The Depiction of the Dragon

    After first meeting him, two things stuck with me about the description of the Dragon: his voice and his eyes. When Grendel firsts meets this powerful creature, he is surprised, as I was, by his voice. “The voice was startling. No rolling boom, as I would have expected, but a voice that might have come from an old, old man. Louder, of course, but not much louder” (58). The second thing that stood out to me was the first description of his eyes: “His eyes were heavy-lidded, minutely veined, wrinkled like an elderly mead-drinker’s” (58). Though the descriptions vary through the encounter, his eyes and voice are repeatedly described. One thing that struck me as unexpected was the fact that, repeatedly, the dragon is both described as an old man and “…like an old drunk…” (59) His knowledge and power could easily make him a wise old man that people go to for advice. Instead, his tired, old eyes, soft voice, and drunk-like nature paint a picture of someone so burdened by the weight of the knowledge of the world that they seek to drown it out by being drunk. I feel like this depiction made me much more willing to accept and like the character of the dragon as it humbled him. While the words he spoke were belittling and perhaps a bit rude towards humanity, his demeanor redeemed him. He was to me a wise old man able to see all of time and space who had, more or less, given up on caring much anymore and preferred to spend his days sitting on his piles of wealth awaiting the day “…a certain man will absurdly kill [him]” (70).

    After Grendel leaves the dragon, his scent is mentioned many times after. His smell didn’t surprise me or give me any insight into the dragon, whereas his voice and eyes did. What I’m wondering about is why, after hardly mentioning it at all in their meeting, the dragon’s smell (similar to that of dragons in other literature) is what Gardner chose to reference time and time again? What does the scent do to remind us of this character and his effects on Grendel?