The Clock Struck Against Grendel
Time plays a major role in the novel Grendel. Grendel lived in the very turbulent time period of the Dark Ages. The Dark Ages was a time of much fighting and very little intellectual growth by the common people, a time in which the great majority of the people lived in poverty and were slaves in the feudal system; a time when religion and lords ruled the state, a time of much gloom, dispair, and uncertainty about the future by the general population. In a time like this, it is no wonder that heroes were created. They were the only hope and joy that many of the people had in their lives. In order to have heroes, there must also be monsters. That is where Grendel fit in. He played out his role as his time period allowed and as fate dictated. The dragon explains to the monster Grendel: "You improve them, my boy! Can't you see that yourself? You stimulate them! You make them think and scheme. You drive them to poetry, science, religion, all that makes t hem what they are for as long as they last. You are, so to speak, the brute existent by which they learn to define themselves. The exile, captivity, death they shrink from--the blunt facts of their morality, their abandonmen
Grendel talks of the Shaper many times throughout the novel, refering to his ability to change the past. Heroes were made at the hands of the storytellers, the Shapers. They could have cared less about the suffering of their followers.
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Acceptance Essays
