grendel essay

                  

            The protagonist and antagonist of a story are determined by perspective, actions, and state of mind. I believe Grendel is both, throughout the story he constantly changes perspectives and takes new action thus making him a dual sided character. In the beginning he has a thirst for curiosity, almost like a child. As he matures and interacts with different characters he begins to find his true purpose and decides for himself what he has to do.

            In observer does not hurt anyone and Grendel was just curious as to how humans behave. Being the protagonist at this point, he observes the disgusting ill mannered behavior that humans label normal and right. He is a child being influenced in a negative way and this foreshadows his change. If Grendel was truly innocent in the beginning of the novel, which he was, then his perspective was obviously changed after encountering certain things. The dragon enlightened Grendel as to what his longed for purpose was. It said that Grendel needs is meant to wreak havoc on the Danes and torture Hrothgar until he dies. Grendel realized that he is enchanted with a spell that makes him invulnerable to weapons and that pushes him to finally confront the humans. At this point he is now the antagonist and enjoys killing and causing chaos in the mead-hall. His power and the way he is uses it reminds me of an evil villain trying to triumph over his arch-nemesis. Grendel’s innocence returns as he spares Unferth because once again his views are challenged. He cannot stop pondering why this man pursues him knowing he will die. After hearing why Unferth acts the way he does Grendel takes pity upon him and brings him back to Herot alive. This is symbolic to how a human can change his views in an instant if something is impactful enough.

            Grendle’s constant shifts from protagonist to antagonist left him with a weak resolve. He set out to do certain things but failed because he did not follow through. He could not be just an observer because he ended up interacting with the humans and he failed to torture the Danes and Hrothgar because he allowed Beowulf to kill him. Grendel is a failure. He fails because he never found one goal to devote all of his energy to, but instead he constantly changed perspectives and acted on impulse.

Evil and Free Will

Evil is not a problem in life, it is a condition of living. Evil is a representation of how unachievable perfection is. Crime, violence, and other forms of evil are present so that absolute perfection is never reached. Perfection for Grendel would be peaceful nights lacking the noise of drunken warriors, but the warriors will always drink and yell at night. It all starts in the beginning, humans are born imperfect whether it is a mental defect or a weakness some never have the chance of being close to perfection to begin with. Evil is not always pure and intended, a common person can decide to drink, drive, and take a life by complete accident. Is that not evil? I believe evil is when someone severely hurts someone else in a way that will change them forever.

Evil is explained and dictated by a human’s free will. The ability to make a decision believing it is your own can lead to evil. Revenge is the chief path that can sway an individual to committing a heinous act. The victim who lost their child in the accident involving the drunk driver could chose revenge and create evil. Free will is the power that allows for the emotions hate, happiness, jealousy, and the words greed and selfishness to come to life. A man, who must support his family, steals an elderly woman’s purse. He chose to commit the evil but was it justified? The concept of free will is decision making. Decisions made have ramifications; they can be either negative or positive, but a certainty behind these ramifications is that the decider is solely responsible for the outcome. Man could have been placed on earth to find his place in society by making his own choices. Humans would not have been created with the ability to make choices if the choices did not impact themselves and the world around them greatly.

poetry paragraph *

In the peom "Imperial Adam" by A.D. Hope their is stanza thats says, "This plump gourd severed from his virile root, she promised on the turf of paradise. Delicoius pulp of the forbidden fruit; sly as the snake she loosened her sinuos thighs." This stanza tells me about the strength of a man's desire and how a woman can manipulate them. Asam desires sex and the woman is offering it to him. She "promises delicious pulp of the forbidden fruit." After offering what Adam wants she decides to take it herself in the form of seduction. She is sly as the snake and loosens her thighs, but being a snale tells me that she coiled her thighs around his neck. A woman has the power to seduce a man and men have the reverse power as well, but it is not nearly to the extent of a woman.

Poetry paragraph