Character Analysis
Grendel-215x300. Documentary Educational Resources, 4 Apr. 2010. JPEG.
Throughout the novel, Grendel exhibits that his curiosity is his greatest motivator. The question of why everything goes on in the world is a reoccurring line in the story. After Grendel discovers a world outside his mountain, it is his inquisitive nature that leads to his nightlong investigations. Grendel’s curious nature is what drives him to the outskirts of the civilized human world. He desires to learn more about the humans that inhabit the world he found. This desire to learn leads to his intrigue with the human referred to as the Shaper.
In the story, the Shaper is a scop that is admired for his advanced storytelling. To Grendel, The Shaper symbolizes the source of answers that he has been looking for. These answers fuel Grendel’s obsession with the Shaper. This obsession compels Grendel to get as close to the humans as possible. Grendel’s obsession leads to him believing he and the humans are kindred. This is where Grendel’s tale takes a turn for the worst; after he reveals his existence to the humans, he is attacked. Grendel’s insatiable curiosity set the entire story into motion.
In the story, the Shaper is a scop that is admired for his advanced storytelling. To Grendel, The Shaper symbolizes the source of answers that he has been looking for. These answers fuel Grendel’s obsession with the Shaper. This obsession compels Grendel to get as close to the humans as possible. Grendel’s obsession leads to him believing he and the humans are kindred. This is where Grendel’s tale takes a turn for the worst; after he reveals his existence to the humans, he is attacked. Grendel’s insatiable curiosity set the entire story into motion.
Grendel was able to find the humans after exploring the mountain and the world outside. Grendel found his way out of his mother’s den because he was eager to discover every crevice and corner in his mountain. This search takes Grendel to the surrounding forests. Grendel’s quest for knowledge does not end at the first tree he finds. He spends many nights going as far into the forest as possible, only returning just before dawn. These night time excursions lead Grendel into more than one predicament. Grendel is placed into danger because of his probing.
Grendel’s quest for answers brings him to his scariest encounter, a meeting with the dragon. Grendel believes the all-knowing dragon will be a welcome relief from his prying mind. Instead, the dragon only confuses and aggravates the fledgling monster. Grendel walks away with more questions than he came in with. Not only did the dragon infuriate Grendel with his perplexing nature, but Grendel got on the dragon’s bad side. Again, Grendel’s curiosity leads him into trouble.
It seems that, at first, Grendel is just an unlucky and curious child. His grand adventures and voyages outside the home are nothing but good natured exploration. Grendel’s curiosity turns to scorn when he can no longer stand the plight derived from his questions. His attacks on the humans begin because he was denied an answer he finally accepted. All his curiosity leads to is trouble and pain, rather than answers.
Grendel and Language
Grendel begins the story with somewhat of a grasp of language. His understanding is basic and does not contain much figurative language or deeper meaning. As the novel progresses, Grendel gets older and his knowledge of Old English grows with him. Grendel’s storytelling grows more complex through the chapters. His use of figurative language becomes more and more profound. It can be concluded that Grendel learns from observing the humans, particularly the Shaper.
When Grendel first meets humans, while he is stuck in a tree, he realizes that they speak his language. After more time spent listening to the humans, he becomes connected to them through language. He begins to view it as another way he and men are related. Eventually, however, he begins to see that the humans waste their language. He believes the shaper to be the biggest character to misuse his language. To Grendel, the Shaper is wasting his breath on poetry and stories that weren’t true.
Grendel's Philosophy
Grendel is a narrative told from the first person view of the infamous villain in Beowulf of the same name. Due to the nature of a narrative, Grendel’s thoughts and philosophical views are openly presented and therefore easy to analyze. Grendel is supposed to embody the philosophy of existentialism. Gardner chooses to form Grendel this way because he hated existential views, and painting a villain around them was a way to portray his hatred. Grendel tells his story through a series of flashbacks that begin in his childhood and lead up to his death at the hands of Beowulf. Through the story, we learn about Grendel’s various takes on life and philosophical views as he grows older.
One of the defining statements of Grendel’s philosophy as a child is made when he has his foot stuck in a tree. Grendel states, “I understood then that the world was nothing: a mechanical chaos of brute enmity on which we stupidly impose our hopes and fears. I understood that, finally and absolutely, I alone exist. All the rest, I saw, is merely what pushes me, or what I push against, blindly-as blindly as all that is not myself pushes back. I create the whole universe, blink by blink.-An ugly god pitifully dying in a tree!” At this point in Grendel’s life, he views himself as the only real object in existence. This is a solipsist view on life.
Grendel changes his views a few times after his experience in the tree with the bull. When Grendel observes the Shaper and finds a human killed by his own kind, he loses his feeling of loneliness, temporarily. He begins to feel connected to the humans for a short time, until they attack him. This attack sets him apart from the humans again. Grendel keeps the perspective of God until he meets the dragon. An encounter with a mightier and age-old creature ripped that viewpoint from him. With Grendel’s sense of omnipotence gone, he sees that the humans are real. His belief in his own superiority, however, remains.
Thanks to the dragon, Grendel is able to embrace the idea that the humans exist alongside him. He does not see them as fellows, though, just enemies and toys. Grendel still struggles with his place in the world, but the dragon’s words stay with him. The dragon offered this as a reason for Grendel’s existence, “You improve them, my boy! Can’t you see that yourself? You stimulate them! You make them think and scheme. You drive them to poetry, science, religion, all that makes them what they are for as long as they last. You are, so to speak, the brute existent by which they learn to define themselves.” This idea, the paint that the humans used to paint themselves, was gradually accepted by Grendel.
After Grendel has his arm ripped off, Grendel’s final views of the world somewhat revert back to what they were in the second chapter of the novel. At first he views the world as a cold, logical, machine. These are the final thoughts he returns to. Grendel’s speech starts going a little bit toward the end of the book, but he does still manage to speak. He states at the end of the book, “’It was an accident,’ I bellow back. I will cling to what is true. ‘Blind, mindless, mechanical. Mere logic of chance.'"
So You Want to be the Narrator?
In Grendel, Gardner re-imagines the Anglo-Saxon tale of Beowulf. In Gardner’s version of the story, the omniscient narrator is replaced by the monster, Grendel. This role reversal serves to make Grendel a parody of the original story. Telling the story from the villain’s point of view also works to add a spin and new perspective to the story.
A significant detail to point out when determining why Grendel is the narrator is his philosophy on life. Grendel’s stance as an existentialist reinforces why Gardner made the protagonist an evil monster. Gardner despised the existential ideology. Displaying a man-eating hell spawn as existential functioned to put people off of the belief.
Secondly, it isn’t everyday that authors work to make a villain the protagonist. It is always interesting to see an author successfully develop an evil protagonist. The depth added to a usually two-dimensional character grabs the attention of the audience. Putting this type of spin on a classic epic takes a lot of intellect and creativity. Gardner obviously had both for he succeeded in created an intriguing novel.
