Beowulf & GrendelBy: Cainan Grier

Table of Contents

1. Main Characters2. Through the eyes of:

1. Beowulf2. Grendel

3. The Big Picture1. Similarities2. Differences

The Main Players

The Main Players

Through The Eyes of:

A comparison of the points of view of our characters from their respective novels.

TTEO: Beowulf

• Humans• Beowulf- The Perfect Hero

• Noble, courageous, selfless, and intelligent

• Unferth-Boastful Coward• Killed his own father, lboastful

and arrogant

• Hrothgar• Powerful king, Protected by G-d

• Monsters• Grendel

• Man-eating monster with demonic characteristics, primitive mind

• Grendel’s Mother• Cunning demonic beast, with

Amazonian strength

• Dragon• Completely inhuman beast, driven

by greed

TTEO: Grendel• Humans

• Beowulf- The Warrior• Superhuman, mechanical and

calculating being

• Unferth-Boastful Coward• Killed his own father, boastful

and arrogant

• Hrothgar• Strange human warlord, but

cunning and intelligent

• Monsters• Grendel

• Half man half beast with intelligent thoughts and strong emotions

• Grendel’s Mother• Primitive beast driven purely by

instinct

• Dragon• Terrifying mythical beast with

omnipotent knowledge, possible figment of Grendel’s imagination/psyche

The Big Picture• Similarities

• Beowulf and Grendel both work through three stages of their journey• Grendel: Early Years, Self Discovery, and

Death• Beowulf: Grendel, Grendel’s Mother,

The Dragon

• Grendel’s mother is a primitive monster• “She'd forgotten all language long ago,

or maybe had never known any. I'd never heard her speak to the other shapes. (How I myself learned to speak I can't remember; it was a long, long time ago.)”

• Grendel is a highly intelligent being with complex thought.• Grendel’s thought are complex in their wording:

“Talking, talking, spinning a spell, pale skin of words that closes me in like a coffin. Not in a language that anyone any longer understands. Rushing, degenerate mutter of noises I send out before me wherever I creep, like a dragon burning his way through vines and fog.”

• Dragon is an omnipresent figure• "It happened, and you know it, but knowledge is

not cause. Of course! Anyone who argues otherwise is stupid ignoramus. Well, with me. My knowledge of the future does not cause the future. It merely sees it, exactly as creatures at your low level recall things past."

The Big Picture• Similarities

• Both stories draw allusions to both pagan and Christian mythologies.• Beowulf: Christian G-d protects the warriors

against the pagan beast• Grendel: Christian G-d with allusions in each

chapter to astrology.

• Unferth is an arrogant fool• Beowulf: "I don't recall hearing any glorious

deeds of yours, except that you murdered your brothers. You'll prowl the stalagmites of hell for that, friend Unferth—clever though you are“

• Grendel: he is "darkness made visible" (97) and "ugly as a spider" (103)

• Differences• The style of the stories

• Beowulf is an epic poem told from the POV of a storyteller

• Grendel is a first person narrative told from the POV of Grende.

• Most obviously: Grendel is painted as a villain in Beowulf but is a anti-hero/protagonist in Grendel.

Last thoughts/commentary