He hears an old woman talking about a "hero" with unnatural abilities—and it excites him. Grendel suffers from major fatigue by the end of his story: he can no longer stand the stupidity of existence—the constant changing of the seasons, the everlasting idiocy of human plans, the lack of purpose or sense of free will in his own existence.
So when Grendel finds that a new guest is coming to the party, he gets pretty worked up. And no matter what Mommy says, he's not going to miss out on the biggest thing to happen to Hart in twelve years. He can't possibly resist. So what if it might be his last battle? He doesn't really believe that, anyway. Remember all that stuff about I alone exist? Grendel takes that pretty seriously. After all, Grendel's in a class by himself: he's got a dragon-charmed hide and monster strength, after all.
When he gets into it with Beowulf, he doesn't realize how evenly matched they will be in strength, and he's totally unprepared for his opponent's nasty, sadistic streak. On one of his early explorations he finds himself caught in a tree. A bull and then a band of humans attack Grendel before his mother rescues him. Grendel becomes fascinated with the world of men, watching from a safe distance as mankind evolves from a nomadic, tribal culture into a feudal system with roads, governments, and militaries.
He is alternately befuddled by their actions and disgusted by their wasteful, brute violence. Grendel watches as Hrothgar of the Danes also known as the Scyldings, after an illustrious ancestor develops into the most powerful king in the area.
Grendel, increasingly upset by his split feelings about the Shaper, visits a dragon in search of some advice. The dragon belittles the Shaper and declares all moral and philosophical systems pointless and irrelevant.
Grendel gradually adopts this worldview and becomes enraged at the humans. He begins to raid Hart systematically, initiating the twelve-year war. Other kings increasingly threaten Hrothgar, who preemptively tries to attack one of them: Hygmod, king of the Helmings.
In order to avoid a war, Hygmod offers Hrothgar the hand of his sister, Wealtheow, in marriage. Hrothgar accepts, and Wealtheow becomes the much beloved queen of the Scyldings, bringing a new sense of peace and harmony to the vulgar, masculine world of Hart. The lovely queen briefly enraptures Grendel, and only a nighttime attack and a cold, misogynistic look at her genitals rids him of her spell.
Whether you make it a grave or a garden of roses is not the point. Now sing of walls! Stories create their own realities. They create graves, gardens—even walls. We make the world by language, by stories. And the worlds we make are both within our control and beyond it, just as stories themselves leap beyond our abilities as writers, readers, and critics to tame or contain them. Grendel lives beyond the opinions of its creator, and that is because it is in contact with something alive, something that resists naming, and taming.
And one of the things human beings enjoy most is discovery. So may you all. Created by Grove Atlantic and Electric Literature. By Andrew DeYoung. Andrew DeYoung book criticism craft and criticism criticism Grendel John Gardner moral fiction morality.
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