THE FINAL BATTLE SCENE
GRENDEL/BEOWULF ESSAY REWRITE -Please Rewrite w/ Teacher’s requirements:
Please see attached essay written but has these following teachers comments , paper needs to be fixed/rewritten
with following to be addressed teacher comments:
– Decent Start!…….Paper is organized oddly
– I don’t think you answered your thesis – Make a unique argument
– In the first paragraph it states Beowulf as a psychopath, Where do you discuss this?- Please expand on this statement
-OK – Why does Author Gardner change the view from the past viewpoint? ….Need to go one step beyond just comparing
– Second Page- first, second paragraph is choppy – re-write
– Please place page numbers AFTER QUOTE NOT IN middle of sentences
pLEASE READ ABOVE TEACHERS COMMENTS AND MAKE CORRECTIONS AS NECESSARY FOR THIS ESSAY:
GRENDEL / ESSAY TOPICS
DIFF IN THE FINAL BATTLE SCENE BETWEEN GRENDEL AND BEOWULF OR CHARACTIZATION OF EITHER CHARACTER
NEED 2-3 PAGES PLUS REFERENCES
In culmination of the novel Grendel, we will be writing an essay that focuses on the differences in the final battle scenebetween Grendel and Beowulf or characterization of either character. In order to complete the analysis, you may wish to utilize both the poem, Beowulf, and the novel, Grendel. Please choose one of the following prompts to explore. Be sure your thesis reflects what you believe Gardner or the author of the Beowulf poem argues. What is the point to the text? If you would like to work with a prompt of your own, please discuss this with me before you begin the writing process. One of my prompts should be used as a springboard for your own.
The essay should:
1. use quotes from both Beowulf and Grendel with correct citations of either page or line numbers
2. One secondary source from the databases. This source can agree , disagree, or add information about the text.
3. include 4-6 quotes from each text
4. be 2-3 pages long
5. be revised for grammar and punctuation mistakes. Be sure you know when to use Grendel or Grendel….and Beowulf or Beowulf.
6. be submitted to turnitin.com before due date
7. Remember… the Toulmin model! Claim-Data-Warrant
Prompts:
1. Please agree or disagree with the following quote. Remember to use support from both texts.
“Grendel is a retelling of the Beowulf legend from the monster’s point of view that depicts him as a relatively sympathetic character and Beowulf as a psychopath” (Fitzpatrick).
2. Compare the tone in which the Beowulf poet and Gardner use while describing the final battle scene between Beowulf and Grendel. Examine the actions of Grendel and Beowulf. How does the difference in tone affect the reader’s perspective and author’s message? How does the tone of each battle change the story?
3. Argue if you believe there to be a correlation between Grendel’s relationship with his mother and his view on women, specifically Wealtheow.
4. Argue if you think Gardner “humanizes” Grendel. What is Gardner’s message to the reader?
5. Prove why/how the character trait influences the decision-making process of the character, leads to how others perceive the character, or leads to the success or failure of the character.
Introduction and thesis statement:
· Thesis statement- Grendel is a retelling of the Beowulf legend from the monster’s point of view that depicts him as a relatively sympathetic character and Beowulf as a psychopath
Poet’s depiction of Grendel
· The poet depicts him as bad, killer, and descendant from Cain
· The poet depicts his actions as murder, cannibalism, and destructions
· The poet is partial
· He consider his killings as act of jealousy
Novel’s depiction Grendel
· Gardner depicts him as a normal person and that his actions are not so unique as depicted by the poet.
· Gardner does not consider him as evil but just a person who is resisting conformity.
· Gardner justifies that although Grendel is killer and eats his victims, he has no intention of doing so.
· It is only his interaction with his victims that drives him to his suicidal confrontation with Beowulf.
· King Hrothgar and his Danes were doing was evil and that Grendel wanted to prevent them.
· Gardner considers Danes as simpletons who believe in tree spirits, they are liers, drunkards and braggards.
· Grendel ate men to keep them from overpopulating and hence he was not a murderer.
· Grendel’s torture for human being was meant to stop their evil acts.
