Hannah Wimberley
Dr. Tom Blake
Our Monsters, Ourselves
2/25/19
Sympathy for Grendel: Monster vs. Man
Our sympathy towards Grendel increased exponentially from Beowulf to Grendel. In the former, he was cast as an unintelligent monster who had bone to pick with humans because of their annoying qualities. His violence seemed unjust and full of malice. We saw him as a bone to be broken in the same way he broke the bones of men living under Hrothgar’s rule. This was due to the lack of detail and back story we were given of Grendel in Beowulf. His actions seemed without motivation and unworthy of any level of sympathy or understanding. The same actions, when seen in Grendel, bring pity to the reader.
The feelings of pity for Grendel (the monster) are made so strong in Grendel (the book) because he is the focus of the novel. Grendel speaks to us and we get to be on an even playing field with him. Unlike in the Beowulf and Grendel animated movie, we get to hear Grendel’s thoughts as intelligent reasonings and we see things through his understanding. When he is talking to his mother and she responds without words, Grendel is afraid of her warning and of her seemingly monstrous behavior. In the animated movie, Grendel can not speak or understand the words spoken to him. He howls like a cat out of hell and appears to deserve Beowulf’s attacks in a different way than in Grendel.
In chapter 12 of Grendel, when he is looking out over the cliff, surrounded by the other animals it is difficult to avoid the feelings of sadness that accompany the loss of a valued character. The presence of the animals felt like taunting rather than observation. The suicide of Grendel makes me wonder what life would have been like for him had he not jumped. The open-endedness of the novel gives room for much interpretation of meaning and of his life and death, both of which are not open in Beowulf.
I agree wholeheartedly that the novel Grendel provides more information and even lays the ground for pitying Grendel because it is from his perspective and provides more information than Beowulf does. As I discussed in my post, Grendel is given better grounds for wanting to destroy.
ReplyDeleteIn Beowulf (as suggested in my blog and in this post), Grendel’s reasoning for wanting to destroy the hall is left very open ended. As described in the book, "It harrowed him to hear the din of the loud banquet every day in the hall," (ln 87-89). This leaves a much wider interpretation than in the book Grendel, which explains that Grendel’s feelings towards the music is a little bit more complicated than that he had a distaste for the music or the loud music. I go more in depth in my blog post, but basically Grendel has mixed feelings about the Shaper’s music because of the “truth” it presents and how he feels about it. Whether the truth that he is from Cain’s line and therefore cursed, which he does not want to believe and upsets him so that he comes forward seeking comfort, or the way the Shaper presents history, which he questions the truth of, he sees the way humans handle truth and it bothers him in many way, especially in its hypocrisy.
Courtney Sellars