In the original Beowulf epic, Grendel displays nothing, except the most primitive human qualities. Well, he’s a temperamental and intelligent monster, capable of rational thought and irrational outbursts of emotion. Throughout the novel, Grendel often seems as human as the folks observed by him. Grendel’s history backs this ambiguous characterization. Just as a descendant of the biblical Cain, Grendel shares a basic lineage with people. However, rather than drawing Grendel and humanity closer together, the shared history sets them in perpetual enmity. In this regard, the monster recalls the nineteenth-century literary convention, utilized in novels, including Victor Hugo’s The Hunchback of Notre-Dame as well as Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, where monsters are employed to help us to examine what it meansto be human. Really, apart from Grendel’s scary appearance as well as nasty eating habits, very little separates him from people. His outstanding brutality doesn’t appear to be unique, as Gardner stresses man’s inherent violence. Furthermore, Grendel’s philosophical quest turns to be very human.
The novel follows the monster through three stages of his life. As you might have guessed, the first stage deals with his childhood. During this period, Grendel explores his confined world, untroubled by the outside universe as well as philosophical questions. The monster’s discovery of the lake of firesnakes and also the realm beyond it turns to be his first introduction to the larger world, stuffed with danger and possibility. Crossing the lake turns to be an important step for the monster in his move toward adulthood. The second step, that entirely makes him an adult, takes place when the bull attacks Grendel, thus prompting him to realize that the world is very chaotic, following no pattern and also governed by no discernible reason. The given realization helps the question, shaping Grendel’s adult quest, maybe the greatest philosophical question of the twentieth century: how should one live his life? In the second, adult stage of Grendel’s life, the monster make an attempt to answer this question by simply observing the human community, that fascinates him because of its ability to create patterns and after this impose them on the world, thus creating a sense that the world follows an ordered, coherent system. The third and final stage of the monster’s life encompasses his fatal battle with Beowulf as well as the weeks leading up to the battle. The encounter provides rather a violent resolution to the monster’s quest.
In the original Beowulf epic, Grendel displays nothing, except the most primitive human qualities. Well, he’s a temperamental and intelligent monster, capable of rational thought and irrational outbursts of emotion. Throughout the novel, Grendel often seems as human as the folks observed by him. Grendel’s history backs this ambiguous characterization.