It is unsurprising that a story written by an ambiguous and anonymous author contains difficult to interpret symbolism and imagery of its main tenets. What is surprising however, is that how despite over 100 years of translation and close reading, the form and appearance of one of the story’s main antagonists still remains under a shroud of darkness. The author relies heavily and entirely on religious, and time specific symbolism as the main source of imagery in this old English legend. Despite the ambiguity of the author’s description of Grendel, the passage I have selected is able to illustrate that although Grendel is namely an ungodly monster, the author conveys that Grendel is in fact rather, a member of another rival tribe to Beowulf, Hrothgar, and the Danes.
Superficially, it would appear to be logical to live with the assumption and interpretation that Grendel is meant to be some form of ungodly monster. The symbolism and comparisons that the author makes for Grendel appear on a first read through to all point towards a depiction of a large sort of creature. The author describes Grendel as residing in “…The land of Giants…”, and how this place that gave rise to “… all misbegotten things, trolls and elves…”. He utilizes common fantastical imagery to derive an illustration of Grendel that is evil, dark, something out of a medieval fantasy tale. And this interpretation holds up, it is far easier to imagine a beast carrying out the abhorrent deeds that Grendel goes on to commit later in this narrative poem. But even though later in this story it becomes easy to use this interpretation, details included here in this passage clash with the assumed form. It is not until you contextualize and analyze the language used with the rest of the story that the apparent form of Grendel begins to take shape.
For example, one of the main…… The story of Cain and Abel depicts the first two sons of Adam and Eve, the first humans to walk the earth in genesis, directly curated and blessed by god. The story goes that God favored Abel, so Cain became jealous and resorted to murdering Abel, this then led God to punish Cain to a life of wandering. This then brings new meaning to the symbolism of how Grendel was “…condemned him Among Cain’s race—when he killed Abel…”. Grendel was a human man who was a member of a rival claim to the throne, or tribe of some kind who was jealous of the fame and success of Hrothgar during the war, and how he was able to claim the throne. He then of course resorts to murdering, and even cannibalizing the members of Hrothgar’s people, only to then be banished by the creator to wander on the outskirts of the kingdom. And the symbolism continues on even further, as the term “the creator” is used to symbolize and represent multiple entities.
Although it remains in debate whether or not Beowulf resides in the category of epic poetry or not, I believe with an elastic interpretation on the term it falls within this category. A general aspect of epic poetry is the portrayal of its main character, or epic hero, as being partially divine, and this story is no different. This also explains how much of the religious symbolism characterizes and describes Grendel. While Beowulf remains as the epic hero of the tale, possessing godly strength and resolve, his kingdom and the king are portrayed as the kingdom of the lord, and the king is either portrayed as the maker himself or as the right hand of the maker, carrying out his divine bidding. The king during this time period is put in an extremely high moral standing with the citizens of his kingdom, with ideals such as having the divine right to rule being a staple of western European kingdoms throughout history prior to the introduction of republics. And this comparison and parallel between the king of the Danes and the creator himself appears as the author describes Grendel to be forced to leave Scylfig, “After the Creator had condemned him among Cain’s race…”. The reference to the creator is referencing the King of the Danes, Hrothgar, who was a real Danish king during that 6th century. the crown after an arduous war with rival clans to the Danes.
With Beowulf, Hrothgar, and the remainder of the Danes representing the will of the lord, Grendel is subsequently portrayed as a direct enemy of the lord. This means simply that Grendel is a member of a rival clan, or nation of peoples that either challenged or stood in the way of Hrothgar claiming the throne. The condemnation that the “creator” brought to him is being expelled from the Anglo-Saxon territories, after the war. He is described as being a “…mighty stalker of the marches…”, with marches being an old-English term meaning the borderlands of a country, so he was left to roam the borders of his once home, after being defeated and cast out by Hrothgar. This shows that he was simply a man, a man in a rival nation to the Danes of Scylfig and Hrothgar, with the author using time period relevant religious symbolism to derive this illustration.
A common theme recurring throughout the entirety of this epic poem is that of pride and loyalty to one’s nation and kingdom.