Grendel essay

Grendel essay

The poem Beowulf about a hero named Beowulf who saves the Danes from a demon-creature named Grendel, and Grendels mother. Grendel has been killing the Danes for 12 years and King Hrothgar, leader of the Danes is powerless against this creature. Word of Grendels acts have traveled across the ocean to Geatland, where Beowulf lives Grendel Essay Words | 4 Pages. Duality of Good and Evil Robert Louis Stevenson, a famous Scottish writer, once said, “All human beings are commingled out of good and evil.” Not one person is completely good or evil; everyone possesses both characteristics. In the literary pieces of John Gardner’s, “Grendel,” unknown author of Grendel, written by John Gardner, though, offers a more nuanced depiction of the beast by describing the events in Beowulf through Grendel's narration. Throughout the story, Grendel adopts various romantic characteristics and beliefs

Grendel Essay Examples - Free Research Paper Topics on blogger.com

In the Old English epic poem, Beowulf, Grendel is described to be an inhumane, evil monster said to bear a curse as he is a descendant of Cain, grendel essay. He attacks the Danes during the night as a reaction to the joy that he cannot empathize with. His home is revealed to exist under a body of water that is littered with sea monsters and dragons, murky with blood. For Grendel, it was his inevitable death. Existentialism, grendel essay, as described by William Barrett in his novel Irrational Man, began after World War II, grendel essay, where disillusionment was rampant and post-war emotions included pessimism and hopelessness Barrett. The fundamental grendel essay concepts that seems to be understood by humans is therefore insufficient to describe the depth of the human existence; these tools can only achieve a limited amount of understanding of physical processes, but not the emotional ones.

Existentialism concludes that current methods of rationalization and giving meaning to life and human existence are not enough to grasp full understanding Crowell. Existentialism was created with the underlying question of what it means to live. It recognizes the difference between human existence and existence in general, because generalities can be understood with knowledge, while humans cannot Burnham. When one grendel essay existentialism as their way of life, they succumb to one of the following beliefs:. With these, existentialists arrive at the conclusion that human existence is what it is not. In short, existentialism is a representation of the choice one makes to live their life, regardless of whether or not that way is true.

One can set their own value, and live to fulfill it. Such is the vagueness of the philosophy. Grendel essay when one man breaks the chains and ventures into the outside world does he realize that the world is more than just a perception of what grendel essay think of it, although perception and truth may overlap, grendel essay. Grendel, in his journey, parallels this journey as he ventures outside his lair and breaks the physical barrier that exists between his world at grendel essay outside world, which was the body of water filled with sea dragons. Multiple times in the novel, Grendel criticizes the cyclic nature of the universe, shown through his frustration with the ram that kept attacking him, the mountain goat that was determined to climb the mountain regardless of the impossibility, and the humans that killed for no reason.

Grendel, preventing himself from succumbing to this cyclic nature, grendel essay to find meaning to his existence that had nothing to do with the stupidity, as he grendel essay, of the world, grendel essay. The only thing he knew for certain was that he was alone. This idea of existential absurdity allows for Grendel to define the values of his life that separate him from the rest of the world and its mechanics that others succumb to Burnham. The only thing that matters to him is his own existence, as he is the only one that can shape and give meaning to his life. Perhaps the meaning that Grendel gave to his own life was the determination to figure out why he existed.

While Grendel felt confused at multiple points in the novel, the reason he kept living the way he did was because his goal was to figure out the meaning to his existence. Unlike nihilists, he had a reason to live and reason behind the things he did. For example, when Grendel wreaks havoc in the mead hall to encounter the Queen, grendel essay, a symbolism for innocence and faith, he did not kill her despite his ability to. Grendel reflects on this possibility and concludes that there simply is no benefit to killing Queen Wealtheow, grendel essay. Killing her would prove acknowledgement in the faith that Grendel opposes, giving in to a nihilist nature that denies any reason behind the world.

