Elements Of Evil In Beowulf Essay -- Epic of Beowulf Essays

In times before printed books were common, stories and poems were passed from propagation to generation by word of mouth. From such oral traditions come coarse epics such as Englands heroic epic, Beowulf. In Beowulf, the monster Grendel serves as the plague character acting against the poems hero, as shown by his unnatural effectivity, beast-like qualities, and alienation from society.One of the first responses from a reader of Beowulf is their perplexity at Grendels unnatural strength, one quality marking him as an evil character. His majuscule strength is shown first in his ability to jam enormous amounts of free weight. There occur several instances in the story where Grendel lifts great amounts of weight. In Grendels first raid of Herot, a great mead-hall, he snatched up thirty men, smashed them . . . and ran out with their bodies to his lair (ll. 59-62). This amount of weight equals nearly 5,000 pounds a feat that no normal man (or creature) could accomplish. In additi on to his ability to lift huge amounts of weight, Grendels unnatural strength appears in his merciless killing of humans. He proficiently tears his victims aside before devouring them. Moments before the monsters demise, Grendel grabs a quiescence Geat and ripped him apart, cut his body to bits with powerful jaws (ll. 393-394). Only a force of evil could accomplish an act so gruesome, with such facility. One earmark of an epic evil character is their unnatural strength, and Grendel certainly fits the bill for ...