How we cite our quotes: (Page) Vintage Books, 1989
Quote #4
His fingers picked infallibly, as if moved by something beyond his power, and the words stitched together out of ancient songs, the scenes woven out of dreary tales, made a vision without seams, an image of himself yet not-himself, beyond the need of any shaggy old gold-friend's pay—the projected possible. (49)
The Shaper has the unique ability to create and entertain, but there's more at stake here than a few coins. He's creating a vision of history and how everyone fits into it. What he says goes: his stories—his versions of reality—will move into the future, long after his present audience is dust.
Quote #5
"Bastards!" I roared. "Sons of bitches! F***ers!" Words I'd picked up from men in their rages. I wasn't even sure what they meant, though I had an idea: defiance, rejection of the gods that, for my part, I'd known all along to be lifeless sticks. We, the accursed, didn't even have words for swearing in! (52)
Gardner was probably thinking of another spurned and isolated creature when he penned this scene: Shakespeare's Caliban. There's this moment in the Tempest when Cal whines to Miranda: "You taught me language, and my profit on't / Is I know how to curse" (I.ii.368-69). It's totally ironic that Grendel, like Caliban, really only picks up one thing from human beings: bad words.
Quote #6
I went on polishing the apple, smiling. "And the awful inconvenience," I said. "Always having to stand erect, always having to find noble language! It must wear on a man." (84)
Grendel mocks Unferth for having heroic pretensions, knowing that he really is a murderous coward on the inside. He's also making fun of the "heroic code": all those requirements that humans invent for themselves to judge whether or not they or someone else is being courageous. The irony here is that Unferth certainly can talk the talk, but his actions as a brother-killer say something entirely different.