In the story Beowulf there are many monsters. Grendel happens to be one of the main characters whom Beowulf fights and conquers. The explanation of what accounts for Grendel's evil can be shown by the author's figure of speech.
One way the author uses figure of speech is through imagery. In the first part of the story it describes Grendel's relentlessness. "He slipped through the door and there in the silence snatched up thirty men, smashed them. Unknowing in their beds, and ran out with their bodies, The blood dripping behind him, back to his lair, delighted with his night's slaughter." This passage from the story shows in great detail the imagery used in the story. Even though the he only was killing the Geats for peace and quiet, the story explains that Grendel goes bloodthirsty and kills night after night as long as there were men in the Mead Hall being belligerent.
The Old English epic poem Beowulf is written in al...
An illustration of Grendel by J.R. Skelton from St...
Beowulf & GrendelGrendel's bloodthirst is a major contributor towards the reason of him being so evil.
Another figure of speech the author uses to show Grendel's evilness is by using metaphors. The story suggests that even where Grendel was born was considered a hell. This is one example of the many uses of metaphors to represent how Grendel's evil could have came about. One other example is how god exiled demons split into a thousand forms of evil such as spirits, fiends, goblins, monsters, and giants. This shows how evil was drove into many different forms and accounts for many of these creatures evilness. Being that Grendel is a monster and all he would definitely fall in the category of being evil.
Symbolization was a form of speech the author used to represent and explain Grendel's reason for being evil. Grendel represented the...