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Power
Jul 15, 2013 4:15:30 GMT
Post by kevinle on Jul 15, 2013 4:15:30 GMT
It seems to me that Grendel has a large appetite for power. He regularly pays "visits" to the humans, boasting his strength and invulnerability by taking many lives. Furthermore, he shows great arrogance in his confrontations with humans. For example, he belittled human heroes and treated them as weak, lowly beings.
However, near the beginning of chapter 6, Grendel mentions the dragon's charm; no weapon could cut him. He said, "I could walk up to the meadhall whenever I pleased, and they were powerless. My heart became darker because of that. Though I scorned them, sometimes hated them, there had been something between myself and men when we could fight. Now, invulnerable, I was as solitary as one live tree in a vast landscape of coal" (76). This creates a conflict; Grendel exploits this power to the maximum, making more and more trips to disrupt human gatherings, yet it can be inferred that the new strength is undesirable.
My question is this... Does Grendel's desire for power have a ceiling? How much power does Grendel wish he has?
As said with a lot of things... too much of a good thing is a bad thing. But Grendel takes two contrasting images to the extremes and it leaves me a bit confused about his intentions.
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amychen
New Member
“But the wild things cried, “Oh please don’t go—we’ll eat you up—we love you so!”
Posts: 47 
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Power
Jul 15, 2013 22:00:15 GMT
Post by amychen on Jul 15, 2013 22:00:15 GMT
Grendel's thirst for power is not exclusive to Grendel, as we can see in situations like the Stanford Prison Experiment, which Sheridan brought up and aptly described in the thread "Grendel's insanity (?)" (http://lincolnsheaven.freeforums.net/thread/12/grendels-insanity):
This experiment showed how having power led to the want for more power and the want to abuse said power. So, to answer your question, no, I don't think Grendel's desire for power has a ceiling. As I pointed out in another thread, Grendel attempts to give the appearance of controlling his fate even toward death, when he says "my voluntary tumble into death" (152), despite his obvious lack of desire to die.
And, Although Grendel appears to be unhappy in the quote you provided, those who are power-hungry are not always seeking to be happy but to be entertained. I can't find the quote because we have different copies of the book, but I believe that page 76 is probably somewhere in the middle of your book---after which Grendel becomes more creative in his methods of torture, an indicator that he has started to deal with his power in a method that calls for acquiring more power. This is likely a result of his inability to gain pleasure from other sources. In the beginning, for example, Grendel searches for friendship and food but is quickly faced with injuries and attacks. Finding that he cannot find adequate companionship in either the humans or his own mother, he turns toward the search for power.
Grendel accepts his position bestowed on him by a representative of fate, the dragon: to "...improve them...Scare him to glory!'" (62). Suddenly, he becomes like the dictators we despise, such as Mao and Stalin---believing he is acting toward some reasonable purpose while his actions are perceived as monstrosities.
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Power
Jul 16, 2013 2:47:58 GMT
Post by patricktbutenhoff on Jul 16, 2013 2:47:58 GMT
I don't think that Grendel really has a desire for power. While he does have immense power, that power is a "curse" placed on him by the dragon; he has no say in the matter. He doesn't even want to be invincible ("I misunderstood in the beginning: I thought it an advantage" (76)). To Grendel, the ultimate goal is not to be powerful enough to do whatever he wants; he gets that, but it brings him no joy. What Grendel wants, more than anything, is togetherness: to not be stranded alone in the world. (His mom doesn't count.) When he receives the invincibility curse, he loses any hope of this. It was already obvious that Grendel couldn't be one of the humans; without any useful form of communication, the difference between the two was too great for them to be on good terms. But at least before the curse, the humans are a legitimate source of excitement and entertainment for Grendel. When they battle, at least Grendel is getting some interpersonal interaction, and he isn't totally lonely. Lifted above the level of humans, Grendel is entirely alone in the world. There is nothing entertaining about the raids; Grendel can do whatever he wants with no risk. It's a bit like what happens when the Alabama football team plays Middle Tennessee State. It is boring, suspenseless, not even close, and wholly unfulfilling for both sides. Grendel is gaining no power or anything else from the raids; he is merely choosing to exert his strength. It's like raiding the pantry because you're bored; as Amy said, Grendel is (futilely) doing something--anything--just so he doesn't die of boredom. That's why it's almost a victory for Grendel when Beowulf's crew arrives. One, Grendel has an equal for once, and two, there is actually something at stake for Grendel's raid. It is beneficial for Grendel to have this loss of relative power.
I wouldn't say it's power Grendel desires as much as interaction and entertainment. Grendel's newfound power is actually a curse that separates him from the humans. He just happens to exert this power in order to regain some of the pleasure he previously derived from interacting with mankind.
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Power
Jul 16, 2013 4:07:50 GMT
Post by billfeng on Jul 16, 2013 4:07:50 GMT
(just a quick reply, won't count for anything) I find the theme of fate between humanity and Grendel to be a pretty engaging topic to discuss about. No offense, but there's been too many "What If?" scenarios on the forum. I'll put one of these "Fate" threads up. |
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