Yanna Mei, Period 7, 2/12/2024

Yanna Mei, Period 7, 2/12/2024 Modern Mythology 2024 Research Paper

What does Grendel look like? This was the question my classmate Jason asked on Friday and I found myself thinking back to this question all weekend. How does his appearance have any significance in the epic poem “Beowulf”? On the surface, it is obvious that if he was monstrous, he could easily commit massacres and have people fear him and his beast-like appearance. However, what made us think immediately that something monstrous-looking had to commit these crimes? What is “monstrous-looking”? Knowing the history of Grendel, he would have to have some image of a human, being a descendant of Cain. However, people choose to believe and read that he is beast-like and completely inhuman. If you look up images of Grendel, there are many iterations, and none look human. 

From a young age, people are taught that something looks monstrous when it is deformed and looks inhuman. Then, people associate that in literature with evil and damage. In the beginning, when reading “Stone Blind”, we discussed what the definition of a monster is. Monsters by definition have “fangs and claws, flashing eyes, and bloodthirsty growls, and are far swifter and stronger than any human being”. However, in “Beowulf”, Grendel’s appearance is not mentioned at all. The only hint is that he is the villain and massacred villages. So why did we automatically think he was a beast, not a human? In “What Does Grendel Look Like? A Detailed Analysis”, a recent article on the updates of the appearance of Grendel, stated that he has the long arms and legs of a human but is much larger and covered in fur. The article stated repeatedly that he was “monstrous-looking”. As I research more on the topic of the connection between the personality of a character and their appearance, it is clear that monsters that are the villains in stories are meant to represent the duality of humans.

In the Bible story, Cain and Abel, both are clearly human or at least clearly representative of humans because the main idea was that it was the second sin committed by man. Cain murdered his brother and indirectly became a monster. All his descendants were turned into renditions of evil: spirits, goblins, giants, etc. The point I have been trying to make through all this research is that even though we don’t know the appearance of Grendel, people assume that he is beast-like because of his actions. In the article “Beware The Boogeyman: What Makes a Horror Monster Scary?” stories include villains that are human like serial killers and criminals but “when they go about their grisly task with an inhuman single-mindedness, they often appear closer to deadly machines or animals than actual people.” The importance of this in “Beowulf” was to show people what would happen if you committed a sin. There would be a possibility of turning into something evil, represented by a monstrous appearance because of its abnormality. 

While this research paper is not typical, the discovery of the connection between the monstrous appearance of a villain and the personality is essential when reading “Beowulf”. If Grendel was described as a serial killer, would people in the stories and in the past be more afraid? The history of the epic poem being biased towards Christianity makes it clear that they would want to invoke fear into their audience with the image of a monster because they know that people subconsciously think of something monstrous when evil occurs. Even in the second article, when humans commit such ghastly crimes, they are seen as more animal-like than humans. As we continue to read “Beowulf”, I keep in mind the image I have of each of the characters and why I think they look the way they do in my head. Why would I have the image of a human as the hero, Beowulf, and not as Grendel, the villain?

• Winspear, James, and Jay Krieger. “Beware the Bogeyman: What Makes a Horror Monster Scary?” DREAD XP, 3 June 2022, www.dreadxp.com/editorial/beware-the-bogeyman-what-makes-a-horror-monster-scary/#:~:text=The%20majority%20of%20horror%20monsters,than%20any%20normal%20human%20being. 

• Clark, and Adt2-admin. “What Does Grendel Look like in the Epic Poem Beowulf.” Ancient Literature, 2 Sept. 2022, ancient-literature.com/what-does-grendel-look-like/.