Grendal of Beowulf

             It is true that Grendel is monstrous. He is not only a deadly enemy to Hrothgar and Herot, but to the Geats in general. Grendel seems to take his only pleasure from assaulting Herot and destroying the warriors inside. He is a bane to all those that live under Hrothgar's rule. They hate him. He is called the "enemy of mankind" (29) and rightly so. However, because of Grendel's actions, they cannot see the other part of Grendel that makes him do the evil he does. Grendel, like the Angels before and the Geats soon after, is symbolic of displaced races/peoples and not simply a mindless monster.
             When Adam and Eve had children, they had two boys. Their names were Cain and Able. When Cain killed Able, God "banished him far from mankind" (29). From Cain came trolls, elves, monsters, and giants. Grendel is a descendant of Cain, so he shares Cain's banishment. Cain may have been the first displaced person after Adam and Eve were thrown out of the Garden. Grendel shares his ancestor's sentence. He is displaced not only from whatever land or wealth he would have if he were "human" but he is also displaced form God. It is this displacement that causes Grendel to destroy. Since he cannot "approach the throne" (28) like other people, he chooses to try to destroy the throne, because he has "no love for him (God)" (28). This is the main reason Grendel is symbolic of displaced peoples. After all, he is a direct descendent of the very first displaced people, Adam and Eve. However, unlike Adam and Eve, Grendel is doomed to an eternity of banishment from God's light because of Cain's sin against his brother. That is why Grendel kills, because he cannot be in the light, because he is at war with God.
             Grendel is not only banished from God's light, but from the light in general. Throughout
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Grendal of Beowulf. (1969, December 31). In MegaEssays.com. Retrieved 11:36, March 28, 2024, from https://www.megaessays.com/viewpaper/45810.html