Fear In Beowulf

He is portrayed in the poem as a horrendous beast with human characteristics, but looking closer to the text, he is a human out-casted and raised to be a monster. Although Grendel is written as a monstrous villain who kills with no remorse, he is actually a complex human with a repressed anger exploding in bursts. Grendel is often described in a negative way. He is reffered to as a demon in the text “from Beowulf”

Grendel the “Monster” Do not underestimate the power of a human being. Monsters are everywhere near and far. The sources that will be discussed are Beowulf (2007) film, Printed Cantos and textbook, and the Grendel Excerpt by John Gardner. The portrayal of Grendel in the movie differs greatly from the cantos and excerpt because in the readings he comes off as such a greedy monster, but in the movie he is lonely and in need of help.

Grendel is disturbed by the Danes enjoyment of life and happiness; for revenge he ruins their enjoyment and happiness. Grendel is a descendant of Cain, “he was spawned in that slime, conceived…monster” who was a “ murderous creature banished by God”(19-22). He finds harassing and killing innocent people entertaining. Beowulf comes and vanishes Grendel and stops him from continuing his evil acts. On the other hand, Beowulf and the Danes assume “Grendel`s elimination” is the last monster they will encounter, but “believing that [the] evil has been eradicated” the unexpected happens, “Grendel’s mother appear[s]”(Kardaun 1).

One 8 feet tall, put together by multiple people's body parts, the other a giant, angry, man eating monster, the monster from Frankenstein and a monster named Grendel. Grendel is a fictional character first introduced in the novel Beowulf. He is the protagonist to Beowulf, exiled from civilization. Grendel was born an outcast from society then slowly became what he was always told he was, a monster. What makes Grendel such a successful villain is his lack of remorse for anything.

The Power of Fear Fear is a power harnessed by evil to gain an advantage over good. Some forms of evil, such as the monsters in Beowulf, use this intense power to such an extent that they embody individual human fears to completely control and annihilate their enemies. Of the three monsters Beowulf faces in his life, the fatal foe, the unstoppable dragon most effectively embodies fear.

Beowulf’s Motivations (An Understanding of the motivations of Beowulf to Fight the Three Monsters) Every human being has a certain code with which they follow, most are outlined by the Anglo-Saxon, better known as Viking, code. This code itself was depicted through the epic poem known as, “Beowulf,” and more importantly, Beowulf’s motivations. His first motivation for fighting Grendel, is because he believes it is his duty to fight the monster. Secondly, Beowulf believes that fighting Grendel’s mother would help him in receive glory.

Readers can learn some things about Grendel in Beowulf but in order to dive deeper into the character and who he is, people go to the book Grendel. The book takes a closer look at Grendel and how he discovers the order and disorder of people and the world (Sanchez). Grendel is thought to symbolize the dark side of humanity, or the sins of man (Farrell). It’s easy for readers to sympathize with Grendel at points because he is a natural outcast of society. He is said to be the son of Cain and because of that he was labeled from day one (Sanchez).

He thrashes his way into the building to start eating the humans. Grendel overheard the Thanes and Geats talking about the mission to kill him. Beowulf claims he is this powerful human being who has destroyed sea monsters. Written in an article, “Grendel ponders whether he is afraid of this stranger. He senses something different about him, something that only becomes slightly clearer as he observes the stranger in Hogarth’s mead hall.”

In Beowulf’s time, people admired a traditional hero who destroyed evil and protected the people by fighting monsters. This was the hero’s place in his society, and today a hero’s place is still not too different in fictional work. We see similarities between Beowulf and today’s fictional heroes in that they fight monstrous villains and always have a moment where they hit a low point in their story to defend their people or complete their mission. The first way Beowulf is similar to today’s fictional heroes is that they both still fight larger-than-life villains and monsters. In Beowulf, we see Grendel, the descendant of Cain who unleashes his power over Herot.

The obvious monster which dominates Part I of Beowulf is Grendel. This “fiend out of hell” (Heaney 100) represents everything nasty about

Grendel’s story is not only from his perspective, but it also starts far before Beowulf enters the picture. Grendel does not even know of man’s existence before he encountered Hrothgar whom he starts to fear when he says “I knew I was dealing with no dull mechanical bull but with thinking creatures, pattern makers. The most dangerous things I’d ever met” (pg 27). His first encounter with these men left him wanting more. He spent most nights watching them in the shadows, trying to make sense of their actions.

This is the beginning of Grendel falling directly into the role that the dragon said he would need to fill. Grendel’s murderous tendencies completely reflect the monstrous side of his personality and the more he kills the more he grows insane, separating from rational, humanistic thought. “I am swollen with excitement, bloodlust and joy and a strange fear that mingle in my chest like the twisting rage of a bone-fire... I am blazing, half-crazy with joy” (168). It is clear that, by the time Beowulf arrives, Grendel has embraced the fact that he is required to be evil, despite the fact that he previously claimed he would oppose that destiny.

Grendel in both stories is described as a vicious "Monster", but is viewed differently. The character of Grendel, in the novel by John Gardner, portrays a different visualization than that of Grendel in the epic poem Beowulf. In the novel the story is told in first person point of view which gives Grendel human qualities while Grendel in Beowulf is told in third person point of view not giving Grendel his standpoint. In both works, the authors give two different perspectives of Grendel. Grendel in the novel is not seen as a "Monster", but as a human that has emotions and is very sympathetic about everything that comes his way.

In the town Beowulf lived was a monster. The monster was a big man and was very strong. He was tall and very mighty. He could beat anyone in a fight. No one dared try to fight him.

A genuine definition of a monster is an "imaginary creature that is typically large, ugly, and frightening," but in the poem Beowulf a monster has much more meaning than just an imaginary creature. Monsters were commonly used in stories written during the pagan times. Throughout the plot of ‘Beowulf,' the protagonist Beowulf faces many obstacles that include fighting monsters: Grendel, Grendel's mother, and a Dragon. The monsters in Beowulf are present for a substantial reason to contribute towards the story, and they are symbolic of many qualities in the Anglo-Saxon culture.