The Deconstruction of Monstrosity in "Grendel" by John Gardner

Stephan Jaskolla

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Seminar paper from the year 2021 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 1,3, University of H...

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Seminar paper from the year 2021 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 1,3, University of Hamburg, language: English, abstract: John Gardner's novel Grendel from 1971 is one of the most famous modern retelling and focuses on the monster from the Beowulf poem. As the quote from the OED shows, monsters are typically associated with great size, a savage character, fear or terror, power, violence and mostly with a hideous and frightening appearance. However, Gardner's monster appears to be different from the monsters that most readers know from literature. By putting Grendel in the center of his novel, Gardner allows the reader to see the world through the monster's eye. The aim of this term paper is therefore to analyze which effect this change of perspective has in the construction of monstrosity. The basic assumption of this work is that Gardner develops a humanized monster that is less frightening, less violent and in the end less monstrous to the reader. On top of that, Gardner effectively presents the monstrous side of humans to further blur the lines between monster and human and deconstructs the popular image of the monster Grendel.