Beowulf Vs. Grendel

Grendel, the Antithesis of an Anglo-Saxon

In the Epic poem Beowulf, the author presents a glorifying image of Anglo-Saxon culture and values, specifically heroism, fate, gift-giving, loyalty, vengeance, and manliness. Just as much as the author of Beowulf tries to eulogize these values, John Gardner, the author of Grendel, attempts to ridicule them as much as possible. This is just one of the many differences between Beowulf and Grendel. Written in the first person point of view of Grendel, Grendel retells the story of Beowulf’s famous fight that propelled him to recognition with a new and fresh perspective.

Along with this new perspective come different and conflicting opinions regarding certain characters and ideals. Undoubtedly, Grendel shows a much more negative view of the characters Hrothgar, Unferth, and Beowulf.

One of the first humans characters introduced in both Beowulf and Grendel is Hrothgar. In the famous epic poem, Horthgar is first described as a king who brings much glory and power to his people, so much that he resolves to build a great mead hall to display his power and he follows through his boast. Additionally, he is shown as respected, kind to those he defeated, his people loves him, and having the protection of God: “Then Hrothgar, taking the throne, led the Danes to such glory that comrades and kinsmen swore by his sword … leaving the common pastures untouched and taking no lives.” (Beowulf ).

As shown, he leads the Danes to glory and people swear to join him, but he also leaves the land untouched and takes no innocent lives. Despite acknowledging his tactical genius, Grendel presents a much more antagonistic view of Hrothgar, mostly due to Grendel’s personal prejudice against the Danish king, therefore presenting the king with a more hateful image. For example, according to Grendel, people obey Hrothgar more out of fear than respect. After fashioning himself as a bretwalda, he has his neighboring kingdoms swear allegiance to him, pay tributes, and attack other tribes if necessary. These tribal rulers obey him not out of respect or his glory, but because they fear what happens if they do not obey him.

Furthermore, the Hrothgar as portrayed in Grendel is not as eco-friendly or caring as he seems to be in Beowulf. Instead of “leaving the common pastures untouched”, Hrothgar and his men destroy the environment as shown: “They hacked down trees in widening rings around their central halls… till the forest looked like an old dog dying of mange. They thinned out game, killed birds for sport, set accidental fires that would burn for days. Their sheep killed hedges, snapped valleys bare, and their pigs nosed up the very roots of what might have grown”. Clearly not the protector of pastures, Hrothgar and his men kill all the animals in their area, over log the forests, and leave valleys bare, which Grendel shows in his narrative.

This darker and negative portrayal makes Hrothgar more flawed and despicable; clearly he is not like the Hrothgar in Beowulf. This adds to the overall more negative tone in the novel of all the elements that Beowulf honors.

Unferth also falls victim to this negative portrayal of characters in Grendel. Originally shown as a jealous and hateful warrior in Beowulf, he is not, however, entirely evil and the readers come to respect him more after he apologizes to Beowulf and gives him his prized and famous sword. Despite having at least a little respect from the audience, the Unferth that Grendel depicts is foolish, weak, cowardly, and jealous, deserving practically no respect.

In Gardner’s novel, when Unferth first meets Grendel, he challenges him as everyone else does. Like everyone else, he easily loses and Grendel adds to his embarrassment when he throws apples at him. He then challenges Grendel again, but instead of actually fighting him, he falls asleep: “I waited for him to find an answer. Minutes passed. It came to me that he had quit… He was asleep”.

This is possibly Unferth’s most embarrassing moment in the entire novel. Far from being the hero that he so wishes to be, he is weak and cowardly, because he falls asleep as he about to fight. Moreover, Grendel makes him to be a simpleton for he defeats Unferth verbally and even makes Unferth realize that he contradicts himself. To add to Unferth’s already growing ridicule, when Unferth berates Beowulf, Beowulf fights back with harsh words. Although the Unferth in Beowulf simply becomes embarrassed when he meets Beowulf’s harsh words, the Unferth in Gardner’s novel actually cries and it makes him look more foolish and weaker than the readers would actually think he is. Being an unlikable character already in Beowulf, he is also pathetic in Grendel. This all adds to the Gardner’s more negative portrayal of all the major human characters of Beowulf.

