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Post by racheladele on Jul 26, 2013 20:45:48 GMT
One very common, repeated reference that I noticed throughout the book is wolves. Almost every chapter contains a thought of Grendel’s revolving around these wild, sad-eyed dogs. Not only are they many places in the forests, but wolves are also used as similes for many things, comparing Grendel, horses and humans alike. A few examples include: - "I lived those years, as do all young things, in a spell. Like a puppy nipping, playfully growling preparing for battle with wolves" (Gardner 16).
- "They marched all night, then scattered into the forest like wolves and slept all day without fires" (Gardner 96).
- "Violence no more legitimate than that of a wolf's" (Gardner 114).
These references makes sense to me, because although Grendel can speak and feel human emotions, he also shares many characteristics with wolves. He lives in the forest, hunting methodically, observing the world with light footsteps until the time comes to attack. So my question is this: Is Grendel more human than animal, or vice versa? Watching the humans for so long, he begins to cuss with their words, but still goes wild with instinct at the slightest provocation. His relationship with his mother reminds me of one between a human teenager and parent, as Grendel is still reliant but wants out. Chasing the mountain goat, he could kill it with one thoughtless swipe, but instead he plays a cunning game. When he narrates his own story like a script, Grendel calls himself a monster, which makes me wonder, if you think he is more human than animal, how would Grendel react to being told such a thing? |
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Post by Lauren on Aug 3, 2013 18:55:32 GMT
Grendel is a complicated character who jumps back and forth between his human and monster characteristics. There are qualities about him which scream monster, such as his appearance, his dietary habits, and his ruthlessness. It is undeniable, however, that he has human like qualities. Some attributes that make us human are emotions, culture, use of tools, language, memory, learning, and intelligence. Although at first glance one would expect to find these words only describing a human,they also describe many species of animals. For example, the common domesticated dog learns to communicate with its owner through simple commands. Dogs know the meaning of 'sit', 'stay', 'speak' and countless others. They, along with other species, can also be taught names and many other actions that require a memory. Dogs are also in-tune with their owner's feelings and have been known to act with similar sadness that its owner may be feeling. All of these examples point to dogs having human like characteristics, yet there is one key difference: Dogs are animals.
Grendel is an animal, there is no denying that. I do agree, however, that he has characteristics that make him act like a human. During an interaction with Unferth, Grendel uses a common language to communicate, leading Unferth to come to the realization that "'You can talk!'"(Gardner 83). Grendel not only uses a human language but also has human emotions such as crying, anger, and laughter. Gardner writes, "I was afraid I was about to sob. I wanted to smash things, bring down the night with my howl of rage" (Gardner 100). His clear expressions of emotion invites the reader to sympathize with him. This empathy makes the reader feel as if he or she is learning about a human character instated of a monster. This does not, however, make him human. We cannot see what transpires inside the brains of animals, and therefore have no way of knowing how a typical animal would react to a similar situation. This may be the usual way animals process feelings. So although Grendel has thoughts, memory, emotion, and other human attributes, he fails to have something that sets him apart from any other animal. Just because he has a voice box capable of saying "You're crazy...You're a fucking lunatic" (Gardner 171) does not mean that he is a human being. His physicality, thirst for blood, and animal instincts leave Grendel an animal, something he could never overcome.
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Post by pjharris on Aug 7, 2013 1:59:17 GMT
I am more inclined to think that Grendel, while strongly animalistic, could be argued to be more human. I say this for the reason of the Infinite Monkey Theorem. It is said that if you put a monkey at a typewriter and have it type out keys at random for an infinite amount of time, at some point it is bound to produce a legitimate text, even eventually one of Shakespeare's master works. This states that a monkey, an animal, could do the same thing humans can do; the difference being that an animal would take many tries to do this, if at all ever in a realistic time. Humans can make a coherent text on the spot like I am doing now, and like everyone has been doing here all summer. Grendel writes peotry, "Hrothgar speaks: I have dreamt it again: standing suddenly still/In a thicket, among wet trees, stunned, minutely/Shuddering, hearing a wooden echo escape (etc)" (123) and he sees the actions of the people and consciously creates them into "scenes", "SCENE: The Arrival of Hrothful at Hart" (112), "SCENE: Hrothulf in the Yard" (113), "SCENE: The Queen Beside Hrothulf's Bed" (116). He can even apply legitimate theories to situations and contemplates intellectually on them, not just repeating simple phrases, "Theorum: Any action (A) of the human heart must trigger an equal and opposite reaction (A1). Such is the golden opinion of the Shaper" (113).
So my thinking is, he is not just repeating phrases or a "lingo", but he creates intellectual pieces and applies form and poetry. He does this on purpose and on the spot unlike the Infinite Monkeys who do them by chance and unknowingly if ever at all.
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Post by anaritter on Aug 23, 2013 3:14:28 GMT
I think that Grendel, without a doubt, is more human than animal, because throughout Gardner's book and the original Beowulf text, Grendel essentially embodies every issue, every behavior, and every natural instinct that he sees in humans. He closely observes human behavior, and his fascination with it leads to those behaviors manifesting themselves in him. His tendency to conform to his environment overrides his natural, animalistic state of being.
This sense of understanding and relation to the behaviors of humans itself indicates a sort of inclination to humanistic ways. And his ability to mimic the behaviors he sees indicates that he has the capacity to consciously and subconsciously change his own behaviors, just like humans. He imitates the way they speak, the way they fight, the way their emotions are triggered and manifested, and even is attracted to human females.
Furthermore, he ultimately regards his mother as disgusting, monstrous and primitive. Animals with low intelligence levels universally have a definite instinct to respect and revere their mothers - the mother is the fundamental protector, the example from which to learn all essential behaviors and skills. But Grendel rejects his mother for the traits that make her an animal. He makes a decision to form his behaviors to match that of humans', and strays from the traits that make he and his mother animals. That decision in itself is human.
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Post by jamiezimmerman on Aug 30, 2013 21:43:41 GMT
We can all agree that Grendel is part monster - he feasts on the body of animals and takes delight in massacring humans.
However, Grendel displays an incredible capacity for human characteristics: (1) emotion, (2) language, and (3) appreciation for art. Firstly, Grendel speaks as thoughtfully and personably as many of us do. Humans feel generally positive or generally negative emotions, and Grendel experiences these same feelings as well, though his are dramatized as he feels either despondent gloom or raging euphoria. He falls deep into despair when he screams, "with another quick, nasty face at the sky, mournfully observing the way it is, bitterly remembering the way it was, and idiotically casting tomorrow's nets... It was not always like this, of course. On occasions it's been worse" (Gardner 7). Later when he attacks the humans in the final scene, he is, "Swollen with excitement, bloodlust, and joy and a strange fear that mingle in my chest like the twisting rage of a bone-fire.... I can hardly believe my luck, and my wild heart laughs... I am blazing, half-crazy with joy" (Gardner 167-168). Non-human animals do indeed feel emotion at major events like the loss of a mate or family member, but emotions as potent as these are allusive to human characteristics. Secondly, Grendel can understand the language of humans, when other creatures (like his mother) cannot. When he is trapped between the two trees, Grendel hears the men speak and thinks, "The sounds were foreign at first, but when I calmed myself, concentrating, I found I understood them: it was my own language, but spoken in a strange way, as if the sounds were made by brittle sticks, dried spindles, flaking bits of shale" (Gardner 23). This is not to mention that Grendel can even communicate back to some humans: Unferth and Ork both individually converse with Grendel. Lastly, Grendel is deeply touched by the Shaper's music, fleeing into the night after experiencing music for the first time.
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