Grendel

     Beowulf implements new ideals and values in Grendel’s head. In the midst of their battle Beowulf yells at Grendel, “He smashes me against it [the wall], breaks open my forehead. Hard, yes! Observe the hardness, write it down in careful runes. Now sing of walls! Sing!..Sing Walls!” (171). Gardner took two different approaches to this passage. He described his interpretation as, “What Beowulf says in effect is this: one looks at the world—bangs ones head against it—and one has two choices, to accept the world as it is or to transform it, shake it to life by imagination.” This is a new approach to life that Beowulf shares with Grendel. He is giving rise to new thoughts in Grendel’s head—Beowulf is the cause of these ideas. The creator of these ideals he is bestowing upon Grendel. From his meeting with Beowulf Grendel learns that accidents are bound to happen in the world, however, they are not always negative. Garner says himself, “By the accident of meeting Beowulf he’s [Grendel] forced to discover how accident can be turned into a good, how imagination can reshape and ultimately improve the world—at least for the lifespan of a given civilization.” Beowulf was essentially the cause of this realization and when Grendel understands the theory on page 172 it completes Beowulf’s creation, “I understand him alright, make no mistake…The chilly intellect, the hot imagination, blocks and builder, reality and stress,” (172). By being the cause of  the formation of new ideals in Grendel Beowulf earns the title Creator.

     A creator was also defined as “The creator, God,” (dictionary.com). Beowulf is described with Christ-like imagery and Gardner furthers this idea in his letter.  Gardner describes Beowulf as becoming “a kind of second dragon–another absolute truth-teller…There’s a medieval tradition in which Christ and the devil are both dragons. Gardner writes, ”The flickering fire in the strangers eyes. He has wings. Is it possible?” (169). Grendel hallucinates Beowulf as a dragon with eyes of fire and great wings. This evidences the dragon imagery and then leads us into the allusion to the medieval dragons.   “He [Beowulf] stretches his blinding white wings and breathes out fire,” (172). Beowulf breathing fire further evidences the dragon imagery. However this time Gardner specifically describes the wings as “white” possibly representing purity and truth and representing the “Christ dragon.”  The Dragon is the “absolute truth-teller” and the color white can be symbolic of godliness, implying that Beowulf is representative of God.  With this in mind and Gardner’s specific mention of the dragon allusion in his letter, I am again lead to believe that Beowulf is a creator rather than a destroyer.