The_Enemy_Outside_And_Within__Grendel_And_His_Mother

The Enemy Outside And Within: Grendel And His Mother “The Enemy Outside and Within: Grendel and His Mother” In many stories throughout ancient times, monsters have been the focus for the problems within society, causing any number of woes for the people. The monsters themselves, however, are quite often distanced and set apart in numerous ways from the peoples whom they plague, including physically, mentally, emotionally, symbolically, and oftentimes ideologically as well. In the old English epic, Beowulf, this pattern of making monsters out to be outsiders remains firmly in place, witnessed through the descriptions, attitudes, and actions of the fiend Grendel and his horrific Mother. There exists, however, a paradoxical symbolism within the epic’s framework concerning this beast and his kin in which they serve as examples of the negative aspects of the Germanic society in which the story originated. Therefore, while they are still placed outside of the boundaries of Human civilization, they are, at the same time, a part of it as they represent the evils of the culture whose imagination spawned them. From the moment he appears in the story, Grendel is an outcast in every conceivable manner. His form, although vaguely humanoid, is hideous grendel, human, society, one, mother, therefore, even, outside, monsters, humanity, however, serve, love, grendel’s, god, fiend, beowulf, actions, within, very, through, set, rage, plague, perhaps, numerous, nature, monster, just, himself, great, germanic, finds, faults, evils