Grendal of Beowulf
It is true that Grendel is monstrous. He is not only a deadly enemy to Hrothgar and Herot, but to the Geats in general. Grendel seems to take his only pleasure from assaulting Herot and destroying the warriors inside. He is a bane to all those that live under Hrothgar's rule. They hate him. He is called the "enemy of mankind" (29) and rightly so. However, because of Grendel's actions, they cannot see the other part of Grendel that makes him do the evil he does. Grendel, like the Angels before and the Geats soon after, is symbolic of displaced races/peoples and not simply a mindless monster. When Adam and Eve had children, they had two boys. Their names were Cain and Able. When Cain killed Able, God "banished him far from mankind" (29). From Cain came trolls, elves, monsters, and giants. Grendel is a descendant of Cain, so he shares Cain's banishment. Cain may have been the first displaced person after Adam and Eve were thrown out of the Garden. Grendel shares his ancestor's sentence. He is displaced not only from whatever land or wealth he would have if he were "human" but he is also displaced form God. It is this displacement that causes Grendel to
destroy. Since he cannot "approach the throne" (28) like other people, he chooses to try to destroy the throne, because he has "no love for him (God)" (28). This is the main reason Grendel is symbolic of displaced peoples. After all, he is a direct descendent of the very first displaced people, Adam and Eve. However, unlike Adam and Eve, Grendel is doomed to an eternity of banishment from God's light because of Cain's sin against his brother. That is why Grendel kills, because he cannot be in the light, because he is at war with God. The Angels are just one of many misplaced races whose story of destruction is mirrored by that of Grendel's. Grendel is not just a simple killer, a monster who lived under the bed or in a dark cave in the woods. He is much more. His is a tale of loss, sorrow, resistance, and death that has been seen in numerous cultures and peoples throughout the centuries. Like other displaced peoples, Grendel fought back. He had no sorrow over the killings he committed. He did them willingly. The reason behind Grendel's slaughter is not because he is a mindless beast, but because he is jealous over not being able to share in the Geat's feasting and celebrating under Go
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 812
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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