and unleashes all his rage onto them.

5. The Shaper’s song does something to Grendel that he doesn’t like. Grendel feels emotion, all types of emotion. He goes from sadness to joyfulness, his emotions swing from one end of the pendulum to the other. He realizes that the Shaper was lying to him the whole time but yet he comes back. He knows that he is being lied to but he comes back as if it is a curse. Grendel says, “I believed him. Such was the power of the Shaper’s harp!”( Gardener 51)We see that Grendel believes it even though he knows its a lie. We see that music has the power to make something that seems so wrong, real.

6. Their are a few reasons why he doesn’t kill them when he has the chance. First reason he doesn’t kill them when he has the chance is because he is amused with messing around with them. Another reason is that he is frightening people while he playing around with them. People see what he is doing and immediately become frightened. The third reason he doesn’t kill them is because he doesn’t need to he wants to prove to everyone the he doesn’t just kill for the fun of it or just to simply kill.

7. Gardner gives the dragon many physical traits but all of the physical traits have one thing in common. They all show us the age of the dragon. In every description of the dragon we get their is something in their to show us that he is old. He says, “stretching up one vast, wrinkled wing…”( Gardener 59) We see through that Gardner is trying to show us that he is old. As for psychological traits Gardner give him a lot of these to. The dragon is always giving advice and always helping Grendel. Gardner give us the picture that the dragon is all knowing, omniscient. The dragon at one point says, “I know what’s in your mind. I know everything.” (Gardener 61) From these traits we can conclude that Gardner is trying to give us the picture that the dragon is old, experienced, and all knowing.

8. We see that Grendel is a “modern” monster through a lot of things. First, most monsters are seen as stupid but extremely strong or have some type of power that we as humans don’t have. Grendel though has this but also has emotions which most monsters do not. Grendel also has reasoning he can think things through and decided what he wants to do through course of thought. Where as most monster just act on impulse. This is why Grendel is viewed as a “modern” monster.

9. Grendel creates a fate worse than death for Unferth because he doesn’t kill him. Grendel realizes that Unferth wants to die, so he doesn’t kill him. Unferth wants to die a hero and Grendel isn’t going to let that happen. Grendel doesn’t believe in heroes, we see this when he says “I thought heroes were only in poetry.” (Gardener 87) Grendel doesn’t kill Unferth because he doesn’t believe in heroes and thus it creates a fate worse than death for Unferth.

10. Hrothulf can be seen as a “typical” teenager because he is very emotional, he is defiant, and he forms his own ideas. Hrothulf moods swing from happy to sad and back to happy or the other way around. Most teenagers are very emotional because a lot of changes are happening in their body and this is one reason we could relate Hrothulf to a “typical” teenager. Another reason is because he is defiant, he doesn’t want to be told what to do or have to listen to other people. He is very independent and doesn’t want help from anyone but himself. Hrothulf also is seen as a “typical” teenager because he is forming his own ideas, most teenagers begin to think on their own and form their own opinions on things. This is why we view Hrothulf as a “typical” teenager.

11. Hygmod’s dominant personality trait is that he is hard to read. Hard to read means that you cannot tell what he is thinking, if he is lying, or what he thinks of something through his emotions. He can keep a straight face through anything, you can never read him. “His voice and smile were gracious. His eyes, slanting downward like eyes of a fish, were expressionless as dried-up wells.” (Gardener 98) This is showing us his lack of emotion and repulsive world view.

12. The first person narration adds Grendels thoughts and emotions to the book. The reader can identify with Grendel and have a look into his innermost thoughts and his deepest feelings. First person also make the reader feel closer to Grendel they are able to relate to him more than you would be able to in third person. The book benefits from the first person point of view by allowing you to view Grendel as an intelligent, thinking, feeling creature instead of a instinctually violent, blood lusting animal.