Essays on Grendel

Beowulf & Grendel is a poem that tells the story of the epic hero Beowulf’s fight with a monster named Grendel. The monster terrifies the festival hall of Heorot, eating its inhabitants. Upon hearing this, Beowulf decides to sail over to the island to defeat Grendel. Without any weapons and only a few warriors by…

Contrasting points of view in Grendeland Beowulf significantly alter the readers perception of religion, good andevil, and the character Grendel. John Gardners book, Grendel, is written infirst person. The book translated by Burton Raffel, Beowulf, is written in thirdperson. Good and evil is one of the main conflicts in the poem Beowulf. Howis Grendel affected…

Authors often have to choose between concentrating on either plot or social commentary when writing their novels. In John Gardener’s Grendel, any notion of a plot is forgone in order for him to share his thoughts about late sixties-early seventies America and the world’s institutions as a whole. While Grendel’s exploits are nearly indecipherable and…

Beowulf vs. Grendel Beowulf and Grendel are two tales. They share subject matter. They share plot. They share setting and tell of the exact same events, but Beowulf and Grendel have two entirely different themes. Beowulf is an epic poem about the honesty, bravery, and humility that defined the ideal Dane. John Gardner’s Grendel, a…

e In the old English epic, Beowulf, a pattern is begun of making monsters out to be outsiders, witnessed through the descriptions, attitudes, and actions of the fiend Grendel and his horrific Mother. In this and many other stories throughout ancient times, the antagonistic monsters have been the focus for the problems within society, causing…

GrendelGrendel is an unhappy soul in John Gardner’s book “Grendel”, because hefeels useless in society and doesn’t want to accept his given role. Throughoutthis whole book Grendel feels he has no friend in the outside word and no one toexcept him besides his own mother. He doesn’t want to except his role in societywhich is…

“Nihil ex nihilo, I always say”(Gardner 150). These are the words of the infamous Grendel from the novel, titled that same character, by John Gardner. They represent the phrase “life itself is meaningless” which is taught to Grendel by a few different people throughout this novel. In the following essay, the explanation of this phrase,…

sJohn Gardner’s Grendel The archeologist’s eyes combine the view of the telescope and the view of the microscope. He reconstructs the very distant with the help of the very small. – Thornton Wilder These words, uttered by Thornton Wilder regarding his play Our Town express the antithesis of nihilism, a philosophy which stresses the lack…

Role of Queen in Beowulf & GrendelIn both texts, Beowulf and Grendel, the main purpose of the Queen’s are to serve the courts as “weavers of peace”. In Grendel however, Queen Wealththeow is described in much greater detail and serves a further purpose. The reader gains insight to a part Grendel that is not present…

Portraying adolescents as false tragic heroes has been a theme explored in literature throughout the twentieth century. In John Gardner’s Grendel, the protagonist Grendel, portrayed as a parentless adolescent seeking guidance, finds happiness in violence. Grendel continually commits the ultimate act of evilness, murder on Hrothgar’s mead hall. Gardner creates a character and an environment…