Although a whole paper could be devoted to the portrayal of Grendel in John Gardner's "Grendel" to that of the original text, "Beowulf," I wanted to point out a few key differences that separate the two.
In the original text, it is easy to find reasons to associate Grendel with a monster. For instance, Grendel attacks the mead hall on a nightly basis slaughtering the warriors inside. "He wanted no peace with any man of the Danish army, nor ceased his deadly hatred, nor settled with money" (p.58 lines 155-156). Grendel's monstrosity is not only contributed to his violent tendencies, but also as the footnote on page 58 states, he did not provide the families of his victims with "wergild." Moreover, Grendel lives in isolation from the established society. He does not participate in the life of Heorot. Nor does he choose to be part of the comitatus. Also, the poet of "Beowulf" repeatedly refers to Grendel as "mankind's foe" or "soul slayer" or "heathen," etc. However, the only physical characteristics the author gives to Grendel are quite ambiguous. "The other, misshapen, marched the exile's path of the form of a man, except that he was larger than any other" (94 lines 1351-1353). Could Grendel be a man exiled from society for being physically different from the Danish warriors? Could this isolation have caused Grendel to act out in such violent and destructive ways? Or is Grendel's monstrosity as simple as, being a descendent of Cain?
As readers, we are never allowed to enter into the mind of Grendel. We never even hear him speak. I think this is one of the reason's I keep going back to Gardner's novel in my mind. In some ways it’s refreshing to hear the story from Grendel's point of view. It leads to the question of whether or not Grendel can be considered more monstrous because we are never allowed access into his world. The only access we have is through the world of Heorot.
In "Grendel," we are given access to Grendel's world and the world of Heorot through Grendel's eyes. We are even given more physical descriptions of Grendel. "I shake my two hairy fists at the sky" (p.5) and "I had teeth like a saw” (p.17). However, the thing that makes Grendel monstrous in this novel is his nihilistic view of the world. "I understood that the world was nothing" (p.21). Unlike the world of Heorot and its dependence on the warrior community, Grendel does not even find a connection with his mother. Gardner seems to be saying that there is something extremely unsettling about not finding meaning in the world in which you inhabit. Grendel's inability to connect with anything in his world is disturbing to the point that one can consider Grendel monstrous.
2 comments:
Having not read the Gardner, I admit right now that I am probably ill equipped to comment on this one, but I find myself in agreement. Grendel's voice, his perspective, is in no way shared with the audience. Indeed, Beowulf is one of the clearest examples we have seen where those who are monstrous or other are denied their voices. I believe, however, that this was totally intentional, that while the Song of Roland provides some insight into the life and perspective of the other, it does so mostly to show the commonalities. Beowulf instead heightens the differences, showing the truth that the other is so often given the same treatment, and interestingly, it does so without a sense of judgment. Others do not speak; it is not about similarities in culture or motivations, when you are othered, you may as well not have the capacity for communication at all.
Similarly to Amelia I have not read Gardner, but I have read "Frankenstein". In the first part that novel we never hear the monster's voice, instead we are only given perspective on him by Victor Frankenstein. This others him in a similar way to Grendel's othering. Later in the novel, however, we are given the monster's story in his voice and what happens suddenly? He becomes sympathetic having been given a voice. I find that to be incredibly similar to giving Grendel a voice Gardner's novel. It truly is the easiest way to make someone into a monster, take away their ability to communicate and they simply become objects and unsympathetic beings.
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