Monday, October 27, 2008
Beowulf: Character Analysis, Grendel
J.R.R. Tolkien said that the monsters in Beowulf were an essential part of the story. However, I don't see how this is true in this story. It seams to me like Grendel is just another monster out of a bestiary. He does not seem to have a lot of personality or any kind of trait that makes the story all that unique. When I think of something or someone being an essential part of a story, I think of the Joker in the Dark Knight. Now that is a character that is essential to the story. So in what ways is Grendel essential to the story of Beowulf.
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6 comments:
Uhhh....
He's essential because he's the REASON Beowulf comes away from Geatland in the first place. Kind of hard to miss the essential nature of the monster that, you know, brings the hero into the story.
What i mean is how is Grendel essential in this story as opposed to any other story with monsters. In Frankenstein, for example, the monsters thoughts and telling of the story are absolutely form the themes and messages of the story. In Beowulf however, it seems to me like you could have put any kind of monster in substitute for Grendel and the story would not have been all that much different. It seems to me like there is not a lot about Grendel as a character that is supper essential.
So sorry if I did not word my initial post that well. Perhaps you misunderstood what i was trying to say.
Perhaps it is because he has had the capacity to "haunt" or "terrorize" the same palace for the past twelve years. And as hard as Hrothgar has tried to defeat him he has failed. I guess another factor to consider is that Grendal's mother is a character that helps Beowulf grow and develop. The Joker from the Dark Knight in my perspective appeared to be doing all these bad deeds to get the attention of Batman. I think that there is more to Grendal than meets the eye. Grendal is causing enough terror to get the attention of a far away hero. This gives him at least some importance, enough any way to ask for help.
Grendel is quite mysterious in Beowulf. He is a monster who is threatening the lives of many men in Hrothgar's kingdom and thats all we really know. I think he is an essential part of the story, but we just do not fully understand his character: his motives for his actions, if any, and what he thinks or how he feels as an individual, but that is not to say that he does not possess any unique qualities that set him apart from any other monster. The Joker would be much the same if we were not informed of his background or reasoning. Perhaps Grendel's character is purposefully expressed in such a narrow manner to encourage thoughts about the situation and about Beowulf and himself as characters and their role in the story. Hmm...I'm not quite sure, my thoughts are beginning to stray and I am beginning to wonder if Grendel really is an essential part of the story or if any monster could simply replace his role? But then without Grendel, we would not have the role of his mother, which is an important part of the story line and he cannot be killed by weaponry, which is a unique characteristic and if you think about it a lot of monsters are very similar, which is why they are all characterized as monsters. I think this is a good question though, it makes me wonder if the story would have the same effect if Grendel were replaced, but I am not quite sure it would.
I dont think that many monsters throughout the ages have been completely different and essential to the story besides the sheer fact that they torment the leading role. Most monsters just are the obstacle the hero must conquer and therefore that is their sole purpose within the novel. Grendel is yet again one of those typical monsters. He has been tormenting the hall for over 12 years and is immune to weapons. It must take a great hero to triumph over this monster. Grendel serves as Beowulf's great task.
Grendel is very very different from Frankenstein also. Frankenstein is developed not to just torment the people, he is a product of science gone awry. Frankenstein is not just a monster either, thats what brings conflict when reading the book. The reader is torn between the emotions of Frankenstein and those of the people. I think the author of Grendel tries to make Grendel a "Frankenstein" in this aspect giving him genuine thoughts and emotions. In this case Grendel becomes more than a monster and can be empathized with. This modification of Grendel is not how the original authors wrote the book and thus is a modern interpretation of a monster. In contemporary culture, we constantly question what is truly monsterous and what is simply misunderstood?
I think the most important parts of Grendel were his absolute evil and his incredible strength. He needs to be bad to give Beowulf a reason to kill him - we saw this in Gilgamesh, where Gilgamesh's unmotivated killing of Humbaba turned him into the monster. He also made Beowulf's morality better by comparison. His strength was also important because otherwise it wouldn't have been a fair fight, and that wouldn't have been very hero-ish.
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