Rafael Zardain

British lit. Monsters

Comparative Analysis
Grendel, the same character, the same story, but with two completely different
interpretations. This is the main and most evident difference between the 6 th
century epic poem, where the character first appears, and the more modern
interpretation of that story.
In the epic poem we se a Grendel that is fierce, monstrous and almost
devil-like. A human devourer that has been condemned since his birth. “Till the
monster stirred, that demon, that fiend, Grendel who haunted the moors, the
wild/Marshes, and made his home in a hell not hell but hell on earth. He was
spawned in that slime Of Cain” (pg26)
The imagery and diabolic allusions make the character perfect for the kind of
story he is in, a hero vs. monster. For this contrast to work correctly the hero has
to possess almost superhuman traits and achievements, and be charming and
likable in the process. On the other side, the monster has to be the complete
opposite, dark, evil and hungry for blood. This to inflate the hero’s glory, when
our hero inevitably defeats the monster.
To boast the now established evil of the monster with his actions, the
author turns to the personality of the creature and the justification of his actions.
“The monster relished his savage war On the Danes, keeping the bloody feud
Alive, seeking no peace, offering No truce, accepting no settlement, no price”
(pg28) This analysis of the monster further reveals the evil and darkness,
making the monster a very unlikable character and setting it up as an almost
target for the hero to defeat.

In the modern interpretation of the poem we see a completely different

side of our main villain. The author cleverly switched perspectives and puts the
reader behind the eyes of the monster and we get a first person view of
Grendel’s feelings and his real reasons for being how he is. “I understood that
the world was nothing: a mechanical chaos of casual, brute enmity on which we
stupidly impose our hopes and fears” (pg21) . Here Grendel’s poor view of the
world is evident, the creature hates the environment he grew up in, clearly
isolated from anything else and blames humans for further complicating an
already complex but at the same time dull machine. We can infer that his
extreme isolation can cause hatred and remorse for the rest of the population
that live in company and happily. As he said in page 22 “I understood that, finally
and absolutely I alone exist”. Grendel can perfectly see the problem of his
position in life, as a bitter lonely creature ousted for life.