Accepting Religion And Philosophy In 'Grendel' By John Gardner

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In society, accepting a religion or philosophy is important in one’s life and culture. One’s religion and philosophy shape his/her role in the world and leads his/her future. Philosophy and religion bind people to a society, aides them in a certain way of critical thinking, and gives them a certain perspective on life. In the novel, Grendel by John Gardner, the horrendous beast Grendel is incapable of accepting a philosophy, whether it be the nihilistic view of the dragon or the existentialist and altruistic view of the shaper, causing him to suffer from an internal conflict that ultimately leads to his death.
Initially being born with an existentialist perspective, Grendel set out to find the meaning of his life in the world. As he parts from the safety …show more content…
As they attack him, he defines the humans as the atrocities of the world, and finds his purpose to oppose them. Grendel felt his duty was to keep the humans “from overpopulating, maybe starving to death come winter” however he did not intend to “scare them, give them heart attacks, fill their nights with nightmares, just for sport.”(60) However, this mindset soon changes with Grendel’s encounter with the ultimate embodiment of Nihilism, the Dragon. The Dragon, having the knowledge of “The beginning, the present, the end. Everything”(62), believes that since all that existing and residing within the universe will come to an absolute end, there is no meaning in any action, ideology, belief or philosophy other than Nihilism. He states that all actions of present and past are meaningless as they do not change the written future, therefore convincing Grendel there is no “free will and intercession”(63), which is the foundation
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and images of their narratives. John Gardner, in his novel Grendel, integrates several of Jung’s archetypes into his epic tale derived from the early story Beowulf. Gardner associates Jung’s personas of the outcast, the shadow, and the mentor-pupil relationship through the identities of Grendel, the narrator of events, and the dragon. The outcast, an identity relating to nearly every humanistic myth or story, represents the tragic creature Grendel. A giant beast with the intellectual…

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