Grendal's Evolvment and Human Similitude Advancement

Grendel initially seems a bit primitive with minimal human qualities/characteristics. However as time progresses, he seems to adopt intelligence along with the capability of rational thought. Often times throughout he may appear as human as the people he interacts with. His past supports this ambiguous characterization and development. He is a descendant of Cain and shares lineage with humans. Aside from his horrible appearance not much seems to separate him from humans. His brutality and violence isn’t too out of the ordinary as well. It seems similar in some ways to human violence depicted by Gardner.

            There seems to be a few stages that take part for Grendel. The first being his upbringing, spent mostly exploring. When we first see him it can be interpreted that he possesses intelligence. Also, he has the ability to speak and has freewill, this trait separates him from other monsters including his mother. In the beginning all he knew was himself and his close whereabouts. He says that he understands that the world was “nothing” and that “I alone exist”. (21). It seems once he comes across nature and animals, he discovers a world with much more than he once knew, including a dangerous side. He crosses over the lake (which to me is him crossing over to the next stage). This includes the wonderment of what life really is about and the meaning. I feel his way of attempting to get an answer stems from him observing humans. This seems to draw to him as he develops the capability of making patterns and inheriting these patterns onto the world before him, which creates a sense for him that the world follows a clear system with rules and order. The next stage of his life involves his battle with Beowulf and the time leading up to it. Their encounter seems to provide a violent resolution for Grendel’s quest.

His transformation from being alone and wishing to better himself/broaden his horizens makes for quite the ordeal. The way in which he does this also proves that he is an intelligent monster, capable of human like emotions and rational thinking/logic. In Beowulf I feel we only really see Grendel as his fully embraced evil self. From the story from Grendel’s perspective, this allows us to enter his mind and understand why it is he acts the way he does. It also allows us to take a second look at him, more than just how he was originally portrayed as completely evil.