While watching the film Aliens, it is easy to link these
hideous beings with Grendel purely because of the monster element. While they
may be similar in the sense of being violent, murderous and having a protective
mommy that tries to save the day, the person who matches Grendel in an
emotional sense is Burke. It is clear that Burke doesn’t physically look like a
monster and is actually a well-dressed, clean cut business man, but his
emotional state is so terrifying it basically makes him worse than a monster.
He’s calculating, deceitful, and a complete traitor. Grendel never betrayed his
own kind for his benefit, so which one is actually worse here?
At the beginning, Burke makes it seem like he wants to
befriend Ripley and even offers her a way to get her license back, so the
audience sees him as a positive influence in the movie. At the beginning of
Grendel’s story, he is a child who doesn’t see to do much harm until he meets
humans. He’s not so much a positive figure, but not as negative yet. In a
sense, both characters are seen as harmless in the beginning of their tales. As
the works progress, their true colors are shown.
For one, both characters are extremely self-centered and
evil. Burke’s plans are solely surrounded around making maximum profit for
himself no matter who has to die or get hurt. Grendel’s plans are purely
centered on his entertainment and he also accomplishes this by destroying other
people’s happiness. It’s also quite
peculiar that both of them prey on a child at some point in the story. Burke
tries to impregnate Newt by locking her and Ripley in a room with the face-huggers.
Grendel similarly torments kids as mentioned: “A shadow looms over them (mine)
and they’re gone forever”(Gardner 142). The point is, they both have no sense
of pity for the innocence of children, which basically makes them the worst
people ever.
Once again, these two are eerily similar in a way much worse
than killing or physically hurting people. It is far worse to be a monster in
an emotional sense because usually your victim doesn’t even see you coming. It
is easier to lie, betray, and abandon the people who trust you while you are
planning the ways to use them for your benefit. Grendel had a little more of an
upfront approach like the aliens, but emotionally, he is very connected to
Burke.
I like this idea of Burke and Grendel being the same character emotionally. At first, neither is very threatening, but over time, they become the main villain of the story. I like the idea that one does not have to be monsterous to be a monster.
ReplyDeleteThe connection between these two is something I hadn't thought of before, and you definitely have a good point. The more I think about it, the more similar those two become. At the beginning, the audience/reader is unsuspecting of the evil that Grendel and Burke are capable of, and it’s relatively easy to sympathize with them on some level. However as the plots go on, this gets harder and harder. I would say that near the end of Grendel it was a bit easier to sympathize with him because as readers, we were with him on his journey, and kind of saw what made him that way. Burke is an ass the whole time, but at the beginning he is better at hiding it.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading this and your input/thoughts on the topic of these two. I actually had not noticed the "eerily" similar things these two share at times; I didn’t even think to compare the two to be honest. Although I do believe Grendel improved in terms of his growth and development as a character. He also seemed to share more traits of a good person who means well, but was unfortunately looked down upon and as an evil creature. I feel Burke did not have that same growth and improvement and really stayed more consistent on the level he was.
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