As I was reading Grendel, one of the main themes that seemed to pop out at me was that of truth versus illusion. In Grendel, the villains of Beowulf seem to represent truth: in contrast to the relative ignorance of the Anglo-Saxons, the dragon and Grendel are highly erudite and scientific; the dragon, in particular, represents knowledge in its purest form, as his special perspective on space and time allows him to be virtually omniscient. The Anglo-Saxons, by contrast, represent myth and illusion, as epitomized by the "Shaper" - the scop, the poet whose words shape the perception of reality. The scop changes the nature of perception, allowing people to see bloody wars as righteous and glorious affairs; the scop creates a better world for the Anglo-Saxons to believe and live in. By contrast, the reality that Grendel and the dragon present is a very grim world, one in which all life is meaningless and hate and violence are the law of the world. Grendel's anger against humanity, then, can be described in terms of illusion and truth: because he represents the harsh truth of the world, Grendel hates humanity for the golden, fairytale myths it uses to hide the dark reality of life. Humanity's ultimate crime, in Grendel's view, is then self-deception; it is the refusal to admit truth but to instead hide behind reality.
My questions, then, are thus: through the interactions of Grendel, the dragon, and Anglo-Saxons, what does John Gardner say about the nature of reality, myth, and what does this imply about morality and humanity? In our opinion, is he correct?
4 comments:
“ Grendel's anger against humanity, then, can be described in terms of illusion and truth: because he represents the harsh truth of the world, Grendel hates humanity for the golden, fairytale myths it uses to hide the dark reality of life. Humanity's ultimate crime, in Grendel's view, is then self-deception; it is the refusal to admit truth but to instead hide behind reality.”
The way you describe it really highlights the use of Grendal’s character to show the raw truth that we all do live in a fallen, terrible world, but we get by each day by finding all the good that we can and thriving off of that, which Grendal hates. It really is “tricking ourselves” but what other choice do we have? Grendal somewhat represents the extreme end of this predicament, representing the people who do realize that life can be bad, and choose to wallow in it instead of making the best of it. This was a really interesting view!
The same theme came to me as well as I was reading. I was thinking that John Gardner implied that reality tends to be hidden from more of humanity due to the general society's ignorance. I find what Gardner is saying strongest when Grendal tries to speak to the Anglo-Saxons. But the Anglo-Saxons take it as a noise of intimidation and feebly attack Grendal, instilling anger upon Grendel with their own assumptions. Gardner depicts the Anglo-Saxons in a very assuming nature, a statement that applies to their "Shaper" description. This is how many wars begin, one assumption turns into truth because of the initial assumption.
In response to Claire, I do not think that it is necessarily "tricking ourselves" that we chose. Yes, society does often choose blissful ignorance but we, in fact, create out own dilemmas. This is the message that Gardner is trying to convey about humanity.
It appears to me as if the author uses this relationship between illusion and reality to highlight the deficencies of mankind. Grendel's suprisingly intelligent reasoning concerning men and thier endless folly pushes the reader to realize the futility and sin involved in human civilization. Basically, we are led to believe that human morality is slipping, and until the arrival of Beowulf, humans are illustrated throughout the novel as the "lesser race". Could this assertion, developed throughout the novel, be considered as still true in the world of today?
I think the author leaves an underlying message of humanities ignorance
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