GRENDEL

'Grendel' is one of three antagonists, along with Grendel's mother and the dragon, in the Anglo-Saxon epic poem ''Beowulf'' (c. 700–1000). In the poem, Grendel is feared by all but Beowulf. Grendel is referred to as a ''march-stepper'', literally meaning a "boundary-land walker," a walker in outlands or desolate places.

Contents

Story

Scholarship on Grendel

References

Notes

External links

Story

:See main article: ''Beowulf''
The poem, ''Beowulf,'' is contained in the ''Nowell Codex''. As noted in lines 106-114 and lines 1260-1267 of ''Beowulf,'' Grendel's mother and Grendel are descendants of Cain. Beowulf leaves Geatland in order to find and destroy Grendel, who has been attacking Heorot. After a long battle, he does so and mortally wounds Grendel. He later engages in a fierce battle with Grendel's mother, who is eventually killed by Beowulf. After her death, Beowulf finds Grendel's corpse and removes the head, keeping it as a trophy. Beowulf then returns to the surface and to his men at the "ninth hour" (l. 1600, "nōn", about 3pm). ^[1] He returns to Heorot, where he is given many gifts by an even more grateful Hroðgar.
In 1971, author John Gardner published the novel ''Grendel'', which was the telling of ''Beowulf'' from the monster's point of view.

Scholarship on Grendel

In 1936, J.R.R. Tolkien's '' discussed Grendel and the dragon in ''Beowulf''. This essay was the first work of scholarship in which Anglo-Saxon literature was seriously examined for its literary merits—not just scholarship about the origins of the English language as was popular in the 19th century.
In the following decades, the nature of Grendel's identity would become a conundrum for scholars due in large part to a line where he is described as descended from the biblical Cain, the first murderer. For some scholars, this justifies a monstrous appearance. For others, it positions Grendel as a marginal (rather than monstrous) figure which bears the curse and mark of Cain.
Kuhn (1979) was the first to raise questions about the association of any of the above images with Grendel and in an essay which would launch fierce (and as of yet unresolved) debates for decades about the term ''áglaéca'':
:There are five disputed instances of áglaéca [three of which are in ''Beowulf''] 649, 1269, 1512...In the first...the referent can be either Beowulf or Grendel. If the poet and his audience felt the word to have two meanings, 'monster,' and 'hero,' the ambiguity would be troublesome; but if by áglaéca they understood a 'fighter,' the ambiguity would be of little consequence, for battle was destined for both Beowulf and Grendel and both were fierce fighters (216-7).
Other scholars, such as O'Keefe, identify Grendel with a Berserker, because of numerous associations that seem to point to this possibility. ^[2]
John Grigsby, in his ''Beowulf and Grendel :The Truth behind England's oldest legend' suggested that Grendel is a demonized version of the old Danish fertility god Freyr, and even goes as far as linking Grendel with the Green Knight of Arthurian legend.

References

★ Jack, George. ''Beowulf : A Student Edition''. Oxford University Press: New York, 1997.

★ Frederick Klaeber, ed. ''Beowulf and the Fight at Finnsburg''. Third ed. Boston: Heath, 1950.

★ Kuhn, Sherman M. "Old English Aglaeca-Middle Irish Olach." ''Linguistic Method : Essays in Honor of Herbert Penzl''. Eds. Irmengard Rauch and Gerald F. Carr. The Hague, New York: Mouton Publishers, 1979. 213-30.

★ J.R.R. Tolkien, ''Beowulf, the Monsters and the Critics.'' (Sir Israel Gollancz Memorial Lecture, British Academy, 1936). First ed. London: Humphrey Milford, 1937.

Notes

1. Jack, George. ''Beowulf: A Student Edition,'' p. 123
2. Berserker

External links

★ Arby Stones, "Hellhounds, Werewolves and the Germanic Underworld"

★ ''Grendel'' ISBN 0679723110