How we cite our quotes: (Page) Vintage Books, 1989
Quote #7
She understands too his bitterness at growing old. She even understands—more terrible, no doubt, than all the rest—old Hrothgar's knowledge that peace must be searched through ordeal upon ordeal, with no final prospect but failure. Lesson on lesson they've suffered through, recognizing, more profoundly each time, their indignity, shame, triviality. It will continue. (122)
This sudden insight into Wealtheow's understanding of her bleak situation should give us pause. Wealtheow feels the weight of her own purposeless life—after all, she's married to an old guy who is losing his grip on his kingdom and has brought three doomed sons into the world—and yet she's able to make the rounds of the meadhall as though her efforts matter. And though Gardner points out how these miserable ordeals will continue, we get a pretty strong sense that Wealtheow will, too.
Quote #8
... I too am learning, ordeal by ordeal, my indignity. It's all I have, my only weapon for smashing through these stiff coffin-walls of the world. So I dance in the moonlight, make foul jokes, or labor to shake the foundations of the night with my heaped-up howls of rage. Something is bound to come of all this. I cannot believe such monstrous energy of grief can lead to nothing! (123)
Grendel has a totally different take on the indignity of suffering. It doesn't make him noble or provide any sense of heroism or beauty. He's just not Wealtheow. It does, however, make him feel purposeful. For Grendel, that's a pretty big deal. It helps him push against the dragon's nihilism.
Quote #9
Tedium is the worst pain. The mind lays out the world in blocks, and the hushed blood waits for revenge. (157)
Remember how the whole novel is structured around the signs of the zodiac and the irresistible movement of the seasons? For Grendel, the boredom of his existence, year after year, is the worst kind of torture ever. He has to play the evil guy season after season—and what's worse is that the humans can't really fight back. Grendel is so over the whole thing. It's not much of a surprise that he feels compelled to meet up with crazy Beowulf.