Grendel (Cyclopedia of Literary Characters)
At a glance:
- Author: John Gardner
- First Published: 1971
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: Fantasy
- Time of Work: The early Middle Ages
- Setting: The Scandinavian countryside
- Genres: Long fiction, Fantasy
- Subjects: Philosophy or philosophers, Folkloric or magical people, Mythical animals, Mythology or myths, War, Kings, queens, or royalty, Legends, Human behavior, Existentialism, Heroes or heroism, Scandinavia or Scandinavians, Middle Ages, Sixth century, Monsters, Dragons
- Locales: Scandinavia
Characters Discussed
Grendel, a thinking monster and the narrator of this modernist retelling of the Beowulf legend. A dweller in an undersea cave, Grendel disregards the fearful protests of his mother and repeatedly ventures above into the world of humans. Merely curious at first, Grendel soon learns that humans are dangerous, thinking creatures, better eaten than trusted. He kills an occasional person and conducts periodic raids to amuse himself, but his uncertainty about human nature nags him. He vacillates between the brute existence he sees before him and the...
[The entire page is 1777 words long]
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