A Comparison of Beowulf and Grendel
by Barry Wright
Essay: A Comparison of Beowulf and Grendel
Pages: 10
Rating: 3 stars
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The story of Beowulf is a heroic epic chronicling the illustrious deeds of the great Geatish warrior Beowulf, who
voyages across the seas to rid the Danes of an evil monster, Grendel, who has been wreaking havoc and
terrorizing the kingdom. Beowulf is glorified for his heroic deeds of ridding the land of a fiendish monster and
halting its scourge of evil while the monster is portrayed as a repugnant creature who deserves to die because of
its evil actions. In the epic poem, Beowulf the authors portrays Grendel as a cold-hearted beast who thrives on the
pain of others. Many have disagreed with such a simplistic and biased representation of Grendel and his role in
the epic poem. John Gardner in his book, Grendel set out to change the reader’s perception of Grendel and his
role in Beowulf by narrating the story through Grendel’s point of view. John Gardner transforms the perceived
terrible evil fiend who is Grendel into a lonely but intelligent outcast who bears a striking resemblance to his
human adversaries. In Grendel, John Gardner portrays Grendel as an intelligent being capable of rational thought
as well as displaying outbursts of emotion. He portrays Grendel as a hurt individual and as a victim of oppression
ostracized from civilization. The author of Beowulf portrays Grendel as the typical monster archetype as compared
to John Gardner’s representation of Grendel as an outcast archetype.
The author of Beowulf demonizes Grendel by depicting him as being purely a monster as compare to John
Gardner who depicts Grendel not as a savage monster but as an intelligent being who has human like qualities
and characteristics. In the traditional story Grendel is depicted as a blood-thirsty fiend driven by his greedy animal
instincts. ...
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