Grendel Themes

As a coming-of-age story (of sorts), Grendel gives us ringside seats to an identity struggle several centuries in the making. From the moment baby Grendel steps outside his lair and encounters othe...

Maybe growing up in a house where no one else can talk makes Grendel value spoken language as much as he does. Or maybe he just thinks that the ability to speak indicates a higher level of intellec...

It's tough to be a monster in a world ruled by humans.We mean, it's not like Grendel can join up with Hrothgar's band of brothers and go raiding and burning the neighboring meadhall. He can't even...

There's a lot of hate in Grendel. By that, we also mean that there's a lot of love in Grendel.Confused? That's because there's no separating love and hate in this book. The universe has a way of tu...

Questions about the meaning of life? Check. Dealing with the possibility of an absurd, meaningless universe? Check. Questions about the nature and limits of free will? Check.Although it's a slim bo...

You might think that Grendel would be chockfull of moments when the forces of good are pitted against the forces of evil—but think again. Gardner wants to turn what we understand about good and e...

Let's face it: Grendel's universe is a pretty miserable place. And since we're seeing it through his eyes, there are no rose-colored glasses to make it better. In this respect, Gardner is staying t...

Pretty much the first time we meet the monster in Grendel, he's flipping the bird at whatever god might be watching him from the heavens. It's not too hard to figure out that Grendel has some major...

Gardner bases Grendel on the desire to give the monsters in Beowulf a voice they don't have in the poem. In a sense, the whole novel is an experiment in justice: finally, Grendel will get to tell h...