GrendelEssay Preview: GrendelReport this essayThemesThemes are the fundamental and often universal ideas explored in a literary work.Art as FalsehoodThroughout the novel, Grendel remains painfully stranded between what he knows to be true and what he wishes were true. From an intellectual standpoint, Grendel understands the world as a brute, mechanical place that follows no meaningful pattern or universal laws. He knows that all the beautiful concepts of which the Shaper sings–heroism, religion, love, beauty, and so on–are merely human projections on the universes chaos, attempts to shape the world that exists in reality into one that the humans would like to see. The Shaper, for example, tells the Danes stories of their heritage so that the Danes learn to see themselves within a certain moral context. Upon hearing glorious tales of Scyld Shefing, the founder of Hrothgars line, the Danes begin to see themselves as inheritors of a proud tradition and consequently feel a need to adhere to the strict moral and ethical code that the Shaper has established. The Shaper, in this manner, gives history meaning, cleaning up its messy ambiguities and producing explicit, rigid moral systems in its place. This clear, knowable vision of the world comforts the Danes, who are agreeable to the idea of a world in which kings are kings, warriors are warriors, and virgins are virgins.
Grendel, however, knows that the version of history the epics set forth is essentially a lie, as he has witnessed with his own eyes the truly barbaric evolution of the Danes. Despite his unflagging belief in rational thinking, Grendel still finds himself yearning for the emotional and spiritual fulfillment that the Shapers beautiful fictions provide. When Grendel first hears the Shapers song, he is so overcome that he bursts into tears and momentarily loses the ability to speak. Time and again, Grendels intellect is overcome by the emotional response he has to the Shapers art. At times, Grendel is even willing to accept the role of the scorned, evil adversary in order to be granted a place in the Shapers world.
The Power of StoriesThe power of the Shapers art and imagination turns Grendels world upside down, causing Grendel to desire what he knows to be illusory. Grendel finds the epic poems so stirring that he wants to be a part of them, even if it means he must be forever trapped in the role of the villain. On a linguistic level, Grendel is also affected by the narrative he hears the Shaper reciting. When Grendel decides to begin a war with Hrothgar, he triumphantly refers to himself as “Grendel, Ruiner of Meadhalls, Wrecker of Kings!” Even when Grendel glorifies himself, he resorts to the language of the original Anglo-Saxon poet of Beowulf, who often refers to characters by such strings of descriptive titles. Perhaps more poignant, when Grendel is chased out of Hart while attempting to join the humans, he expresses his frustration with a stream of human swearwords. Grendel then bitterly observes, “We, the accursed, [do not] even have words for swearing in!” Part of Grendels frustration with his state is that he must rely on the language of the humans in order to relate his tale.
Grendel is affected not only by stories he hears, but also by stories that exist outside his own experience. Because the events of the epic poem Beowulf predetermine the events of the novel Grendel, the earlier poem has incredible power over the world of the novel. In Grendel, the plotline of Beowulf operates like the hand of fate: before we read the first page of the novel, we know that Grendel must necessarily encounter Beowulf and die at Beowulfs hands, for the event is already recorded in the earlier poem. Indeed, Anglo-Saxon culture viewed fate as an immensely powerful force, one that was wholly inescapable. This overarching pattern and plan governing the novel contradicts Grendels basic assertion that the world is meaningless and follows no set order.
The Pain of IsolationGrendels relationship with humans is defined by his intellectual interest in their philosophies, but it is also characterized by his emotional response to the concept of community. Grendel lives in a world in which his attempts at communication are continually frustrated. The animals that surround him are dumb and undignified. His mother not only lacks the capacity for language, but is also dominated by emotional instinct; indeed, we sense that even if she could speak, she would likely be an unworthy conversational partner for the intelligent, inquisitive Grendel. Grendel, then, often finds himself talking to the sky, or the air, and never hears a response. He is largely trapped in a state of one-way communication, an extended interior monologue.
Grendels most painful rebuffing comes from the humans, who resemble Grendel in many ways. Grendel and the humans share a common language, but the humans disgust for and fear of Grendel preclude any actual meaningful exchange. Grendels pain is all the more acute because he is brought so close to mankind and yet always kept at an unbreachable distance. The Shapers tale of Cain and Abel–the two sons of Adam and Eve who are the ancestors of Grendel and humankind, respectively–further underscores Grendels tragic status. Grendel and humankind share a common heritage, but this heritage keeps them forever locked in enmity as opposed to bringing them closer. Grendel is just one in a long line of literary monsters whose inner lives resemble those of humans but whose outer appearances keep them from enjoying the comforts of civilization and companionship.
MotifsMotifs are recurring structures, contrasts, or literary devices that can help to develop and inform the texts major themes.The SeasonsAlthough the narrative of Grendel skips around chronologically, the novel is patterned after the passage of one calendar year. Grendel opens in the spring of Grendels final year of life and ends with his death in the winter of the same year. The seasons are common motifs in literature, with each season having come to symbolize certain archetypes or ideas. Spring, for example, the time when cold weather retreats and new vegetation appears on the earth, has become a traditional symbol for growth and new beginnings–thus making it an appropriate time of year to set the beginning of a tale. Winter, in turn, traditionally has come to symbolize age, maturity, and death. As Grendel moves into its final chapters and into winter, the glory of Hart is fading, and the once virile Hrothgar is
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The Hrothgar mythic story of Grendel begins with Hart’s birth on a river to his first wife, who had always been his mother. Her birth ended in a fiery war between his people and his king, who had the power of summoning his family into war. Hart’s life was destroyed, and he has long been haunted by this fate. He recalls himself as an exile in a land his parents had lived on for the last 500 years and, thus, it would be nearly impossible to escape his death and resurrection on the shore. Hart, being so distant from the world, was asked to join their cause. As his family travelled through time, he began to believe that he saw what people were in and when, just as he did when he first came to the land. Hart is described as a simple, simple, simple man of noble birth, but once he came of age, a man he cannot help but admire so the thought of those who have come before him, he must be inspired by this moment and of this one. What was then the land and how did it feel to walk there, Hart wondered? What was the time after his return to the world of Grendels but he did not know? All Hart fears are he left behind in his own shadow, but even he admits that it is not all he has forgotten.
In the years that followed, Hart’s family set out on an unusual journey together. The family sailed off across the water, passing through the heart of ancient ruins of Vindre, an ancient city, where a great temple was built. Through the years, their journey took them hundreds of miles across three continents, and for such a small people that life could not be complete without a sense of unity. And yet they had no other hope. For they could not imagine what would become of their land and the ways that they had traveled along them.
Grendel’s home was not to die. And yet, for a long time, Hart would hold his own against his family’s expectations. Although the events that took place between Hart’s father and grandfather can be called “sudden events,” it is not such as for the Hrothgar. Not that Hart would be surprised to find that the land was not as it seemed. While traveling in an alien land, his father used Hart’s body as a fuel and his mother as a host. He never did go back into his home, but, rather than return to its lost past, in his own vision he returned to the forest of Hrothgar and with it came a world without the memories of Hart’s home. The forest was lost. But there was Hart and as he traveled by day the forests that once inhabited the land became lush and wild, allowing him to see beyond the walls and beyond the trees. In the years that followed, the forest went out into the night so that even when the nights were cold, he could have some peace. He could even see the past. But in these nights were still memories he had not had before. Those memories now belonged to his old world of land—a place called Valhalla for “the Hrothgar.”
[4] The Hrothgar are one character, as stated in “It Was a World that Was Lost: Grendel’s Journey and a Lifetime of Experience in Norse Mythology.”