Giselle Mena

Grendel Commentary
GB Block
October 19, 2015
Evil Has Purpose too
In the book Grendel by John Gardner, Grendel, who people perceive as monster, is a
confused individual in life, is sentimental and always misunderstood by the humans. Throughout
the book, we see how Grendel has a difficult life beginning from his childhood to when he
eventually ends up fighting Beowulf. Grendel is confused about his life and wishes to know his
purpose here on Earth. After awhile, he has his first contact with human nature and begins to
realize that they are much like each other, but is begins to wonder why they kill one another for
land and power, which is an explanation to why he decides to attack the meadhall and challenge
the way men think. Not only that but Grendel also lacks a nurture from his mother and becomes
jealous of how happy humans live their life, as described by the Shaper through his poems. So
the reason why Grendel is the way he is, is not because he was born a monster but because he
choses to be that way with an explanation to all his actions displaying an overall theme of
identity and his struggle into finding his purpose in this world. Furthermore, Grendel by John
Gardner is a presentation of the dark, the misunderstood, and the ugly, speaking always for
itself, urging empathy for its pain, and claiming some rightful place in the shaping of whatever is
real.
Although Grendel is seen as a hideous monster and seeking to kill humans, Grendel
was also very sentimental. He, like humans, had feelings, which make him less of a monster but
more of a human because of the relatedness that they have with Grendel. On page 8, Grendel
states, So it goes with me day by day and age by age...Locked in the deadly progression of
moon and stars. I shake my head, muttering darkly on shaded paths, holding conversation with
the only friend and comfort this world affords, my shadow. As you can see Grendel in beginning
of the book shows that he is going through a stage of loneliness, something many humans

experience. He has no friends, and not even family to open up to. As stated before, Grendel
lacks nurture from his mother, therefore, leading to the an explanation why he is jealous of
human nature because he could not find the happiness and joy, like the Shaper has told poems
of it, in life like the humans. Being raised and shown affection of your mother is an important
quality to your identity because it can either make you or break you. In Grendel point of view, it
broke him because he lacked nurture causing him to feel isolated and lonely. Gardner interprets
the dark within this quote because it all leads up to the reason why Grendel attacked the
meadhall, because of Grendels jealousy. But this quote also lets us see the reason behind
Grendels decision, it makes the reader feel sorry for him and feel miserable for him too. A
reader can infer that the only reason why Grendel has become a monster in our eyes was
because he was never shown any affection nor did he have a close companion.
Throughout the book, Grendel shows an example of existentialism, since he does not
believe in God. Existentialism is an important belief that Grendel had that impacted his identity
making him have a reason to be evil. This shows a presentation of dark, because it is a battle
between the good and the evil. Since Grendel does not believe in a God, he becomes furious
that the humans rely on a super power, like God to make their life better, even yet deliver them
from the evil like Grendel. Gardner writes, On the chance that there might be something to it all,
whatever a reasonable man might think, the people tipped the stone gods up again, with levers
and ropes, and began to carve new gods of wood to replace those I'd ruined. It was dull work,
you could see by their faces, but it was, for some reason, necessary (129). At this part of the
book, Grendel is remembering about the time he had wrecked the village, how he broke up their
wooden gods and toppled the gods of stone. He further explains that the priests were furious
and soon people began to rebuild the gods again. Grendel is explaining that he wouldnt mind
doing destroying their gods again. According to the book, Grendel wants to challenge men
about the way they think because of the fact that mankind kills one another for land and power.
A reader can infer that the reason why Grendel is depicted as dark and a monster is because he

is confused about why people believe in God, if they are doing the opposite of what God is
commanding them to do; he is telling them to not kill, and love one another, yet they dont do
follow his rules. Gardner, wants the reader to reason with Grendel because his actions are the
consequence of how the humans live and treat each other; therefore, Grendel has the right to
do what he wants since the humans deserve it.
In conclusion, Grendel by John Gardner shows that even dark, ugly, and evil things in
this earth, like Grendel, have an explanation for itself. Grendel faced difficult struggles in his life
because of identity crisis. Since he wasnt able to know himself, he faced isolation and
loneliness causing him to be evil. Sometimes both stories have to be taken a look and given a
judgement. Not all things appear to evil, Grendel was perceived in the eyes of human an evil
creature because they did not know his real reasoning, making humans more evil than Grendel.