Grendel Essay
Grendel tortured and frightened the people of the city by ruling over them with his indescribable strength and size. The ruler of the town, Hrothgar, has built a mead-hall where his “men lived happily” here (Raffel 15). Grendel grows impatient and angry because of the sound of the people partying while he remains below the lake secluded from everyone. Continuing his evil ways, Grendel, “the powerful monster, living down in the darkness,” travels to the city later that night and kill many of the people living in the hall because of jealousy (Raffel 1-2). The fiend endlessly depicts the characteristics of a coward by bulling the city people as well as others. The character of Grendel is portrayed as a monster that possesses superhuman strength. This is proven by study of Grendel’s meaning, descriptions, and actions.
The monstrous Grendel was the descendent of the Biblical characters Cain, who had a brother, Abel. “Conceived by a pair of those monsters born, of Cain, murderous creatures banished, by God, punished forever for the crime, of Abel’s death” (Raffel 20-3). Grendel was shut away from men by living in the darkness at the bottom of a lake. In the Biblical story of Cain and Abel, Cain killed Abel and he was punished for the crime by dying. Likewise, Grendel was punished for his crime, which was killing people, by being exiled into the bottom of the lake. Cain killed his brother who he was jealous of because of his blessings and prosperity. Grendel killed people of the city because he did not want them to have a good time since they were “loud in that hall, the harp rejoicing” (Raffel 4). Overall, Grendel descended from Cain by committing some of the same sins as he did. .
Grendel is described as an evil, half-man, half-fiend monster that possesses staggering strength. . Towards the warriors of Denmark, the inhabitants of Herot, Grendel is someone they fear because of his extraordinary influence and force. “A powerful monster…growled in pain…that demon, that fiend” (Raffel 1-16). Grendel is described as making “his home in a hell,” killing the people of the city then leaving “delighted with his night’s slaughter” (Raffel 18-40). Hrothgar “sat joyless…mourning the fate of his lost friends and companions,” not being able to defend himself because of the lack of strength” (Raffel 44-46). The people of Herot sat in fear of Grendel because of his superior strength and abilities.
Grendel, after hearing the enjoyment from the city of Herot, took matter into his own hands, as usual. Since he did not like how “Hrothgar’s men lived happy in his hall,” Grendel traveled to the city of Herot and “snatched up thirty men, smashed them” (Raffel 15-37). Grendel acted evilly thinking no one in the city would be able to defeat him because of his strength and power. Returning the next night, “each warrior tried to escape him” and left the city of Herot (Raffel 53-54). Grendel tormented the city of Herot because of jealousy, acting like a coward. He took advantage of the dependant people who needed each other to succeed. Grendel, through his terrorizing ways, tortured the citizens of Herot because of their lack of competition.
Grendel’s character is expressed as the “descendent of Cain”, “evil, half-man, half-fiend monster”, and a “coward.” Grendel is the descendent of Cain since they both commit the same sin, which is killing people. Grendel is described as an evil and corrupt descendent of Cain who can’t be tamed by the people of Herot. By attaining this superhuman strength, Grendel tortures the people in Herot by killing most of them and placing fear in them. Raffel, through his descriptive words and scenes, wanted the readers to see and experience the intense cruelty Grendel befell upon the town people.
No comments:
Post a Comment