GRENDEL BY JOHN GARDNER Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

GRENDEL BY JOHN GARDNER - Essay ExampleInGrendel,however, he is an intelligent and temperamental monster, opened of rational thought as well as irrational outbursts of emotion. The novel follows Grendel through three stages of his life. The beginning stage is his childhood, which he spends innocently exploring his confined world, untroubled by the outside universe or philosophic questions.The second step, which decisively makes Grendel an adult, occurs when the bull attacks him, prompting him to realize that the world is essentially chaotic, following no practice session and governed by no discernible reason. The third and final stage of Grendels life encompasses his fatal dispute with Beowulf and the weeks leading up to that battle.In this reading, Gardner establishes Grendel as a dark, but poetic spectator to mans pretensions to civilization (Merrill 164). For instance, Grendel has observed Hrothgars rise to power, so he offers a sardonic account of how rove bands evolved into savage tribes. Grendel is also contemptuous of the manufacturing businesss influence on Hrothgars men, and he asks Did they execution each other more gently because in the woods sweet songbirds sang? (Gardner 62). This is where he emphasizes the monstrous allure of art, that is, he exposes the irrepressible human tendency to substitute unpleasant realities with consolatory myths (Merrill 165). The Shaper, for example, tells the Danes stories of their heritage so that the Danes learn to see themselves within a certain moral context, as inheritors of a proud usage and consequently feel a need to adhere to the strict moral and ethical code that the Shaper has established.This crystal clear vision of what they need to believe in to make their world a meaningful one comforts them. They feel safe in a world which offers a clear banknote and role assignment kings are kings, warriors are warriors and monsters are monsters. Unlike them, Grendel is not oblivious to the fact that what the y