The last character that falls victim to Gardner’s unfavorable portrayal of characters is Beowulf himself. Intelligent, strong, talented, and respected, Beowulf is the perfect epic hero. The seemingly perfect hero is not so perfect in the novel Grendel. Although Grendel acknowledges his wisdom and power, as he is the only one capable of defeating Grendel, Gardner shows him as insane and cruel: “Feel the wall: is it not hard? He smashes me against it, breaks open my forehead. Hard, yes! Observe the hardness, write it down in careful runes. Now sing of walls! Sing!”.

The above excerpt is what Beowulf whispers in Grendel’s ear as he smashes him into a wall while fighting him. Just reading it makes it quite obvious that Beowulf is rather eccentric in this novel. What he says is rather disturbing as he tells Grendel to feel how hard the wall is and to sing about the hardness of the walls while they fight. A rather peculiar thing to say, it makes it seem as if Beowulf is even insane in the novel, as he tells Grendel to sing about walls. This is just one instance of Beowulf’s change between the two novels. Additionally, he is also quite rude and unfriendly.

When he first lands on Denmark and the guard stops him, he calls the guard an “old man” and practically tells him to simply let Beowulf in whereas in the epic poem, Beowulf slowly and patiently explains the situation, gaining the guard’s respect and admiration. In this case he seems to have neither respect nor admiration from the guard. He is even less respectful when he meets Unferth. After Unferth taunts Beowulf, Beowulf replies saying that he actually won the race against Brecca and adds that Unferth is to burn in hell for eternity because of what he has done, which drives Unferth to tears. Although Beowulf does scold Unferth in the original epic poem, he does not do so in such a harsh manner nor does he say that Unferth shall burn in hell.

To add to all of that, his relationship with Hrothgar seems to be a little tainted. Hrothgar is happy to see Beowulf, but there is really nothing more. In the original poem, Hrothgar shows much love for him and practically treats him as a son whereas in this one, he is just happy that someone’s there to get rid of Grendel for him. The only display of fatherly affection that Hrothgar ever shows in Grendel is when he proclaims, while being drunk, that Beowulf is like a son to him. However, the display of affection is meaningless as Hrothgar is drunk he says this.

As seen, the novel obviously portrays Beowulf as a darker and scarier character, far from being the perfect epic hero. This goes along with the tone of the novel, the portrayal of all things that Anglo-Saxons value in a negative light.

Retelling the famous story of Beowulf, John Gardner’s novel, Grendel, portrays every human character and everything that Anglo-Saxons respect in a rather negative light. Instead of being the grand and kind king that Hrothgar is in Beowulf, he is more flawed in Grendel than people would expect him to be. Following the example that Hrothgar sets, Unferth is a foolish coward and Beowulf is a cruel eccentric. Grendel, who tells the story, is one of the major antagonists in epic and the reader would likely expect all this negative portrayal.

But Gardner not only bashes all the main characters in his novel, he ridicules the values of the Anglo-Saxons as well. When Grendel gets into an argument with Unferth, he mocks the idea of heroism, driving Unferth mad with rage. In addition, Gardner portrays the Anglo-Saxons as people who would boast about their ancestors from meters away, shaking their spears, yet not dealing a single blow, which makes them look ridiculous. Also, he ridicules the idea of war and honor as the Anglo-Saxons would destroy everything in their path while at war, leaving nothing standing, be it buildings, fellow humans, or animals.

The author shows the idea of storytelling and scops as singers who would fabricate lies around history. Ultimately, the insulting tone of the novel adds up to make Grendel the antithesis of the Anglo-Saxon.