In Grendel, John Gardner seeks to comment on the
human condition and the destructive nature of biological urges to fight. There
are two important aspects that establish the criticism of human nature. First
is Grendel's position as a monster and outsider develops him as an external
actor to the situation ensures that he cannot be categorized under human
nature, thus having the ability to comment on these ideas. An important aspect
of the novel is also the ideas the Grendel develops either watching humanity or
even theorizing on humanity.
In Grendel, Gardner takes the villain
from the epic Beowulf and turns him into a nihilistic protagonist, who is not
living in the world, but rather is on the outside looking in. From the
beginning of the novel, Gardner portrays Grendel as a creature that is quite
different from not only humans but all the other creatures in general. Being a
creature that has no real agency or empathetic views towards the world, Grendel
is a commentator on the human condition. Gardner does this through multiple
examples. Firstly, he portrays Grendel as a victim of his own circumstances.
Born into a hard life of loneliness and despair, Grendel is forced to turn
toward the dragon for help, but yet it
causes him to go into further depression over his situation, the dragon
agonizes Grendel by claiming, “’I know everything, you see,' the old voice wheedled. 'The
beginning, the present, the end. Everything. You now, you see the past and the
present, like other low creatures: no higher faculties than memory and
perception. But dragons, my boy, have a whole different kind of mind.' He stretched
his mouth in a kind of smile, no trace of pleasure in it. 'We are from the
mountaintop: all time, all space. We see in one instant the passionate vision
and the blowout’”(Gardner, 45). Here we see Grendel suffering from the same
anxiety he was curious about in the first place, the dragon furthers Grendel’s
ultimate desperation by only reinforcing the desolation Grendel already knew.
Secondly, he humanizes Grendel. Throughout most of the novel we see Grendel as
an arrogant protagonist who is bored with life, similar to Salinger’s Holden
from Catcher in the Rye, through this
portrayal we see a different view of Grendel, one that accounts for his actions
and attempts at explaining his predicament to the readers. This portrayal of a
cocky, witty yet lonely protagonist evokes pity and a very strong response from
the audience. Gardner best explains Grendel’s life through the final chapter in
the novel. Grendel’s death at the hands of Beowulf culminates the ideas that
were strung together through the rest of the novel. Upon facing his fate, Gardner
quotes Grendel, in agony, in which he claims “'Poor Grendel's had an
accident,' I whisper. 'So may you all” (Gardner, 192). Here we see a phrase in
which Grendel recognizes his loneliness but he also sees that while the
universe is predetermined, as the dragon would claim, it is also chaotic and
embracing the life you have is uniquely valuable. Grendel’s ‘advice’ to the
other characters is based on the fact that they must create meaning for
themselves and have their own ‘accident’.
