Monday, September 17, 2007
Grendel's image
One thing i realized after finishing the first three sections was that my image of Grendel changed throughout each section. In the first section, I didn't really know what to see him as, whether it was a dragon, a monster, or just some phsychopathic maniac who went around killing Danes. In the second section, we got some information that he was a monster who had big monster feet. So I pictured him as a big hairy ogre type monster, but the picture still wasn't clear. Finally, in the third section, we found out that his mother had a tail, so maybe he did too? Also when Beowulf slayed the body of Grendel after defeating his mother, and they were carrying the head back, the poem said it took four men to carry the head. So now I have a clearer picture of what he looked like with his monster feet, his tail, and the big head with some hair ontop since that was what Beowulf carried the head with. I wonder if we'll get even more information on him in the next section or is he totally out of the poem? Did anyone else's pictures change of Grendel throughout the sections?
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4 comments:
My picture of Grendel changed too, but I never imagined Grendel as a big, hairy creature. I thought he was just a monstrous man with several monster-like attributes: like he had a talon. Does it ever say anywhere that they were particularly hairy creatures? I was under the impression that their epidermis was exceedingly armor-like, because it was said that Beowulf had no use for a sword against Grendel's mother; he cast it away when it clanged against her skin. And Grendel must be the same, because the metal sword wouldn't work against him; Beowulf had to use his hands to defeat him.
If I try to picture Grendel, I get some vague idea of a really strong/monstrous humanoid thing. I dunno, I know that the mom had a tail and all but the writing during the Grendel vs. Beowulf fight made me think of two humans fighting, even with one being a demonchild of some sort.
I think he's really supposed to represent the emotional/spiritual equivalent of evil and sin rather than any aptly-detailed physical manifestation, which is why you don't get too clear a picture of what he looks like from the story - he doesn't really look like anything, at least to the listeners.
I agree with JT in that in each section of the reading the reader got a new piece of information regarding Grendel's apperance. We are just left to piece together what we personally think he looks like from the little details given. I felt that he was a huge beastly looking creature that walked like King Kong. There is no correct answer to his exact apperance, only that origianl author could tell us exactly what he was picturing when he wrote about Grendel. As for the question if Grendel going to make another apperance, I don't think he will. Everyone that knows about Beowulf defeating him already does, and anyone that was going to say nice things about Grendel if at all possible, like his family is gone. Beowulf had also defeated Grendel's mother so there is no one left to stick up for him saying that the story Bewoulf had told everyone wasn't ture. Those are my predictions. Sorry for my horrible spelling!
I'm crazy but whenever I see the word talon I think of an owl. The book also described Grendel's "flight" back to his lair so I connected the two into thinking of him as almost birdlike in a way. However, I know the British's term flight can take on a double meaining for journey home, and Grendel's mother lives in water which completely discredited the image in my head. That, or at least to me, shows the greatness in the story. Isn't Beowulf credited as "the first monster story in history." Everyone reading it can have a different version of Grendel which spooks them in their own way. Like the shower scene in the movie Phycho (spelling) they never show the murder happening, you have to imagine it for yourself The movie Beowulf is going to be a bit disapointing because it puts an image to Grendel.
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