Protagonist

Character Role Analysis

Grendel

Beowulf didn't prepare you for this: there's a total role reversal at the heart of this novel, and Grendel in our hero. Gardner chooses to make the monster the first-person center of the story, so the rest of the narrative snaps to attention around him.

This technique works so well because unlike in Beowulf, we're not just watching the result of the monster's actions (example: Grendel eats a guard), we're seeing the world through his eyes. Finally, we can understand this monster's motivation, and that completely changes how we interpret the story. Grendel suddenly becomes a complex character who has a lot in common with human beings.

Here, Gardner does something incredibly clever. If you accept Grendel as the protagonist, pretty much everyone else in the narrative becomes a jerk—and that's just what Gardner wants you to think. Grendel's often more "human" than the humans. What does this say about the humans?