Grendel The Monster

Beowulf is first epic recorded since ancient history about the iconic hero Beowulf. He is a hero from the misty reaches of the British past, a hero who faces violence, horror, and even death to save a people in mortal danger. Beowulf is a loyal, brave, and determined individual with superhuman qualities that make him the archetype of the dragon slayer, the hero who faces death in order to save a threatened community. He engaged in a battle and defeated the terrifying monster Grendel during his heroic life. Grendel is one of three antagonists, along with his mother and the dragon that Beowulf fought. In the poem, Grendel is feared by all but Beowulf.

Grendel is a man-eating monster who lives at the bottom of a foul mere, or mountain lake. He is the offspring of the descendants of Cain, a son of Adam and Eve. Cain is viewed as the first murderer since he killed his brother, Abel. Condemned for his actions, he was cursed by God and according to legends, fathered all evil beings that plaque humankinds: monsters, demons, and evil spirits. Grendel was spawned in the slime and conceived in the deep darkness of Hell, the land of Cain. Grendel is a symbol of terror, destruction, and death. As present in the poem, Grendel is feared by everyone. Grendel kills without remorse in the most gruesome and gory ways. He splits his victims in pieces with their blood gushing out in every direction, and consumed their disfigured corpses. He is considered to be dangerous, evil, and cold-blooded because he killed daily with no mercy for his poor victims. In the poem, Grendel begins to attack Herot plaguing terror across the land. People grew terrified of Grendel and even moved away from Herot in fear of being the next victim. The once lively city was overshadowed by despair and mourning through Grendel’s actions.

There is no clear motive to why Grendel produced the destructions that he did. However, it can be concluded that it was his nature to promote evil. He is one of the descendants of Cain; therefore, being a murderer is not far from the imagination, since wickedness is his core value. He kills people and consumed their meat ensuring a tragic death to people that crosses his path. It is stated that he killed for food, but I believe that food was not the primary purpose. Grendel is the representation for evil ensuring the fact that any destruction he can create to terrorize people will be carried out. Grendel symbolizes the evilness we find in society that will never disappear. Despite being killed by Beowulf, he constantly comes back to life in other forms. Residing in the darkness, he is always lurking in the depth of visibility coming out when wanting to do harm. Though Grendel is a monster that no longer existed, we can still see traces of him in the present day. Grendel symbolizes the evil in society that constantly cost the lives of human. For example, disease is the modern day Grendel. Similar to Grendel, diseases causes terror and destructions to human. The fear of being the next victim of a disease is as clearly visible as the fear of being killed next by Grendel in the epic. Disease is constantly there, but always lurking in the darkness attacking when we least expected and begin havoc. Despite being eliminated, diseases always come back in another form. These characteristics are all associated with Grendel.

In Beowulf, Grendel may be a monster but he represents more than that. He is the quintessential of evil that can not be eliminated. He is apart of society regardless of society wanting him to be there are not. The purpose of Grendel in the epic is to remind the audience that society can not escape the evil. Evil brings death and Grendel acts as a mean of carrying out this message with his horrible actions.