Motivations of Grendel

In the epic poem Beowulf, Grendel is little more than a force of nature. He is the monster who hates all things Christian and good, and is a descendent of Cain. He is violent, destructive, kills at least several dozen people, causes untold amounts of property damage, and inflicts psychological scars upon Hrothgar and his people, to such a level that, while we are never told the extent of the damage, it likely led to great problems in the future. Despite all of these problems and reasons to just despise Grendel for his crimes and see Beowulf as a heroic figure, public opinion seems to have shifted to favoring Grendel and his motivations, weak as they are, as being in the right. What reasons exist for this? I think there are multiple reasons for this. The first is that people love villains. While this reason may not be the most compelling, I feel that it must be at least mentioned. Villains, by definition, go against the hero, who represents social norms and what is expected in society. As such, seeing a villain do something that a normal person could never do in real life creates a sense of excitement around the character, allowing said character to act as a form of wish fulfillment and make us want to be them. However, because we don’t want to be seen as the villain, we gloss over or downplay traits in a character that make them, and by extension us, look bad. In the original poem, Grendel is little more than a savage killing machine, hardly deserving of sympathy. In most modern adaptations, Grendel is more a victim of circumstance, a creature who was born in the wrong place at the wrong time, to a father who didn’t care for him and eventually had him killed. That kind of backstory is usually what draws fans to a character and makes them sympathetic to the audience. With this, the audience can insert themselves into Grendel’s place, and not feel guilty about sympathizing with the murderous monster. The next reason why I see this is because of the backstory we do have for Grendel in the original story. In the original story, the biggest reason why Grendel seems to be ostracized is because he is a descendent of Cain. In the time the poem was written, that alone would be reason enough for Grendel to be hated and feared. In modern times, we tend to have a different idea of how to treat people like Grendel, most importantly not blaming them for their ancestor’s actions. As such Grendel is viewed more sympathetically because he is being blamed for something that is not his fault. The last major reason why I believe that Grendel is viewed more sympathetically is a change in attitude toward Beowulf himself. In the poem, Beowulf is a peerless warrior, king, strategist, and athlete, noble, and willing to explain why his strategies and plans are worthy of being followed. To a modern viewer however, Beowulf spends most of his time bragging and eliminating sympathetic monsters by ripping off their arms or slicing off their heads. Beowulf’s technique for monster removal is so violent that it makes the monsters more sympathetic by comparison. While more reasons exist for the reason why Grendel is treated the way he is, I believe that these three are the most notable and important reasons overall.