Literature has a unique place in culture
People form opinions about books depending on a variety of factors. It is important for this essay to decide whether Grendel is human or a demon. Characters in literature and other forms of art may be humans, creatures, or monsters depending on the traits of action in the novel. In this situation, I believe Grendel depicts certain elements of the different classifications as depicted by the writers. Based on the character manifestations, one might argue that Grendel is human. Some translators, on the other hand, saw Grendel as an individual because of the code of conduct and the emotions connected with his actions in the environment. Initially, one would be tempted to confuse the aspects of the character. In the contemporary society, a monster defines a large imaginary creature with frightening looks that are ugly and daunting in the society.
The prevalence of monsters
It is true that the monsters concepts have been prevalent for generations from time to time. The idea has been persistently discussed all over the world as a scary concern within cultures. This way, the presence of monstrous cult in the story is not by surprise to me. I would consider a practical illustration of Grendel’s environmental concerns to help in understanding the idea of monsters. A monster will always feel superpower and extra ordinary in any set of environment despite any challenges in the event. The following points may help to explain this stand in the story as we analyze the story.
Grendel as a monstrous figure
Throughout the story, the picture of Grendel portrays an imaginary figure that would daunt and scare many people upon appearance. This makes Grendel more of a monster than human in this aspect. In a typical sense, the story appears in a monstrous culture that allows the portrayal of Grendel as a monster. First, he has a colossal appearance, and his size may scare any typical human in this community. The narrator displays numerous horrifying aspects of this creature. His actions and movements are those of monsters. No common human being could endeavor his culture. He has a bloody thirst for destruction and human life. At some point, he admits smelling the blood of murdered people in the society and his hunger for fresh blood is well evident at the onset of the play. Having such picture would deploy fearful encounter with the character placing it in the contexts of monsters of the world today.
Grendel's physical divergence from humans
Although the story describes Grendel's body as human body parts, the physical structure of the morphology diverge from the normal aspects of human behavior. He has head carried by the hair as unusual within a normal society. The story goes on with illustrative manifestations of similar assumptions to point to the fact that Grendel has monstrous characters that are far from human society. He instills fear among the people in his community. Most individuals consider his presence as one that is frightening and threatening to their safety in the social order. From this narration, it is clear that Grendel scared many people in these communities. His thoughts involve the ideas of "murdering old women" (7), and "being hungry for blood" (9). I would also argue that such evidence explain the culture in which the play is set. These aspects demonstrate more of the monstrous cults. The author of the article focused on this comparative aspect to illustrate the culture of giant being that tends to scare people away in any set of living. Such approach arouses the prospects of human reasoning to validate the conspiracy around the aspects of monstrous actions of Grendel in this background. His looks and actions combined may prove that he is a monster.
Grendel's perception of himself
Moreover, Grendel's perceptions about his morphology do not conform to those of normal human beings. The fact that he could feel the presence of his head in the body figure scared him almost in the entire action. He could be haunted by such a fact. Thus, he could not resist calling himself one of the monsters at some point. He keeps thinking of his monstrous qualities more than the human aspects of him although the narrator claims that he had a good heart and human emotional feelings. Consequently, we witness a ray of gigantic behaviors in the plot that destructs. He fails to socialize with human beings at some point and feel scared of the events that unfold in his life. The feeling of extraordinary being streams in during a variety of situations. In his consent, he perceived his environment as one in which bloodshed would manifest any time any day as long as one would be thirsty for such products.
Grendel's actions and behavior
A monster is a character that seeks to isolate itself from the human society and demonstrates elements of weird behavior are not conforming to the regular practices in the setting. Across the article, Grendel's actions are weird and portray the common perceptions of a giant monster. Normal actions of human beings are so disturbing to Grendel, and he wishes to stop activities if given a chance. His advance in the town, for instance, illustrates how he got frustrated seeing human beings having fun and sex in the vicinity. Ideally, such provocation would occur among animals of the monster class where the contexts would be worrying. The demonstrations highlight the common properties of a common monster that one would imagine of in any set of a contemporary gathering as laid in the text definitions. I think Grendel is a special monster because he has human feelings of emotions and connection. Nonetheless, he is more of the monster than the human in him according to his appearance and actions in this story.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Grendel is more of a monster than human. He portrays physical characters of a monster. He is abnormally huge and frightening. Moreover, he daunts the human society in numerous. I think he is a perfect example when illustrating the monstrous cultures of the story. Through his actions, we can learn that monster love human blood and can murder people for the same. Therefore, he cannot withstand the breath of human blood and behavior. He isolates his routines from the regular considerations of this society. The narration has myriad contexts illustrating the massive concern in the monstrous reflection of this character in play save from the conflicting views adopted from Beowulf. The survey involved numerous backgrounds of the story and the various versions of the play. It would be appropriate to compare the translated versions with the various other contents of the work.
Work Cited
Main Resources:
- http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/16328
Background information:
- https://hubpages.com/literature/grendelishuman
- https://faculty.unlv.edu/jmstitt/Eng477/papers1/monsters.html
- http://www.teenink.com/opinion/all/article/548169/Grendel-Half-Man-or-Monster/
