Grendel is Not a Hero

By Cliffton Jacques

In the story Grendel, a novel by John Gardener, the main character Grendel is

portrayed as an antihero. The reader can see Grendel’s portrayal as an antihero through

his social and cultural inacceptance, his cynical and primitive outlook on life, and finally

Grendel as a character in which the reader can sympathize with and feel sorry for.

Grendel, throughout John Gardener’s novel, never has acceptance of the people

around him. When Grendel first sees people, they do not embrace him but instead they

do quite the opposite. The people are “scared” of Grendel and the loud noises that expel

from his mouth (pg 27). The people react by backing away from Grendel, even though

he is not physically doing anything to threaten them, and Hrothgar, king of the Danes,

ends up throwing an ax and hitting him (pg 27). The reader can see from Grendel’s very

first human encounter that he is not accepted by people whatsoever. Another example of

how Grendel is not culturally accepted is by how he is thought of within the tribes of

people. The shaper, who is a bard within the mead halls of the time, influences oral

history by telling the stories for the entertainment of the people. One particular story

explains the origin of Grendel. In the Speaker’s telling of how Grendel came to be, he

explains that Grendel comes from the hatred of Caine killing Abel and that “he was the

terrible race god cursed” (pg 51). The Shaper’s portrayal of Grendel causes people to not

accept him before even getting a chance to actually form an impression themselves.

Grendel fits the traits of an antihero by having a cynical outlook and wanting to

better and help himself at the possible expense of others. After Grendel has his encounter

with the Dragon, Grendel receives the ability to be impervious to sword and spear
wounds, making him much stronger. Once Grendel receives this ability, he seems to find

joy and pleasure in the downfall and fear of humans. When one of the guards outside the

mead hall tries to attack Grendel, the guard becomes filled with fear and Grendel

“laughed a little wild” and later ate the head off the guard to instill fear in all who saw it

(pg 79). Grendel begins making a habit of slaughtering throughout the story after that

first incident. Grendel describes his feelings of killing others as filling him with “a

strange unearthly joy” (pg 79). Grendel’s pleasure in the demise of others is a key

example of cynicism. Another example is his primal urges for Wealtheow and his want

to fulfill those urges. When Grendel sees Wealtheow, he is immediately attracted to her

but due to his lack of social understanding; he does not understand his own feelings.

When Grendel sees Wealtheow lying with Hrothgar, he immediately becomes jealous and

the next night he “snatched her by the ankle’ and held her “over a fire” ( pg 109). This

action causes Grendel to laugh and feel better. The best way to describe his actions is out

of misunderstanding of his feelings of jealousy toward her, very easy to relate to a

dramatic version of a hormonal young teenager.

Finally an antihero, no matter what moral controversy he gives, seems to receive

sympathy from the reader. When Grendel is at a young age, he is attacked by a bull.

Grendel’s first response is out of fear and cries out. He yells at the bull to go away and

seems to fear the unknown (pg 20). Most readers would have trouble not feeling

sympathetic for an adolescent and scared child regardless of whether it is human or not.

Later, Grendel begins to receive sympathy once again from the reader near the end of the

story. He seems to fall into a state of depression and constantly repeats ‘tedium is the

worst pain”. He then battles Beowulf in the end of the book. The reader once again feels
sympathy for Grendel with the portrayal of Beowulf’s treatment towards him during the

battle. Beowulf hurts Grendel by “whispering words like showers of sleet” (pg 169).

This abuse causes Grendel to once again retreat into a sympathetic and frightened state.

Grendel begins to cry out “mama, I'm dying” and begins to whimper in a dog like manner

(pg 173).

Grendel’s traits in John Gardener’s novel resemble that of an antihero. Grendel

resembles an antihero by his lack of cultural acceptance and, being an outcast. He also

wants to advance his own personal needs and fulfill his primitive urges, and finally he

still receives sympathy from the reader despite his lack of moral fiber.