Nihilism in Grendel
.... To wholly comprehend Grendel's opinions and thoughts on the pointlessness of life, one must first examine the structure and thinking of the Danes, the society Grendel observes, fears, and taunts throughout the novel. Grendel first experiences humans early in his childhood; however, he is considered a "beastlike fungus" and a "hungry spirit" and is spurned by the men. Grendel fears humans and devotes most of his life to taunting, killing, and even eating them. The Danes, a warlike people, fight other tribes. Under the leadership of King Hrothgar, they construct a symbolic, majestic mead hall, the Hall of the Hart. The tribe feasts in the stately hall, drinking mead and dining, listening to stories told by the scop, who in this novel, is referred to as the Shaper. The Shaper tells stories of Danish history, and portrays the Danes as fictitious heroes, boasting of tribal wealth and power. However, Grendel does not believe the words of the Shaper are true. The Danes live a gilded life, and do not realize the domestic troubles of their lives and their society. Even though the Danish kings, thanes, warriors, and women sing their own praises and continually boast, they still will die. They are a "poor play" that will eventually be "heard no more", although they do not realize this as Grendel does. In most cases, the Danes do not even question their existence, but focus all of their efforts on war, fighting, and alcohol. To Grendel, the Danes symbolize terror. They epitomize iniquity and malevolence, and are primarily responsible for Grendel's actions and views of the world. Grendel, the protagonist of the story, struggles to understand his place in a meaningless world, in part because of his mother, who is fat, lazy, and putrid, and cannot orally communicate with Grendel, except in a few instances throughout the novel. She protects Grendel from a near death experience when he was a child, and attempts to stop Grendel from leaving the cave when Beowulf arrives; however, Grendel's mother is mostly responsible for Grendel's behavior and belief that the world is meaningless. Grendel's first encounter with humans, in which he almost experienced death as a young child, drastically affected Grendel's self-esteem and his attitudes toward humans. He attempts to make peace with the Danes; however, they fear Grendel, and therefore act out of fear to shun and attack him. Grendel is fascinated with humans, and follows the Danes to other mead halls, such as to the hall of King Hygmod. Grendel acts as a student of humanity. He was seemingly born with the opinion that the world is meaningless and pointless, and tries to find his place in the world through killing the Danes. Grendel is affected by the fascinating humans, and is impinged when he sees warriors kill each other and animals. He views humans as evil and other animals as stupid and unintelligent, and ...