Walking in Grendel's Shoes
Long ago in Anglo Saxon times, a monster by the name of Grendel was never understood. No one knew the real meaning behind Grendels actions, but with the novel, Grendel by John Gardner, now turns out to be possible. Grendel was written to show his point of view to the people of Herot and the battle that occurred later on in the novel/poem. There is a whole heap of differences throughout both literary works that can be compared with one another. Since they were written in different time periods, assuming that the style varies to be different as well. Beowulf was written in Old English but since this piece of literature dates to time period, its anticipated to be in Modern English. The novel was written in 1971, a huge divergence from when Beowulf was established in the 8th to 11th century. In this novel, point of view developes to be a major aspect, and between both pieces of work, creates diverse settings throughout.
Beowulf was told in an omniscient point of view. Aside from that, Grendel is told from his own personal view on the world. This all ties together to distinguish that one of the point of views you see is Grendel having a set of human characteristics that his mother does not posses.
By just reading Beowulf, it would never have been known that Grendel undergo's human like characteristics. Before, Grendel never knew he inhabited characteristics like speaking or sounds. "The sounds were foreign at first, but when I calmed myself, concentrating, I found I understood them: it was my own language" (Gardner 23). This was Grendels first impact with humans where he heard them actually speaking, close enough where he may understand. It didn't seem humain to him,