GRENDEL: Demonic Soul or Lonely and Envious

GRENDEL: 

Demonic Soul OR Lonely and Envious?

by Julia Loewen

Grendel, one of the terrifying monsters in Beowulf, is portrayed as ugly and evil as possible, living in the lonesome swamps outside of Heorot. Every night, after watching men laugh and sing in Heorot, he goes into the Hall and kills the people without the slightest bit of mercy. Though envy cannot be used as an excuse for this crime, it can be argued that Grendel is not the heartless, evil demon that he may seem to be to the characters of Beowulf. 

Grendel was notorious in his time for his merciless, malevolent actions, but no one seemed to stop and think of life in the eyes of Grendel. He spent day after day watching the men of Heorot live their perfect lives, while he lurked the lifeless swamps outside of the Hall. When night came, he had heard enough of their songs and laughter, and took his jealousy and anger out on the people.  The next morning, the other men who, "...knew not of sorrow, misery of men, aught of misfortune"(3) failed to see Grendel's sad, lonely soul under all of his anger and jealousy. Grendel's actions were very immoral, but his lonesome soul could have been the root of his evil. 

To other Beowulf readers, Grendel may seem to be filled with nothing but sin. Grendel was a real-life nightmare to the innocent people of Heorot, and his soul had no emotion but rage. He destroyed the lives of many when he came into the Hall, "...grim and ravenous, savage and raging..."(3), and a soul like that does not have any emotion but depravity.
Ultimately, Grendel was a deserted soul by day, and a vicious murderer by night. The question is, deep down inside, was Grendel not as evil as he seemed?

Broken Stereotypes-Brought to us by Neverwhere and the Nightingale (Kate Fontes)

Over the summer, Honors English 10 students were required to choose two of three books for summer reading. The books up for choice included Neverwhere, by Neil Gaimen, The Nightingale, by Kristin Hannah, and In The Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez.

I chose Neverwhere and The Nightingale, which were both extraordinary books. The Nightingale offered insight to a world at war, while Neverwhere took the audience to a mysterious fantasy underworld where humans could speak rat.

Although both books had an immense number of differences, they also shared similarities. One similarity that stuck out most to me was the authors use of characters to break stereotypes. 

As stated previously, the Nightingale took place in France during World War Two. Hitler´s cruelty was spreading throughout Europe at the time, and Nazi's had control over many parts of the world. Vianne, a main character in the book, is required to billet a Nazi named Captain Beck. Nazi's are known internationally for the immense pain and torture that they caused, so personally, I was shocked when the author chose to characterize Beck as more of a human than a monster. He aided the survival of Vianne and her children during the war, by helping them acquire food and chopping wood for the freezing winters. He also mentions his family frequently throughout the book. These two actions make Beck seem human, and even kind. Therefore, the Nazi stereotype is broken.

Similar to The Nightingale, Neverwhere breaks the ultimate stereotype through the characterization of The Angel Islington. Let's be real-when one hears the word "angel", immediately a pure, loving, and kind image comes to their mind. So, you can imagine my shock when Angel Islington turned out to be a main villain of the novel. Throughout the book, the main characters Door and Richard go on an adventure to avenge Door's dead family. Angel Islington was supposed to be the key in achieving this goal, but I was floored when he turned out to be the mastermind behind the group who killed Door's family. When Door finds this out, Angel Islington smiles viciously, clearly happy at Door's despair. This is sadistic, and far from angel-like. Therefore, another stereotype is broken.

Both authors did an amazing job at breaking stereotypes. I personally was floored when a Nazi was kind, and an angel had the characteristics of a devil. What about you?