The recurring idea throughout the novel is that Grendel knows there is a reason to his existence, and he lived to figure it out, grendel essay. Grendel recognized that the cyclic nature of the world was grendel essay up of actions and reactions; he made it a goal that his existence would not be a simple reaction to what the world made him face. Grendel essay death, grendel essay, however, proved otherwise. Grendel fights Beowulf in the grendel essay hall, believing he has won before the fight even begins. I plan. I feel the plan moving inside me like that-time waters rising between cliffs… I have fallen!

Slipped on blood, grendel essay. With Grendel losing the fight, readers realize that Grendel falls into the grendel essay of the cyclic nature that he tried so hard to dissociate from. While readers grendel essay it, Grendel did not. Perhaps this is the way he fulfilled his existential life goal: to not be a part of nature, and die separate of it. The grendel essay of existentialism is that is allows us to turn life into what it is not, allowing us grendel essay fill the pages of a book grendel essay is only known to us. In his vast sea of loneliness and the love that his cruel world deprived him of, Grendel found the reason to his own being, to not fall into the set path that nature guides for everyone else.

Existentialism allows for one to define the meaning of their own life, grendel essay, allowing them to choose the way they live and create their own guidelines for their existence, aside from societal values and religious expectations. Life is not a one size fits all, grendel essay, but a creation of journey that one aims to achieve in a world made as their own. Barrett, William. Irrational Man: A Study in Existential Philosophy. New York: Doubleday, Burnham, Douglas, and George Papandreopoulos, grendel essay. Zalta ed. Greenstreet, Stuart. Philosophy Now, n. The monster Grendel plays a symbolic role as the primordial, inalienable instincts that exist on the fringes of human civilization whose existence is ignored and whose presence is desperately barred from entrance into the great and glorious mead-hall.

While the Grendel essay were still warlike men, violence reigned supreme. At this point, the warlike civilization turns grendel essay itself. By physically entering apparently peaceful Heorot and tearing human beings and the society they grendel essay created apart, Grendel becomes a tangible presence to represent the tendencies of civilized man which are suppressed but impossible to eliminate. When the two characters in Beowulf take on this significance, their battle takes on the significance not only of a fight between a man and a monster, but an epic battle between glory and decadence, courage and cowardice. No matter what the outcome of the battle, the only thing that shall be certainly affirmed is the universal law of violence- the massive expenditure grendel essay energy and eternal fluctuation of power that is the only law governing the world of Beowulf and the Spear-Danes.

The hall of Heorot in peacetime has come to resemble a grendel essay kingdom. Grendel may be outcast, but he still exists, and while he may dwell in the fringes of civilization, out of sight in the swamps, he strikes right in the mead-hall, the very heart the Danish grendel essay. He is not so much a physical entity as a barely intangible presence that has infiltrated the lives of the Danes and wreaked horrible pain and sorrow on them when they are not looking. Similarly, the failure of conventional weapons of war against Grendel indicate that now the enemy of the Danes is not one so clear-cut as the armies they were accustomed to conquering, but that Grendel is an insidious enemy that can only be defeated with immense personal strength of mind and body.

This is essential because the world of Beowulf is largely centered around acts, grendel essay. While Beowulf is not a hero until he does something heroic, Grendel is likewise not a monster unless he does something monstrous. Grendel is what occurs when that primordial act of violence overcomes a man or a society. Similarly, the endless cycle of vengeance and reparation for murder have become so constant in the world of Beowulf that it has surpassed any real semblance of a cycle and become a permanent state of being.

When Hrothgar attempts to remove his people from this state of being and into the mead hall, he does not realize that his men are not peaceful simply because they are at peace. Now that they are civilized and at a loss for an enemy, the instinct to violence becomes repressed, not to grendel essay but stagnate and make a target of its oppressor, civilization itself. Grendel is nothing new to the Danes- he only has a new setting. Beowulf is not bound down by the repression of civilization. Instead of condemning his impulse to violence, he embraces his strength, courage and vitality, and instead of an instinct of violent treachery, he is strong enough to maintain a vision of greatness.

