What would it be like to be in the mind of the villainous character rather than the protagonists'? In Beowulf, Grendel is the havoc-causing monster that no one can defeat. He has terrorized the people and they have had to lived in uncertainty under his thumb. It seems clear that Grendel is an unlikable monster - no one would want to know his inner thoughts.
But, Grendel's inner thoughts are this book. And from the start they are interesting albeit very abstract, philosophical, and confusing. The first fact about Grendel that makes following his thoughts difficult is that he's immortal - or he would go on living forever unless the victim of violence. But no one can get close enough to do him that harm. If we had forever to live, how would that change our thinking/what we chose to think about.
Grendel's thoughts are not framed by the concept of time - he is free from having to believe that it will ever get the better of him. But this is a mixed blessing for Grendel because it's clear that he suffers from knowing that nothing will ever change. At the beginning of the book Grendel sees a ram who's in heat - he's looking for an ewe to mate with and Grendel is disgusted with this. He sees the ram as a slave to his passions - led by his genitals into doing something that he couldn't understand the meaning of if indeed there is any meaning. It is hard to argue with the baseness of the ram's libido and the bestiality of that. There is no intellect to refine this urge - we constantly try to marry intellect with heart as a human being. Grendel is pure intellect - he tears everything apart in his mind. And looking at the ram he admits that he's not very happy. At least this ram, if only a mindless beast, gets to participate in the dance of life. Grendel has no mate and would not allow himself to participate in something he viewed as foolish or futile.
Essentially, the relationship between the ewe and Grendel really encapsulates this book. The desire to lift yourself out of what Oriana Fallaci called, "the ant heap," or the mindless life of simply existing from day to day out of habit. This is embodied by Grendel and it is achieved through the use of one's intellect. The creature who lives on earth, who obeys the call of nature is embodied by the ram. It is always presented as a mindless creature, but a very persistent one. And Grendel is always unhappy when he realizes that at least the ram is on nature's side - Grendel is only on his own side. And he is very lonely for it.
There's one other relationship in this book that encapsulates its themes. There is a bard - a lyrical poet who sings in the hall - and he creates stories of the actions his people have taken (i.e. the king who has recently defeated an army - this event gets immortalized in song). Grendel finds the bards' music beautiful. It even causes him pain. But he is deeply disturbed at how untruthful it is. On one occasion Grendel witnessed the actual event and knows the reality to have been different. But he hears the bard singing about the event in a different way. He is really upset by this because he has the desire to believe the bards' version but he cannot. I identified with Grendel a little in this - when we assign a meaning to something that happens in order to understand it, who can say that we aren't just creating an illusion by doing so? Grendel always comes down on the side that no event has any meaning, no death can have meaning, and no action either. As miserable as he is, he doesn't alter the facts ever.
Then there's Beowulf. Beowulf enters the story like the variable you never expected that blindsides you. I felt that he embodies the middle road between the bard and Grendel. He is not a weaver of lies but he is not an atheist in all things either. He defeats Grendel because he knows life and uses it to lie. I realize that doesn't make much sense but here's an example-
Beowulf pretends to be asleep at the beginning of his fight with Grendel. Grendel believes that he's asleep because he'd observed that all the men had been drinking and drink makes you sleepy. But Beowulf is not asleep. He is willing to lie about being asleep though - that's something Grendel wouldn't do. Beowulf's ability to lie is what gave him an advantage against Grendel, the monster. Similar to Odysseus, who Homer always calls "the great tactician," a man who doesn't always fight fair but he always fights smart. He has intellect and heart and uses them both.
Whenever I'm presented with a duality - like the Bard and Grendel - I get sucked into an either/or way of thinking. One option must be the right one and the other the wrong one. Then it's about deciding which is which. Up to this point in my life, my thinking has been very black and white. I didn't really think of this as juvenile I just thought of it as me pursuing the truth as I saw it.
But I begin to realize that black and white thinking is juvenile and it's a dead-end. I think it has more to do with the trouble I'm having accepting what my observations and experiences are telling me. My black and white thinking is an attempt to make the world make sense based on beliefs I used to hold. These days I'm struggling with trying to put that aside - and being more responsive to observation and experience without interfering as much. It's stepping into the grey world. And it is extremely difficult.
Grendel is a very powerful monster - but towards the end of his story Beowulf is introduced as if he will inevitably cause Grendel's downfall. Grendel starts to panic that he's dreamt of this man killing him. Almost as if it was prophesized. I think that Grendel became too powerful in an unbalanced way - he saw power in negating everything, the power of disbelief. He thought this power was supreme. He occasionally was inspired to believe in something he saw or experienced but he never did. Beowulf is a compromiser. He disbelieves when necessary but he can also commit himself if need be. I think that Gardner believes that in a head to head between two such people there is no doubt that the compromiser will prevail.
I tend to agree with Gardner although that doesn't make the process any easier. My health, my safety, my happiness seem increasingly attached to the art of compromising - in many different areas of my life. It's hard to be human without learning this -
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