Conclusion
· It is true that Grendel is a retelling of the Beowulf legend from the monster’s point of view that depicts him as a relatively sympathetic character and Beowulf as a psychopath
Essay Introduction
Beowulf is a poem of one of the great monster-killer called Beowulf who killed Grendel (the monster). The story is depicted differently in the poem, Beowulf. The fight between Beowulf and Grendel has been interpreted differently by different people. In this essay, I will try to justify the fact that Grendel is a retelling of the Beowulf legend from the monster’s point of view that depicts him as a relatively sympathetic character and Beowulf as a psychopath. Before I can do this, I must state that the way the poet of Beowulf depicts Grendel is different from the way John Gardner perceive him.
Poet’s depiction of Grendel
The poet considers Grendel as evil. The poet portrays him as evil incarnate and that he directly descended from the biblical murderer, Cain. This is evidence in lines between 104 and 110 which says:
…..An enemy in hell was the grim creature called Grendel,
Famed wanderer, in the borderlands in fame occupies,
He who held the moors, the fens and strongholds: A race of monsters,
Unblessed creatures occupied for awhile
Since the Creator had banished them to
Cain’s kin- the killing avenged by
The eternal lord because he (Cain) slew Abel
…..The Creator banished him (Cain) from mankind for the crime (Jack, line 111)
This clearly indicates that the poet perceive Grendel as a killer without ethics, a slayer brothers. The poet also fails to describe whether Grendel was a monster or a giant. The poet only describes his actions- murder, cannibalism, and destructions. The poet also claims that he acts out of jealousy because he cannot be part of human or God. This is evidence in line 113-114. In line 1016-1018, after Beowulf slayed Grendel, the poet asserts: “Inside the feasthall/there was nothing but friendship. The Shielding nation/was not yet familiar with feud and betrayal” (Jack, line 113-4).
Novel’s depiction of Grendel
One question that every good leader must ask him or herself is: is Grendel an evil? Answering this question will enable us understand the whole story. To answer this question, we have to focus on how John Gardner perceives Grendel.
From the novel, it is clear that John Gardner had different perception towards Grendel. He perceives him as part of human being and that his actions are not so unique as depicted by the poet. According to Stromme (13), Gardners does not consider him as evil but just a person who is resisting conformity. That is why in Pg. 67-68, we find Gardner trying to prove that Grendel is just but any other person. He asserts, ‘The essence of life is to be found in the frustrations established order. The universe refuses the deadening influence of complete conformity. According to Gardner, conformity is not good and must be rebelled against and that is what Grendel was doing.
Gardner, in many points tries to justify that although Grendel is killer and eats his victims, he has no intention of doing so. It is only his interaction with his victims that drives him to his suicidal confrontation with Beowulf. It is also clear as put by Gardner in pg. 50 that what King Hrothgar and his Danes were doing was evil and that Grendel wanted to prevent them. That is why in Pg. 50, we encounter a statement which states, ‘…..they’d cut his throat. His clothes had been stolen. I stared up at the hall, baffled, beginning to shake’’ ( Gardner 50). At this point, Grendel was describing what he witnessed at Hrothgar’s kingdom during his raids on the kingdom. Danes, according to Gardner, are simpletons who believe in tree spirits, they are liers, drunkards and braggards. Gardner, in page 60 also justifies why Grendel ate men- to keep them from overpopulating. His torture for them was meant to enable them stop their evil acts. This is to mean that Grendel was not evil himself.
Conclusion
Consequently, these ideas suggest that Grendel was sympathizing with humans because of the way they were drifting away from truth but because they are not worth too much consideration, he decides to stop them from doing evil by torturing them and even eating some. Indeed, it is true that Grendel is a retelling of the Beowulf legend from the monster’s point of view that depicts him as a relatively sympathetic character and Beowulf as a psychopath
Works cited
Gardner, John. Grendel. New York: Ballantine, 1971.
Jack, George. Beowulf: A Student Edition. New York: Oxford UP, 1997
Stromme, Craig J. ‘‘The Twelve Chapters of Grendel.’’ Critique: Studies in Modern Fiction 20.1 (1978): 83 – 92.
