The Human Within Grendel

The Human within Grendel

Over the past few chapter of John Gardner’s Grendel,we have seen some quite interesting characteristics from Grendel. Though it is not incredibly shocking that a monster like Grendel is able understand human feelings and emotions, it is nice to know that he is not a savage beast who kills for no reason other than to feed himself. With Grendel, one shocking characteristic is his mastery of the human language he is speaking. From the beginning of the book until now, Grendel has slowly but surely learned this language so he can better communicate with us. Chapter by chapter his diction become of a higher quality and so does his grammar. In the beginning of the book, we see that Grendel has a hard time with a different language other than his. “The old ram stands looking down over the rockslides, stupidly triumphant. I blink. I stare in horror.” (pg.5) We see in another depiction in chapter 5 when Grendel and the dragon are conversing.While conversing Grendel tells us the description of what the dragon looks like. ” The color of his sharp scales darkened and brightened as the dragon inhaled and exhaled slowly, drawing new air across his vast internal face; his razor sharp tusks gleamed and glinted as if they...were formed of precious metals and stones.” (pg.57) As Grendel becomes more mature, he also learns more about the new language he is speaking. I find this very intriguing since Grendel is actually learning and understanding more about humanity. Though he has learned about heroism and the outside universe, as he grows older his mind expands more and his train of thought. Grendel learning more about the language shows that he is learning more as a being and becoming more mature.