His declaration in the mead hall shows that he has full knowledge of his position and the current impotence of the Geats, grendel essay. But he will find me different. I will show him how Geats shape to kill. Hrothgar is a wise king, but he lacks the courage to either defeat Grendel or control the impulses of his men. A symptom of this is that the weapons of civilization created by the Danes have been rendered useless against Grendel, grendel essay. Beowulf practically becomes one with Grendel, grendel essay, his violent impulse, and he manages to control it and emerge victorious. By abstaining from the weapons of civilization, Beowulf reduces both sides to their essential, most basic elements. Thus, it is not a fight between civilization and Grendel or Heorot and Grendel, but instead it becomes a battle of will from which Beowulf emerges in the glory of his own greatness.

Not only has he defeated Grendel and proven his strength and courage, grendel essay, but he has become stronger as a result of the struggle. His intimate encounter with Grendel, his most primitive impulses, has left grendel essay with a better understanding of himself. Heorot, it seems, is irredeemable. Even after Grendel was killed, another scourge immediately unleashed itself upon the people. The Danes suffer from the latter case, grendel essay, and as a result they become warlike men whose impulses form into Grendels in peaceful times when violence is not glorified.

While he may not be able to redeem the mead-hall, grendel essay, his ability to conquer his own Grendel and the one that plagues Heorot affirms the greatness of the aspirations and potential of man. Smother light, and the world becomes perfect. The sun cedes no mercy; it shines upon everything and everyone, unflinchingly exposing the flaws of humanity. Grendel essay on the other hand does grendel essay judge; grendel essay does not discern the beautiful from the ugly, the corrupt from the grendel essay. Grendel by John Gardner is a presentation of the dark, the misunderstood, and the ugly, speaking always for itself, grendel essay, urging empathy for its pain, grendel essay, and claiming some rightful place in the shaping of whatever is real.

Or perhaps human. Light in humanity corrupts reality, adopting evil as a grendel essay connotation for darkness, undeterred by the pain it causes. They set the darkest of places ablaze, and enliven the inanimate. Instead of seeing the world in all its ugliness, they choose to morph it in their eyes to form a dazzling image, an illusion far from reality. Grendel knows the light to be false, yet even he cannot resist the urge to succumb to the impossibility of the beauty. Essentially, the shaper taunts Grendel. He makes Grendel want to see everything in light; he wants to see the world in the heavenly manner as the shaper describes it, grendel essay. Yet he knows he cannot, he knows the impossibility of the idea of living with the humans in harmony. He sees the treachery, the greed and misery of humans, grendel essay.

Sadly, where grendel essay is light there must also be darkness. The shaper has decided that the day should represent the good, and the night should represent evil, grendel essay. So in order for Grendel to accept the glorification of humankind and accept the light, he must also accept the darkness that resides within himself, the darkness bestowed upon him grendel essay man. It is a paradox. Grendel is caught in between it, grendel essay.

The Practical Grendel Tutorial - FrameWork

, time: 9:05

≡Essays on Grendel. Free Examples of Research Paper Topics, Titles GradesFixer

Grendel: Evil Essay. Words | 4 Pages. In the novel, Grendel by John Gardener, Grendel is a human-like creature capable of rational thought as well as feeling emotions. Early on in the story Gardener depicts Grendel as being very observant, critical and The poem Beowulf about a hero named Beowulf who saves the Danes from a demon-creature named Grendel, and Grendels mother. Grendel has been killing the Danes for 12 years and King Hrothgar, leader of the Danes is powerless against this creature. Word of Grendels acts have traveled across the ocean to Geatland, where Beowulf lives Grendel, written by John Gardner, though, offers a more nuanced depiction of the beast by describing the events in Beowulf through Grendel's narration. Throughout the story, Grendel adopts various romantic characteristics and beliefs