I love your take on hero vs. villain and how both are important to the epic as we know it. Grendel was just following his place in the epic and we don't get to see his side of the story. I felt sympathetic with Grendel's mother most of all. If we strip her completely of her monster status that the epic illustrates her as, I think we can see her as a human being as Morton suggests. Was Grendel a greedy being who inflicted violence horribly on other beings? Yes? Did he also have a mother who showed her love and despair when he was killed? Yes. This is why I also don't fault her for taking out one of the most important people to Hrothgar because arguably, the most important person was taken from her.
I love your line "Beowulf and Grendel both die." How final, stark, and true; their ends are the same, so why not treat them the same? I like your line of thinking here, how cyclical history and literature is, and while we've heard the "history is told by the winners" speech time and time again, you push us to think about the inner-workings of the cycle and the consequences of a broader lens. Thank you for your thoughts!
Hi Jeremy! Another great post. I especially enjoyed your mention of connection. I'm a firm believer in human-to-human connection and everything else in between. I think literature can serve that purpose too: to remind us that we are all connected to each other and to the world around us. I appreciate focusing on connection between people instead of focusing on differences. Unpopular opinion: I think Olympic games and other sporting events should be viewed as a reason to believe that extraordinary people can come from anywhere. Finding connection in this world is what makes us human, and it is becoming more important to focus on our connections with each sunrise. I loved this post! Thank you for sharing! I look forward to your next post :)
The concept of Beowulf and Grendel being on "equal footing" as you said is an interesting concept to me. As many will agree, to read Beowulf in modern time is to understand him as a monster and only that; however, you put a different light on that and after rereading..it makes sense. Excellent!
Very interesting thought on the idea as more perceiving Grendel asa a person rather than a monster. I hadn't really put much thought into Grendel being anything more than a foe or obstacle for Beowulf to conquer.
Jeremy, this is an excellent post! Your questions surrounding the "alien spirit" (Donoghue & Heaney 23, l. 806) of Grendel is certainly a pertinent one. What does this admission mean in terms of the status of this creature and its hopes regarding afterlife? The poet has, of course, connected Grendel to the "banished monsters" (Donoghue & Heaney 6, l. 105) of "Cain's clan" (6, l. 106), and has thus intermingled the Christian view of history with this legend. Can the creature not be forgiven? Can it not be redeemed? Are all members of this bloodline forever "condemned as outcasts" (Donogue & Heaney 6, l. 107)? Thanks for the great addition to the discussion!
Works Cited
Donoghue, Daniel, editor. Beowulf: A Verse Translation. Translated by
I love your take on hero vs. villain and how both are important to the epic as we know it. Grendel was just following his place in the epic and we don't get to see his side of the story. I felt sympathetic with Grendel's mother most of all. If we strip her completely of her monster status that the epic illustrates her as, I think we can see her as a human being as Morton suggests. Was Grendel a greedy being who inflicted violence horribly on other beings? Yes? Did he also have a mother who showed her love and despair when he was killed? Yes. This is why I also don't fault her for taking out one of the most important people to Hrothgar because arguably, the most important person was taken from her.
I love your line "Beowulf and Grendel both die." How final, stark, and true; their ends are the same, so why not treat them the same? I like your line of thinking here, how cyclical history and literature is, and while we've heard the "history is told by the winners" speech time and time again, you push us to think about the inner-workings of the cycle and the consequences of a broader lens. Thank you for your thoughts!
Hi Jeremy! Another great post. I especially enjoyed your mention of connection. I'm a firm believer in human-to-human connection and everything else in between. I think literature can serve that purpose too: to remind us that we are all connected to each other and to the world around us. I appreciate focusing on connection between people instead of focusing on differences. Unpopular opinion: I think Olympic games and other sporting events should be viewed as a reason to believe that extraordinary people can come from anywhere. Finding connection in this world is what makes us human, and it is becoming more important to focus on our connections with each sunrise. I loved this post! Thank you for sharing! I look forward to your next post :)
The concept of Beowulf and Grendel being on "equal footing" as you said is an interesting concept to me. As many will agree, to read Beowulf in modern time is to understand him as a monster and only that; however, you put a different light on that and after rereading..it makes sense. Excellent!
Very interesting thought on the idea as more perceiving Grendel asa a person rather than a monster. I hadn't really put much thought into Grendel being anything more than a foe or obstacle for Beowulf to conquer.
Jeremy, this is an excellent post! Your questions surrounding the "alien spirit" (Donoghue & Heaney 23, l. 806) of Grendel is certainly a pertinent one. What does this admission mean in terms of the status of this creature and its hopes regarding afterlife? The poet has, of course, connected Grendel to the "banished monsters" (Donoghue & Heaney 6, l. 105) of "Cain's clan" (6, l. 106), and has thus intermingled the Christian view of history with this legend. Can the creature not be forgiven? Can it not be redeemed? Are all members of this bloodline forever "condemned as outcasts" (Donogue & Heaney 6, l. 107)? Thanks for the great addition to the discussion!
Works Cited
Donoghue, Daniel, editor. Beowulf: A Verse Translation. Translated by
Seamus Heaney, W.W. Norton and Company, 2019.