Grendel Character Analysis in Grendel by John Gardner Essay Example

In John Gardner’s novel, Grendel is a character who represents how the upbringing, society, and family determine the type of person one becomes. Throughout the novel, Grendel is described as a complex creature who misunderstands the meaning of life, and how society affects him. In the novel Grendel, Grendel attempts to become the merciless creature of the story due to the rejection from mankind, influences, and loneliness; which raises the question of was Grendel born evil or if nurture takes control of his life.  

The first aspect in Gardner’s book is that a person's goodness and ugliness can be shaped by certain events. Grendel is shaped by  humanity of which the human can change significantly from a good to a bad person. In Grendel, Hrothgar influences Grendel's view of human society. Grendel visualizes Hrothgar, “Violence and shame have lined the old man’s face with mysterious calm. I can hardly look at him without a welling of confused, unpleasant motion” (Gardner 121). Life is full of temptations and sometimes it affects people and pulls them in the wrong directions.  Having seen everything for years, Grendel has questions and is confused by the real person of Hrothgar. Grendel starts to doubt his faith in humanity, as illustrated in the quote "How, if I know all this, you may ask, could I hound him--shatter him again and again, drive him deeper and deeper into woe? I have no answer, except perhaps this: why should I not?” (Gardner 122). Grendel wonders about his motives and the reason why Hrothgar deserves his kindness. He starts to act violent, without caring about the consequences that may come. In “The Twelve Traps in John Gardner’s Grendel,” Barry Fawcett and Elizabeth Jones said, “Here we recognize the basis for Grendel's pre-displacement: his stubborn clinging to skepticism and cold, hard reason, while constantly tempted by belief” (Fawcett and Jones). Thus, the fundamental problem which shifts him to become a nihilist. As he’s influenced mostly from the outside world, he becomes the monster of the story.

Grendel experiences and suffers from unfairness from the very beginning of the story. The monster’s characteristic on Grendel is nurtured by the negligence of his mom and the violation of humans that he endured, making him exclaim, “Ah, the unfairness of everything” (Gardner 8). Grendel believes the world is unjust and everything is fighting against him. He is insecure as a result of his isolation and loneliness, in which he finally expresses his frustrations on the entire world by attacking the Danes. Grendel's conviction in the unfairness of the world causes him to be unconcerned with the repercussions of his actions or behaviors, believing that since nothing is fair, then his acts are irrelevant; he may act unjustly as well. The feeling of loneliness also makes Grendel suffer aside from the influence of humans. Grendel is also suffering from unfairness, which leads him to loneliness, “Why can’t I have people to talk to” (Gardner 56). He is jealous of the fact that people have others to talk with, and he wants to have someone who can understand him. Grendel’s disappointment and his loneliness makes him envious and greedy. His seclusion drives him to become more violent and seek revenge on another person. 

One of the most crucial elements that affected Grendel’s personality is the judgement of the people. He is assumed to be a monster through the story of the Shaper, “The harp turned solemn .... And I, Grendel, was the dark side, he said in effect. The terrible race God curse” (Gardner 51). Grendel believes that he was born cursed by God so his appearance is frightening to people. Moreover, the people in the Danes tend to judge people on their appearance, and with how Grendel looks, they turn their hatred on him. That eventually makes them into hunters, hunting for Grendel. In the end, as he was forced into the corner, he accepts who he is and turns his fangs onto the Danes. However, no one has the right to determine the caliber of a person by their look. Having been judged over the years and subjected to the curse, Grendel starts to act violently by slaughtering the Danes as a retribution. But he still does not understand why people judge based on who he is. “How many times must a creature be dragged down the same ridiculous road?” (Gardner 108). Most people judge a person based on their appearance and it is true to say that Grendel was rejected from society just because of his outer differences. The rejection of humans toward Grendel makes him question himself and later truly believe that he doesn’t belong here. Therefore, he does not have any sympathy when he kills people, “The way society reacted to its existence can be held responsible for the murders” (Liou). The way the world rejects him finally turns Grendel to a merciless monster that everyone is afraid of, the monster created by the judgement of the society.

In Grendel, Grendel is alienated , which eventually turns him into a devil. But not only that, because of how the world around him influences him badly, that he eventually became the monster he is now. Grendel is a monster which is why people assume that he is evil and dangerous. These false assumptions accidentally create a deadly monster that did not exist at the beginning.

Works Cited 

Fawcett, Barry, and Elizabeth Jones. “The Twelve Traps in John Gardner’s Grendel.” American Literature, vol. 62, no. 4, Duke University Press, 1990, pp. 634–47, https://doi.org/10.2307/2927072.

Gardner, John. Grendel. Vintage Books, 1989.

Liou, Carter. Nature versus Nurture, https://web.colby.edu/st112wa2018/tag/appearance/