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Many see the monster Grendel, for what he is, a monster. After all, he has taken many lives and has committed cardinal sins. However, in his final fight against Beowulf he can be seen as the victim, his thoughts reshape but also reconfirm that the dragon was the one who changed him. In the novel ‘Grendel’ by John Gardener, Gardener emphasizes the changes of Grendel’s identity and purpose over the course of his battle with Beowulf through the employment of direct characterization and references to solipsism. Which in turn highlights the philosophy of second chances, where in reality people are hesitant to offer second chances to things that have been solidified in their mind.
Before the dragon’s idiotic ‘teachings’, Grendel was just a misinterpreted being. Gardner emphasizes this while using zodiac signs, one in each chapter, to directly convey Grendel’s thoughts and emotions. For example, in Chapter 1, Gardner starts with the zodiac sign of Aries, the ram, as Grendel scares away a ram that entered his land which presents the recurrent meaning of Grendel’s existence; that he is forever entombed within the “pale walls of dreams” (Gardner, p.8). As zodiac traits are said to exhibit personality traits of the individual each chapter Gardner adds and removes a trait. For example, in Chapter 5, Gardner employs Leo, the lion, linked to the trait of being vivacious, or seeking attention. The dragon offers to fill this void in Grendel by offering him a role to play, a role that shifts Grendel’s existentialist views to a more extreme version, Nihilism. “‘Nothing’, he said. ‘A brief pulsation in the black hole of my eternity’”. Offering the idea that there is nothing, life is meaningless in contrast to Grendel’s views before where he believed that he had independence in declaring any meaning. This adding and removing views and traits deeply confuse Grendel about his role in society, his role in existence. This compels him to kill humans as a type of relief from his confusion. During his days of killing humans, he gains a liking toward his malicious acts, not because he enjoys the pain and the agony that the humans suffer, but because it offers in temporary relief from his problems, he longer has to think about his role in this world.
Grendel, cruel, apathetic, is what one would describe him as before reading his fight with Beowulf. Grendel inevitably will die, but that does not mean he cannot change in that time. During Grendel’s fight against Beowulf, the physical fight corresponds with his internal struggle to experience reality without giving into what he sensibly knows are illusions. For example, when Beowulf grabs Grendel’s hand, Grendel feels the weight and strength of his opponent and sees a familiar face, “his hand still closed like a dragon’s jaw on my arm… He has wings”. Beowulf and the dragon are depicted as parallels in this situation, which references the drastic change the Grendel underwent after meeting the dragon, the same is going to occur during his battle with Beowulf. Also, not only did Beowulf’s physical description reference the past but so did his words. His words “lick at Grendel, like chilly fire” as “flames slip out at the corners of his mouth” (Gardner, p.170) However, Grendel does not accept Beowulf’s whispers as they are opposites from the identity and purpose that was bestowed upon him by the dragon. This is parallel to his past, where the dragon’s so-called ‘teachings’ were at first rejected by Grendel but slowing consumed him and he later conformed to them, but in this situation Beowulf’s ‘teachings’ are so profound and radically heroic that Grendel who begins to conform mentally cannot as the ‘teachings’ are too farfetched for his mind as he dies. Grendel having lived for so long with the philosophy of solipsism, “I alone exist” (Gardner, p.22) Not being able to change his thinking, all because of the dragon’s false ‘teachings’ cannot cause one to feel anything but pity, pity for Grendel as he couldn’t understand the human race, pity for Grendel as he couldn’t live up to his original dream of one day living amongst the humans, pity for Grendel, a monster, who was always seen as an obscene creature but was really just misunderstood. Doesn’t he deserve a second chance?
‘Grendel’ by John Gardner is a different take on the old literary classic. Allowing one to sympathize and see a point of view that one could not see just by reading ‘Beowulf’. Hearing the ‘villains’ side of the story always makes a story more interesting, it transforms the story into one that people have to think about their stance and position, and although Grendel creates an image for himself at the beginning of the story, a murderer, this does not define him. What defines him is how he leaves this earth, what defines him is his legacy, and although this legacy involves killing it also involves the internal and philosophical struggle that he goes through. Gardner employs direct characterization and the philosophical idea of solipsism to highlight the fact that beings deserve second chances, they deserve another try at life, to right their wrongs.
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