Grendel Essay - 761 Words

Duality of Good and Evil Robert Louis Stevenson, a famous Scottish writer, once said, â€Å"All human beings are commingled out of good and evil.† Not one person is completely good or evil; everyone possesses both characteristics. In the literary pieces of John Gardner’s, â€Å"Grendel,† unknown author of, â€Å"Beowulf,† and Robert Louis Stevenson’s, â€Å"Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde,† the characters are portrayed as having both qualities of good and evil, proving there to be a duality of decency/immorality, righteousness/depravity, and virtue/evil. The character, Grendel, in Gardner’s, â€Å"Grendel,† is a prime example of this inseparable bond between right and wrong. Grendel is originally wrongfully viewed as solely a complete and utter monster. He had spent†¦show more content†¦The narrator shows that being set apart could be very difficult, â€Å"The Almighty drove those demons out and their exile was bitter, shut aw ay from all men† (Beowulf, line 23-24). Grendel was forced into his evil nature by being exiled and treated much differently. Although the men only saw Grendel as a deformity, he actually had some good in him as well. The bond between good and evil is a very prominent theme in Robert Louis Stevenson’s â€Å"Dr, Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.† The two characters are united into one human being, but contrast each other enormously. Although Dr. Jekyll represents the good, and Mr. Hyde represents the evil, both characters prove to have the other characteristics as well. Dr. Jekyll wants more than anything to separate the bond between good and evil, and performs experiments to obtain this goal. This results in the character Mr. Hyde who is filled with evil intentions. The narrator shows the evil of Dr. Hyde, â€Å"All human beings, as we meet them, commingled out of good and evil: and Edward Hyde, alone in the ranks of mankind, was pure evil† (Stevenson, pg.77). But this is a false statement; it actually proves Dr. Jekyll to be the evil one. Because it was through his experiment that Mr. Hyde and the evil in him came forward in Dr. Jekyll. Dr. Jekyll could have controlled Mr. Hyde’s actions and turned them into good, but he was too consumed with the scientific experiment. TheShow MoreRelatedGrendel : Evil Essay833 Words   |  4 PagesIn the novel, Grendel by John Gardener, Grendel is a human-like creature capable of rational thought as well as feeling emotions. Early on in the story Gardener depicts Grendel as being very observant, critical and somewhat spiteful of the world around him. He describes himself as a murderous monster who smells of death and crouches in the shadows. Grendel watches the humans from the shadows of the trees and at first it seems as though they are the real monsters, slaughtering and pillaging all forRead More Beowulf v . 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Grendel evokes sympathy toward the hideous monster by making him seem like the victim, while Beowulf portrays him as being the most loathsome of enemies. The reasons behind Grendel#8217;s being, his killing,Read MoreCompare and Contrast: Beowulf and Grendel Essay604 Words   |  3 PagesThere are many similarities and differences between the movie Beowulf and Grendel, to the poem. Major differences between the movie and the poem would be Grendel himself. In the poem, he is described as an evil monster born from two demons. In the movie, Grendel is actually human, but known as a troll to the warriors and Danes. The poem doesn’t give the background of Grendel or show how the Danes killed his father and the possible reason of his revenge, like in the movie. If the witch, Selma, wasRead MoreGrendel Vs Movie Comparison Essay1056 Words   |  5 PagesSometimes they change the book to make it more interesting, modern, or to save money and time. 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One instance, when you can particularly sympathize with Grendel, happens to be when he gets stuck in a tree, and Hrothgar andRead MoreEssay on Grendel1169 Words   |  5 Pages In 1971, American author John Gardner wrote Grendel. With a mastermind of creativity, John Gardner successfully retells the classic epic poem, Beowulf. He captures the reader by giving an interesting view of order and chaos, good and evil, hero and monster, allowing the monsters point of view to be seen. On July 21, 1933 John Gardner was born in Batavia, New York. He was the son of a preacher and diary, and his mother taught English. They were very fond of Shakespeare and lovedRead MoreBeowulf : The Epic Of Beowulf1027 Words   |  5 Pagesmurderous monster Grendel, Grendel is eating and slaughtering Hrothgar the King of the Danes men and people, the king needs Beowulf s help in defeating Grendel, Beowulf ends up killing the monster and is now tormented by the monster s mother that is much larger, she is no match for Beowulf and he kills her as well, lastly it is Beowulf’s last battle after he has been king of Geatland for fifty years, he has to defeat the dragon and he does but dies shortly after. In this essay I will be explaining