Chapter 6, Scepticism
Get a load of this! The old Dragon told me that I have a predetermined purpose, and that purpose is to
scare humanity, which will force them to improve. The craziest part is that he knows absolutely
everything that can be known, or so he claims. I for one am finding this incredibly hard to believe. As
if the Dragon wasn't being enough of a headache, he had the nerve to put a charm on me. Weapons
cannot hurt me anymore. Way to rob me of the thrill of a good fight, rotten know-it-all scaly sack of
bones. Unfortunately, I cannot simply shake off with scorn his words as I can with the Shaper. The
Shaper tells his own version of events. The other day, a particular song of his caught my ear. He sang
of how the "heroes were brave" (77). He must be stupid and/or immoral if he thinks Hrothgar's merrily
murderous band of plunderers are brave heroes.
scare humanity, which will force them to improve. The craziest part is that he knows absolutely
everything that can be known, or so he claims. I for one am finding this incredibly hard to believe. As
if the Dragon wasn't being enough of a headache, he had the nerve to put a charm on me. Weapons
cannot hurt me anymore. Way to rob me of the thrill of a good fight, rotten know-it-all scaly sack of
bones. Unfortunately, I cannot simply shake off with scorn his words as I can with the Shaper. The
Shaper tells his own version of events. The other day, a particular song of his caught my ear. He sang
of how the "heroes were brave" (77). He must be stupid and/or immoral if he thinks Hrothgar's merrily
murderous band of plunderers are brave heroes.
A few nights later, I was introduced to Unferth, one of Hrothgar's most well-renowned thanes. He is
pathetic, a wannabe hero. Luckily for his sake, he has been a reliable source of amusement. In our first
encounter, all it took to beat him was me lobbing apples at him. He hadn't had enough after that. He
tracked me home, wanting to die a hero's death. I found him one morning, lying at the entrance to my
home, exhausted but stubbornly clinging to his ideas on heroism. I let him speak, as irritating as it was.
To him, the nature of a hero "makes the whole struggle of humanity worthwhile" (89). This, I somewhat
agreed with, replying with my stance that heroes"break up the boredom" (89). He then lost all
credibility to me when he replied with the typical heroic belief that one of us had to die that night.
Then, he said he would kill himself after I told him I would carry him back to Hrothgar,
but he retracted that upon realizing that it would be dishonorable. To this day, he still takes every
opportunity he can to kill me, each tactic more ludicrous than the last. He will never realize that his
blind faith in heroism will never get him anywhere; as for me, the teachings of the Shaper and the
Dragon are equally ludicrous.
pathetic, a wannabe hero. Luckily for his sake, he has been a reliable source of amusement. In our first
encounter, all it took to beat him was me lobbing apples at him. He hadn't had enough after that. He
tracked me home, wanting to die a hero's death. I found him one morning, lying at the entrance to my
home, exhausted but stubbornly clinging to his ideas on heroism. I let him speak, as irritating as it was.
To him, the nature of a hero "makes the whole struggle of humanity worthwhile" (89). This, I somewhat
agreed with, replying with my stance that heroes"break up the boredom" (89). He then lost all
credibility to me when he replied with the typical heroic belief that one of us had to die that night.
Then, he said he would kill himself after I told him I would carry him back to Hrothgar,
but he retracted that upon realizing that it would be dishonorable. To this day, he still takes every
opportunity he can to kill me, each tactic more ludicrous than the last. He will never realize that his
blind faith in heroism will never get him anywhere; as for me, the teachings of the Shaper and the
Dragon are equally ludicrous.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NClm39GHUQ
Works Cited
Gardner, John. Grendel. Random House, Inc., 1989.
Allers, Roger and Rob Minkoff, directors. The Lion King. Buena Vista Pictures, 1994.
I like that you wrote in Grendel's voice, and used words and phrases that he would likely use in his own inner monologue. You illustrated Grendel's cynical and critical thought process very well, as well as his confidence in his opinions. I think you could've made the direct quotes fit better into the paragraphs, but otherwise I think the quotes you used fit your purpose well. I like the derogatory way in which you described Unferth - Grendel disliked him and what he represented wholeheartedly, and that definitely translates in your writing. Grendel's morals definitely come across well, as well as the idea of skepticism. The Virgo symbol is the maiden/the virgin, so I would have liked to see more of that, but overall it was very accurate and very well written.
ReplyDeleteThis is Laura Moritz. I love your first paragraph! I really like how you made Grendel's voice sound, it addresses your blogger audience like a true modern monster while also sounding eloquent(while also not slipping into old English). I also think that you correctly analyzed the chapter, addressing the most important events, but I do wish there was more of an analysis as to why they are important to the story. I am curious as to why the picture you chose is one of a cat, maybe there is some underlying significance or symbol that it represents, but its purpose is lost on me, so I would either change the picture or give an explanation. This same confusion applies to the video you posted of Scar.
ReplyDelete