Grendel's Influence On Beowulf

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While there is no absolute need for this perspective of the tale, there are no doubt those that wonder about the background of certain characters that were perhaps not as fleshed out as the leads. This is the case with Grendel, the first notable monster that Beowulf triumphs over in his poem. From the reader’s perspective, Grendel is just the first in a series of notorious slayings that Beowulf goes on to perform. He takes the lives of Grendel, Grendel’s mother, and the dragon, all of which are characters the readers are exposed to during Grendel’s perspective. If one were to read only Beowulf, which is the case most of the time, then they would merely look at these victories as another intense battle Beowulf finds himself in. Of course, he has reason to engage in combat with them. Once the battles are over, Beowulf moves on to the next portion of his adventure. That is fine and normal for a story designed to focus on Beowulf as the lead, but one wonders about the lives of those that he has influenced, good or bad. In the original poem, not much background was given on…show more content…
They do not happen at the same time, because Grendel is mostly a prequel that leads up to said events. This allows the author to explore and expand on Grendel’s life, as well as the other characters that appear in Beowulf. By transforming the antagonist into the protagonist, the reader is given the opportunity to effectively compare the role of the same character, and perhaps gain themselves a different perspective due to having read both sides of the story. Not only this, but dual readers gain the ability to sympathize more with Grendel and his mother, now knowing what they go through as well. However, it is very important that continuity is perfect. Gardner does a decent job at this, only bringing in elements of Beowulf when absolutely necessary, and making sure the stories are compatible with one

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