Beowulf and Grendel
Beowulf and GrendelJohn Gardner's Grendel gives the character Grendel a personality beyond what is described in the epic Beowulf. The descriptions in this reading outline the emotional characteristics of this creature. The work Grendel fulfills its goal of making Grendel seem more human; however, it falls short of one accomplishment. Regardless of the positive description in the text, Grendel's actions against society, which he committed in the work Beowulf, are certainly not justified.
Grendel is decisively evil in the work Beowulf. He is solely described as a bloodthirsty murderer. "He slipped through the door and there in the silence snatched up thirty men, smashed them unknowingly in their beds and ran out with their bodies, the blood dripping behind him, back to his lair, delighted with his night's slaughter" (Beowulf 14). This is one of numerous examples of his savage killings, which he delights in. He lives only to kill and destroy the lives of those who still live. He brings complete terror to those who meet him, and fear to all others. "Then he stopped, seeing the hall crowded with sleeping warriors, stuffed with rows of soldiers resting together. And his heart laughed, he relinquished the sight, intended to tear the life from those bodies" (Beowulf 23). Grendel does nothing but cause death and destruction. He is pure evil.
Gardner's Grendel clearly does not justify these ferocious killings. In fact, this novel mentions that Grendel finds his barbarous war against humanity pointless and foolish. "�the season is upon us. And so begins the twelfth year of my idiotic war. The pain of it! The...
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