Satire and Parody in Grendel
...otal ruin of institutions and morals” (118). This is a rather extreme view, but Gardner would hold this to be at least somewhat true. Gardner also scoffs at organized religion later in the book when he describes the peoples’ ring of statues that represent their gods. He talks of it when he is describing the doings of Hrothgars’s people. Gardner writes: “they drank and talked and prayed to their curious carved-out creatures and finally came to a decision” (39). In The Holy Bible, Moses’ first commandment received from God is “You shall have no other gods”. The men worshiping statues then seem to be in complete contradiction to their original purpose, to worship a higher being. This today is also found, when people use objects and idols to represent their prospective god. Gardner would agree with me when I say that a relationship with god is meant to be completely personal. To worship through statues and idols seems absurd. Also, John Gardner parodies the hero, in a Joseph Campbell sense of the word. He takes a clear cut hero from the epic poem, Beowulf, and gives his traits to a monster. In “Grendel”, Gardner takes away the heroic traits from Beowulf. Gardner, through Grendels description, compares Beowulf to a “snake”, a “fish” and a “child”(155). This is strange compared to the descriptions of Beowulf in the epic poem. Grendel gains the strong and mighty in the novel, and is many a time referred to as “the world-rim-walker” (127). Grendel also shows other characteristics of a typical hero throughout the book. Grendel lives on the fringes of society, but emerges to become a well-known figure. The most noticeable heroic trait of Grendel’s is his internal and external journey. Throughout the entire book he strives to understand men, and ventures to find someone to talk to. He finds the dragon, who will ultimately shape Grendel’s views up until his demise. Grendel then goes on to fight himself emotionally, and to literally fight Hrothgars people. The most noticeable of the novel’s satires is the commentary on the intentions and actions of men. From the very beginning of the book, men are described as mechanical and cold. In the first chapter, Grendel scoffs at the men’s musings on how to improve their broken down door. Gardner w...