Grendel: Evil at Its Best
Hrothgar’s men lived happy in his hall/ Till the monster stirred, that demon, that fiend/… who haunted the moors, the wild/ Marshes, and mad his home in a hell/ Not hell but earth. He was spawned in that slime,/ Conceived by a pair of those monsters born/ Of Cain, murderous creatures banished/ By God, punished forever for the crime/ Of Abel’s death (15-23). His name is Grendel.
Part one of Beowulf, translated by Burton Raffel, tells the heroic adventures of a young warrior named Beowulf. When Beowulf hears of a powerful monster named Grendel who wreaks havoc in the mead-hall of Herot, killing and consuming King Hrothgar’s men, Beowulf must travel overseas from his homeland, Sweden, to the lands of Denmark in order to protect and save King Hrothgar and the Danes from the evil spirit. Although Beowulf boasts that he will rid the country of Grendel’s malevolence, Grendel may be a sinister force that can’t be destroyed.
[King Hrothgar] wept, fearing/ The beginning [of Grendel’s reign over the Danes] might not be the end… Grendel… so set/ On murder that no crime could ever be enough,/ No savage assault quench his lust for evil (48-53).
Grendel is the epitome of pure evil. This is proven by the observation of Grendel’s actions and motives, as well as King Hrothgar’s and the Danes’ reaction to Grendel’s brutal butchery among the community.
Grendel’s actions in Beowulf show that he is a malicious giant who gets pleasure from shedding the blood of the Danes’ warriors and igniting fear within the community. The warriors have just finished their drinking and are about to go to bed, hoping to see daylight when they awaken. Unfortunately, what the warriors didn’t know was that an evil monster was lurking in the night.
When darkness had dropped, Grendel/ Went up to Herot…. Found [the warriors]sprawled in sleep, suspecting/ Nothing, their dreams undisturbed…There in the silence/ [Grendel] snatched up thirty men, smashed them/ Unknowing in their beds, and ran out with their bodies, /… back to his lair, delighted with his night’s slaughter (30-40).
Grendel, heartless, sneaks to Herot in the middle of the night and terrorizes the Danes, who don’t want any trouble. Although the Danes just want to live in peace, Grendel’s solace comes from seeing the anguish of the Danes. As the community gets smaller and the country weakens in strength, King Hrothgar and the Danes cower in fear, as they realize that this may possibly be the end of them, as well as the end of humankind. Humanity lies in the palms of Grendel’s hell-forged hands.
King Hrothgar’s and the Danes’ reaction to Grendel’s murderous rampage shows that Grendel instills dread and panic among all of Denmark. It is daybreak, when King Hrothgar and the Danes aware themselves of the destruction that Grendel has caused in the mead-hall. Feasting and drinking turns into mourning of warriors and companions.
Herot/ Stood empty, and stayed deserted for years, / Twelve winters of grief for Hrothgar, king/ Of the Danes, sorrow heaped at his door/ By hell-forged hands. His misery leaped/ The seas, was told and sung in all/ Men’s ears… (60-66).
King Hrothgar and the Danes are filled with woe. “That agony hung/ On king and people alike, harsh/ And unending, violent and cruel, and evil” (106-108). For twelve winters, King Hrothgar and the Danes have had to endure Grendel’s merciless attacks. Now, all of those who live in Denmark fear that Grendel will stop at nothing to eradicate their country. Grendel’s dark soul threatens the existence of King Hrothgar, the Danes, and the rest of civilization.
Grendel’s hate for humanity fuels his evil wrath, but Grendel knows that his hate cannot triumph over God’s love for humans, which makes Grendel even angrier. Grendel’s reign of terror has lasted for twelve winters, and although he stalks King Hrothgar’s warriors in hopes of destroying Denmark, there seems to be a greater force stopping Grendel from finishing his evil deeds.
Mankind’s enemy continued his crimes, / Killing as often as he could, coming/ Alone, bloodthirsty and horrible. Though he lived/ In Herot, when the night hid him, he never/ Dared to touch king Hrothgar’s glorious/ Throne, protected by God – God,/ Whose love Grendel could not know (79-85).
Grendel’s only weakness is God. Although Grendel seeks to wipe out the human race, God is the protector of the humans, and Grendel knows that he won’t prevail.
The character of Grendel is portrayed as darkness. This is proven by analyzing Grendel’s actions and motives, as well as King Hrothgar’s and the Danes’ reaction to Grendel’s ruthless raids. Grendel is an evil monster that feeds off of the suffering of the Danes and enjoys making the lives of King Hrothgar and the Danes a living hell on earth. Filled with grief, King Hrothgar and the Danes fear that Grendel will reduce the human race to nothing. Grendel loathes humans. Even though Grendel has King Hrothgar and the Danes under his control, Grendel knows that he can’t touch King Hrothgar’s throne, which is blessed by God, making the sin-stained demon even more enraged. Grendel’s hate for humanity and his will to destroy all civilization is the reason why Grendel is the epitome of evil.
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