Grendel Analysis Essay Outline

Claim/Thesis:  Grendel is guilty of crimes of monstrosity.

1)      Explicit Reason: He kills without remorse.

a.       “…I saw myself killing them, on and on and on… ” (Gardner 81).

b.      “I held up the guard to taunt them, then held him still higher and leered into his face… As if casually… I bit his head off, crunched through the helmet and skull with my teeth and, sucked the blood that sprayed like a hot, thick geyser from his neck,” (Gardner 79).

c.       “But they were doomed, I knew, and I was glad,” (Gardner 53).

d.      “For pure, mad prank, I snatch up a cloth from the nearest table and tie it around my neck to make a napkin… I seize up a sleeping man, tear at him hungrily, bite through his bone-locks and suck hot, slippery blood.  He goes down in huge morsels, head, chest, hips, legs, even the hands and feet.  My face and arms are wet, matted.  The napkin is sopping,” (Gardner 168).

   Implicit Reason:  Killing without remorse is a monstrous act.

a.       If someone kills they should have some sense of remorse.

b.      If you kill without remorse you are a monster.

c.       Grendel was glad they were going to die.

d.      He didn’t care that he was killing some people who didn’t deserve to die.

2)      Explicit Reason: He takes satisfaction in killing; he enjoys it.

a.       “I burst in when they were all asleep, snatched seven from their beds, and slit them open and devoured them on the spot.  I felt a strange, unearthly joy… I was transformed,” (Gardner 79-80).

b.      I fled with the body to the woods, heart churning—boiling like a flooded ditch—with glee,” (Gardner 79).

c.       “I laugh, crumple over; I can’t help myself… While they squeal and screech and bump into each other, I silently sack up my dead and withdraw to the woods.  I eat and laugh and eat until I can barely walk…” (Gardner 12).

d.      “I killed stragglers now and then—with a certain grim pleasure very different from that which I got from cracking a cow’s skull,” (Gardner 76).

e.       “I should have captured him, teased him, tormented him, made a fool of him.  I should have cracked his skull mid-song and sent his blood spraying out wet through the meadhall like a shocking change of key.  One evil deed missed is a loss for all eternity,” (Gardner 146).

f.       “I am mad with joy. —At least I think it’s joy.  Strangers have come, and it’s a whole new game,” (Gardner 151)

g.      “O happy Grendel!  Fifteen glorious heroes, proud in their battle dress, fat as cows!” (Gardner 151).

h.      “I am swollen with excitement, bloodlust and joy and a strange fear that mingle in my chest like the twisting rage of a bone-fire,” (Gardner 168-9).

i.        “… My wild heart laughs, but I let out no sound.  Swiftly, softly, I will move from bed to bed and destroy them all, swallow every last man.  I am blazing, half crazy with joy, (Gardner)

Implicit Reason:  If someone takes joy in killing, they are guilty of crimes of monstrosity.

a.       Grendel enjoyed killing so much he would plan out what he was going to do; premeditated.

b.      If you take joy in killing, you have no remorse, and therefore are guilty of monstrous crimes.

3)      Explicit Reason: He uses his rage filled, violent nature as an excuse to kill.

a.       “I feel my anger coming back, building up like invisible fire, and at last, when my soul can no longer resist, I go up…my belly growling, mindless as wind, for blood,” (Gardner 9).

b.      “Blood-lust and rage are my character,” (Gardner 123).

Implicit Reason:

a.       A rage filled and violent nature is not an excuse to mass murder.

b.      Rage and violence can be controlled, if you are willing to try.

c.       He didn’t try to control his rage, though, and instead used it as an excuse to kill countless beings.

4)      Explicit Reason: He doesn’t kill in self-defense.

a.       “I discovered that the dragon had put a charm on me: no weapon could cut me… My heart became darker because of that,” (Gardner 75-6).

b.      “I saw the sword coming and I knew I couldn’t escape it.  I went limp, the way animals sometimes do at the moment of the predator’s leap.  Nothing happened,” (Gardner 78).

c.       “Then, with a howl, one plunged at me, sword above his head in both fists.  I let it come.  The charm held good.  I closed my hand on the blade and snatched it from the drunken thane’s hand and hurled it the length of the hall…I seized him and crushed him,” (Gardner 81).

Implicit Reason:  Killing can be justified if it is in self-defense.

a.       Grendel had a charm placed on him by the dragon so that he was unable to be cut by weapons.

b.      He had super strength.

c.       Hrothgar’s people could not defend themselves against Grendel.

d.      Grendel was the one attacking them; they were only retaliating.

e.       Grendel was not fighting in self-defense; therefore he is guilty of monstrous crimes.

5)      Explicit Reason:  He is an intelligent being, capable of rationalization, thought and speech.  He is not an animal.

a.       “He struck too low, and even in my terror I understood that he would always strike too low…” (Gardner 21).

b.      ‘“Come, come,” I said. “Let me tell them I was sent by Sideways-Walker,’” (Gardner 83).

c.       “…It was clear to him, I think, that I was speaking words.  He got a cunning look, as if getting ready to offer a deal—the look men have when they fight with men instead of poor, stupid animals,” (Gardner 83).

d.      “Strange thoughts come over me.  I think of the pastness of the past,” (Gardner 146).

Implicit Reason:  If you are a rational being, capable of thought, you are able to control your actions and killing other rational beings, especially in large amounts, is a monstrous act.

a.       It is not known whether or not Grendel is human, but he is human-like, in the fact that he can think, talk, and rationalize.

b.      Animals are not intelligent and cannot think as humans can; they are controlled only by their natures.

c.       Grendel is not an animal and is intelligent, yet still he kills, and only thinks of the enjoyment he gets from the killing.

6)      Explicit Reason:  He knows he could choose not to kill, but chooses to anyways.

a.       “I settled my soul on destroying him—slowly and cruelly,” (Gardner 30).

b.      “Afraid or not, I would go to the meadhall, I knew.  I toyed, of course, with the ridiculous theory that I’d stay where I was safe, like a sensible beast.  ‘Am I not free? —As free as a bird?’ I whispered, leering, maniacal,” (Gardner 157).

Implicit Reason:  When you choose to kill, it is premeditated and is a monstrous act.

a.       Premeditated murder is thought out and planned, not a crime of passion.

b.      Grendel chose to not kill twice, but only because he wanted to mess with people’s minds.

c.       Grendel chose continuously to kill.

7)      Explicit Reason:  He defines himself by the killing of Hrothgar’s people.

a.       “I could finish them off in a single night, pull down the great carved beams and crush them in the meadhall, along with their mice, their tankards and potatoes—yet I hold back.  I am hardly blind to the absurdity.  Form is function.  What will we call the Hrothgar-Wrecker when Hrothgar has been wrecked?” (Gardner 91).

b.      “So I might set aside Hrothgar’s whole kingdom and all his thanes if I did not, for sweet desire’s sake, set limits to desire.  If I murdered the last of the Skyldings, what would I live for?  I’d have to move,” (Gardner 158).

c.       “Enough of that! A night for tearing heads off, bathing in blood!  Except, alas, he has killed his quota for the season.  Care, take care of the gold-egg-laying goose!  There is no limit to desire but desire’s needs. (Grendel’s law),” (Gardner 93).

Implicit Reason:  When you only define yourself by the killing you do, you are committing monstrous acts.

a.       Grendel says that his only purpose is to kill Hrothgar’s people.

b.      Grendel only holds back from killing all of them, because that would mean he didn’t have a purpose anymore.

c.       Grendel is monstrous because he defines himself by his killing.