Hero Vs. Villain In Beowulf

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The idea of hero versus villain is not always black and white as it seem. If one were to analyze closely a hero and a villain, one would notice that there is much to compare as there is to differentiate. The Epic poem, Beowulf and the novel Grendel provide an excellent example as to how a hero and a villain could be alike and different at the same time due to their religious beliefs, their character disposition, and their fatal end. In the epic poem Beowulf, the story is told in third person ominenscients about the adventures of the great beowulf and his heroic life. While the novel Grendel, is told in first person point of view. Consequently, both stories give the audience an idea just how similar and difference these two works of literature …show more content…
In Beowulf’s version of the story, he is the hero. He is loved and accepted by many and is seen as a protector. In the text, Beowulf says: “"They have seen my strength for themselves,/ Have watched me rise from the darkness of war,/ Dripping with my enemies' blood. I drove/ Five great giants into chains, chased/ All of that race from the earth. I swam/ In the blackness of night, hunting monsters/ Out of the ocean, and killing them one/ By one; death was my errand and the fate/ They had earned. Now Grendel and I are called/ Together, and I've come." (pg. 36, lines 417-426). Beowulf has built this reputation of slaying monsters and doing things most normal humans could not do. He has adopted this sense of responsibility that he needs to protect the people. Eventually, he has become a paragon of a epic hero. Contrary to this, Grendel is still seen as the monster in both Beowulf’s story and his own. Referring back to the novel Grendel speaks; “I was transformed. I was a new focus for the clutter of space I stood in: if the world had once imploded on the tree where I waited, trapped and full of pain, it now blasted outward away from me, screeching terror. I had become, myself, the mama I’d searched the cliffs now in vain….I was Grendel, Ruiner of Mead Halls, Wrecker of Kings! But also, as never before, I was alone.” (P.80) Grendel is placed in isolation, he has nobody to talk. He fails to
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