Grendel Vs. Frankenstein
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Grendel and Frankenstein are two monsters whose society ignores their existence and find them to be burdensome to their society based on the mere fact that they are not like the rest of their surrounding man-kind. Grendel and Frankenstein both strive to accept their place in the views of their surrounding peoples. Although their sporadic happiness comes from them engaging in fights and killing members of their societies, they learn to accept their place within the societies by coping with their ability to stay loyal to themselves and to fight back with self-devotion and not wanting to give up on themselves.
Grendel, surprisingly, adapts quite well to his society despite its detestation of his existence. Grendel live is a rattlesnake-guarded cave, which allows himself to detach from his society, giving him the necessary space to cope with the troublesome thoughts among his people about Grendel. Unlike Frankenstein, Grendel tries to associate with the members of his civilization but is rejected every time he tries to do so. Every night Grendel goes to Herot to listen to the Sharpers stories because the history interests him. He is quite intrigued and appreciative of the tales he hears, but when he comes in contact with those from Herot, they do not reciprocate the appreciation of his presence in Herot. The ones he admires so much taunt and torture him to the point they try to kill him for “intruding.” As retaliation, Grendel fights back and raids Herot every night.
On the flipside, Frankenstein shows no interest in interacting with his society. He feels as though his society already has pre-conceived notions about his existence, and that if he even tried to win their affection, he would fail in doing so. He knows that the members of his surrounding civilization detest those different from themselves. Eventually their ways of demoralizing Frankensteins feelings lead Frankenstein to escape from their antagonizing. Frankenstein ventures to the North Pole, one of the coldest and most deserted, barren, and empty places known to man-kind. He stays isolated at the North Pole until he realizes Dr. Frankenstein has been following him, hoping to push him off the edge of world, never to be seen or heard from again. Frankenstein, once again flees, trying to escape his father, whom later dies. Frankenstein, although he never fit in, was accepted by one person, the captain. But the declaration of admiration comes too late. The captains declaration comes during Frankensteins own declaration, a declaration of suicide.
It seems that a common theme among the novels in which the two are associated with is heroism. Heroism is different in everyones views depending on the society, the place, the time period, and many things aside from those. But the fact is the common theme in heroism. Both Frankenstein and Grendel have qualities that constitute to that of a hero. The definition of a hero differs between the time of Grendels existence and the time of Frankensteins existence, but it can be negotiated to one widespread definition.
A hero is someone who protects and earns glory for themselves and for those he represents. Grendel and Frankenstein both exhibit these qualities; they just arent noticed by their surrounding society. It is more like an upheaval for two beings, both unwanted by their people, to reveal such redeeming qualities.
Grendel, although he does more harm than good to his community, his persona is what categorizes him as a hero. “The incitement to violence depends upon total transvalution of the ordinary values. By a single stroke, the most criminal acts may be converted to heroic and meritorious deeds”(Gardner 117). He is more like a hero to himself. The way he handles situations and the way he fights and doesnt back down, shows true signs of a hero. Grendel never boasts about his power and his bravery, he merely uses it to fight for himself in a society that rejects his being. Grendel fights for himself, rather than for his surrounding people. His courage and his gallantry to himself is what set him apart from other stereotypical heroes. “Fate will often spare a man if his courage holds”(Gardner 162). He is not afraid, he does what he believes is right without regret or doubt. Grendel raids Herot, reeking havoc on the hall and annihilating its men, bunches at a time. He does this with no fear. Grendel goes for it and knows what he is doing will get a point across to those who taunted and ridiculed him in the first place, when he did no harm. Instead, he was showing appreciation and acceptance of them, but they jumped to other conclusions and tortured Grendel. Most people see heroes like Spiderman or The Incredible Hulk or Batman, battling the bad guys to do good for their community or to live up to their image of being the biggest and strongest to battle their rivals in a fight for power and to take over the world. Or they see these admired heroes help other people battle their problems. Grendel is not like that. Grendel has nobody to protect. He is alone in the world and has only his feelings and actions to rely on and defend. To have the self-power and the self-motivation to stand up for himself, when he never has had anyone else to guide him to do so, is appraisable.
Frankensteins society does not physically torture Frankenstein as Grendels society did to Grendel, but they mentally torture him. His surrounding people make it clear that Frankenstein is not wanted and is not accepted among their society. The way his society works is that they mentally bring down those that are unwanted among their community and they exclude them from their