Our Lady of Mercy Catholic High School
English 12
Mr. Williams
Grendel: Review
The Plot Arc
1. What is the main conflict in Grendel?
2. What is the setting in place?
3. Which epic convention does John Gardner use to illustrate the exposition?
4. In order, identify 5 major complications in this novel.
5. What is the climax of the novel?
6. What is the resolution of the novel?
7. From whose point of view is the story told?
8. Which chapters in this novel represent the present? Which chapters represent the past?
9. What is the purpose of the flashback in this novel?
10. Identify three suspenseful moments in the novel.
Chapters 1-3
11. What philosophy does Grendel espouse in chapter 1?
12. What philosophy does the ram represent in chapter 1?
13. Compare and contrast Grendel and the ram.
14. How is Gardner’s Grendel different than the Grendel in Beowulf?
15. What is the objective of Grendel’s attack on Hart at the end of chapter 1?
16. What does Grendel’s cave represent in this novel?
17. Explain the significance of Plato’s Allegory of the Cave in chapter 2?
18. What accident does Grendel have in this chapter? What philosophy does Grendel embrace
because of this accident?
19. Compare and contrast Grendel and the bull. Compare Grendel and the men.
20. How do the humans evolve in chapter 3? What ideology aids in their evolution?
21. Which character forces Grendel to evolve in chapter 3? Describe how this character forces
Grendel to grow?
Chapter 4-6
22. What story does the Shaper tell in chapter 4? How does this affect Grendel?
23. How do the people treat Grendel when they see him? What verbal response does this treatment
elicit from Grendel?
Our Lady of Mercy Catholic High School
English 12
Mr. Williams
24. What presence does Grendel feel around him in chapter 4? What question does the presence ask
Grendel?
25. Where does Grendel go at the end of chapter 4?
26. Name the idea with which the Dragon challenges Grendel in chapter 5?
27. Compare and contrast Grendel and the Dragon.
28. What does Grendel want to learn from the Dragon?
29. How does the Dragon describe the relationship between Grendel and the humans?
30. What is the Dragon’s final advice to Grendel?
31. Why does the Dragon put a charm on Grendel?
32. Name the idea with which Unferth challenges Grendel.
33. Why won’t Grendel kill Unferth?
34. Compare Grendel’s encounter with Unferth to Grendel’s encounter with the dragon.
Chapters 7-9
35. Which character challenges Grendel in chapter 7? Name the idea with which this character
challenges Grendel.
36. What does Grendel stop doing for a while in chapter 7?
37. What does the character mentioned in #35 do for Unferth?
38. What evidence of corruption does Hrothgar’s kingdom show in chapter 8? Name the two
characters through whom we see this decline.
39. What evidence of corruption does Hrothgar’s kingdom show in chapter 9? Name the characters
through whom we see this decline.
40. Who does Grendel pretend to be in chapter 9?
41. Why is time killing Grendel in this chapter?
Chapters 10-12
42.
43.
44.
45.
46.
47.
48.
49.
50.
Why is Grendel bored in chapter 10?
Who dies in chapter 10? What effect does the death have on Grendel?
Why does Grendel get excited in chapter 11?
Who is the stranger in chapter 11? According to Grendel what is the most powerful trait of the
stranger?
Name the idea with which the stranger challenges Grendel.
Why does the stranger ask Grendel to sing about the wall?
How does this character physically kill Grendel? How does this character ideologically kill
Grendel?
According to Grendel, why does he lose the fight with the stranger?
What are Grendel’s last words? What do they mean?