82 pages • 2 hours read
John GardnerGrendel
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1971A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Summary
Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Character Analysis
Themes
Symbols & Motifs
Important Quotes
Essay Topics
Tools
BetaSymbols & Motifs
Heroes and Monsters
The motif of heroes and monsters enhances the novel’s mythic quality, despite the fact that the protagonist speaks in contemporary, sometimes academic language about heady matters like art, truth, and the nature of time. No matter the narrative, for heroes to exist, they must have monsters to defeat, and the novel invites readers to consider the possibility that monsters, in fact, can be heroic and humans can, in turn, behave monstrously.
The human facets of Grendel’s character weave throughout the novel as a motif that emphasizes how any individual, hero or monster, can experience the human condition. Though he is a monster, Grendel experiences the deeply human emotions of anger and hatred as well as love and pity. His humanity is further reflected in his ability to experience vengefulness as well the disastrous effects of psychological trauma and ignorance. The novel gives him, a monster hated for his terrifying power and bloodthirst, human qualities that call into question what it means, in a broader sense, to be human.
Grendel’s role in the novel as an anti-hero—a protagonist who lacks typically heroic characteristics—emphasizes this question of the human condition. As he is the main character, readers can access his thoughts and feelings most easily. Thanks to Grendel’s uneasy existence and his philosophical fluency, he appears to suffer anxieties supposedly reserved for human experience. Similarly, the contradictory, narrow-minded, and corrupt behavior of the Danes angers and frustrates Grendel, leading him to understand that humans have the potential to be monstrous. This understanding is juxtaposed against his vividly monstrous characterization, and he has the potential to be deeply heroic in his courage, his profundity, and his relentless pursuit of moral truth.
Astrology and the Zodiac
The novel begins in the springtime, progresses through summer and fall, and ends in the winter. The novel does not follow a linear pattern, as Grendel goes back and forth in his memory, but time’s passage is notable in the descriptions of changing seasons. More subtly, the signs of the zodiac appear in each of the 12 chapters, suggesting that each chapter concerns a particular month of the year. Because each of the chapters contains a reference to an astrological sign, the reader’s attention naturally turns to astrology, which is one model for organizing understanding about the world and the randomness of life’s events.
In Chapter 1, a stubborn ram appears, angering Grendel and representing the zodiac sign of Aries. In Chapter 2, Grendel remembers a bull, signifying Taurus, that attacked him and drove him into the tree. The twins of Gemini find representation in the duality of Grendel’s remembered experience with the Shaper in Chapter 3; Grendel knew his own reality, but the Shaper challenged this knowledge with his powerful and emotional song. In Chapter 4, Grendel identifies himself with a crab as he recalls exhibiting cautious behavior typical of Cancer. The dominant egomania of the dragon described in Chapter 5 invites a comparison to the sign of Leo, the king of beasts. Grendel refers directly to a virgin in Chapter 6, confirming the presence of the sign Virgo. In Chapter 7, Grendel retells the arrival of Wealtheow, and her diplomatic savvy represents Libra, whose weighted scales signify balance. Grendel compares Wealtheow’s nephew Hrothulf to a scorpion in Chapter 8, alluding to Scorpio, and in Chapter 9, the death of a hart by bow and arrow implies a connection to Sagittarius the archer. The death-defying goat, whose stubbornness angers Grendel in Chapter 10, links to the astrological sign of Capricorn. In Chapter 11, the sign of Aquarius, the water bearer, is implied in the seafaring Stranger’s arrival, his story of his swimming contest with Breca, and his eventual victory over sea monsters. The last chapters contain several comparisons of the Stranger to a fish, and Chapter 12 shows the Stranger himself enigmatically alluding to them—“but where the water was rigid, there will be fish, and men will survive on their flesh till spring” (170)—ending the novel on a final image of the astrological sign of Pisces.
The Meadhall
The meadhall represents several ideas in the novel. The meadhall is a large communal space in which the Danes gather to celebrate their king. Surrounding the meadhall are meres, caves, and lairs housing supernatural creatures like Grendel and the dragon; the meadhall stands amid a hazardous wilderness, a human endeavor in the midst of natural forces beyond the human realm. The meadhall represents Hrothgar’s power and reach, the human survival instinct that motivates Hrothgar’s people to persevere, and the growing religious faith of those people.
The meadhall also symbolizes the Danes’ relentless belief in their own potential to overcome evil. Hrothgar himself constructed the meadhall, employing his wealth and his power to create comfort, warmth, and community for his followers. Under the roof of the meadhall, the Danes gather to eat, to sleep, and to enjoy each other’s company and to feel a sense of safety in numbers. Here, in the warmth of the meadhall, the Shaper sings his songs and creates a world for the Danes that they can understand. Within this communal space, the Danes unite against their enemies and learn together what it means to develop a civilization.
Just as Hrothgar’s meadhall protects the Danes against the elements and offers a gathering place for Hrothgar’s followers, it shuts out the dark, where mysterious and threatening forces are at play. The meadhall is not invulnerable, however; no matter how many sentries and wolves stand guard outside the meadhall, Grendel can overpower them to exact his raids and maintain his own terrifying power over Hrothgar and his people. In this way, the meadhall represents human fallibility.
After every raid, the Danes rebuild the meadhall, and as religious systems take shape, the meadhall becomes a place of worship. These activities and the religious iconography that appears outside the meadhall represent the growing faith of the Danes, who continue to rebuild the meadhall in the hopes that a higher power will save them from future raids.
