How we cite our quotes: (Page) Vintage Books, 1989
Quote #1
The doe in the clearing goes stiff at the sight of my horridness, then remembers her legs and is gone. It makes me cross. "Blind prejudice!" I bawl at the splintered sunlight where half a second ago she stood. I wring my fingers, put on a long face. "Ah, the unfairness of everything," I say, and shake my head. It is a matter of fact that I have never killed a deer in all my life, and never will. (7-8)
We have to say that we're on the deer's side with this one: Grendel's a scary guy. Still, we have to remember that our monster's endured a lifetime of misunderstanding and disappointment. He's entitled to an outburst or two. Gardner has a way of using this kind of humorous scene to highlight the larger issues of identity and expectation. Grendel doesn't make such a good first impression because, well, he looks like an enormous monster. When anyone reacts badly toward him, then Grendel actually acts like a monster. It's a vicious circle—and we can see here that Grendel won't be breaking out of it anytime soon
Quote #2
It was confusing and frightening, not in a way I could untangle. I was safe in my tree, and the men who fought were nothing to me, except of course that they talked in something akin to my language, which meant that we were, incredibly, related. I was sickened, if only at the waste of it: all they killed—cows, horses, men—they left to rot or burn. (36)
Grendel has many chances to marvel at the senselessness of human behavior. In this instance, the wastefulness of their violence only highlights a sore point for him: somehow, somewhere, they share a common ancestor. And somehow, Grendel was chosen to be the cursed one—even though he never leaves leftovers on his plate.
Quote #3
The harp turned solemn. He told of an ancient feud between two brothers which split all the world between darkness and light. And I, Grendel, was the dark side, he said in effect. The terrible race God cursed. (51)
The Shaper is telling the story of Cain and Abel here in order to establish why there are demons and monsters in the world. In essence, the descendants of Cain (the brother-killer in this story) are cursed as outcasts for the sin of their unknown ancestor. Grendel doesn't know whether or not this story is true, but either way, it's a bum deal. It also leads him to question what kind of deity would curse him to a life of misery for crimes he never committed.