grendelby

john gardener

act 1: plot overview• who is Grendel?• who did he live with for the first twelve years of his life?• who is Grendel’s only companion?• what does Grendel swim through to reach human civilization?• during Grendel’s first expedition, what does he get stuck in? What

attacks him? Who saves him?• who is the leader of the humans?• who/what inspires Hroathgar to build a mead hall?• who does Grendel visit after becoming disillusioned by the Shaper?• in what way is the Dragon nihilistic?• does Grendel accept or deny the Dragon’s worldview?• what happens to Grendel’s physical body after he meets with the Dragon?• what does Grendel do after he meets with the Dragon? Who is Unferth?• Hygmod gives what to Hroathgar in order to avoid war?• how does Wealtheow’s arrival change the dynamic of Hart?• what dispels Grendel’s interest in Wealtheow?• who is Ork? what can Ork see?• who pretends to be “the Destroyer”?• who is the leader of the Geats? how do the Geats arrive? why are they present?• who does Grendel attack at Hart?• how does Beowulf intimidate Grendel during the fight?• Beowulf demands that Grendel “sing of ______”after he smashes his head into a

wall.• Who wins the fight?

act 2: movie timestudents will watch the following film clips

and hold a discussion regarding the general themes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBV6Yal_rOc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJwOdr16www

act 3: character studyBeowulf: “strength of thirty thanes” “Though you murder the world...strong searching roots will crack your cave and rain will cleanse it: The world will burn green, sperm build again. My promise. Time is the mind, the hand that makes (fingers on harpstrings, hero-swords, the acts, the eyes of queens). By that I kill you.”

Grendel: Monster with feelings. Cries like a child. Moved by poetry. Hero?

Mom: No language. Shadowy cave - ignorance?

Dragon: Real or figment? Nihilism. Solipsism. Chaos. “I think; therefore I exist.”

Hrothgar: What does he represent? Chaos vs Order.

Shaper Makes deeds of humanity seem even greater. Manipulate truth?

act 4: name that quote

quote 1“When I was a child I truly loved:Unthinking love as calm and deepAs the North Sea. But I have lived,And now I do not sleep.”

quote 2“I couldn't go on, too conscious all at once of my whispering, my eternal posturing, always transforming the world with words--changing nothing.”

quote 3“Tedium is the worst pain. The mind lays out the world in blocks, and the hushed blood waits for revenge. All order, I've come to understand, is theoretical, unreal - a harmless sensible, smiling mask men slide between the two great, dark realities, the self and the world - two snake pits.”

quote 4“So childhood too feels good at first, before one happens to notice the terrible sameness, age after age.”

quote 5“All systems are evil. All governments are evil. Not just a trifle evil. Monstrously evil.”

act 5: themesartists and society

death heroic death vs solipsism (murdering is meaningless if only you exist)

language and meaning