Free Grendel Essays: Good Requires Evil :: Grendel Essays

Good Requires wrong in Grendel The classic struggle of genuine versus annoyance is taken from a different perspective in Grendel, a story in which toilette Gardner demonstrates that neither wholeness can represent without the other. As in the par totallyel comparison of beauty to ugliness, it can be seen that sizeable and evil atomic number 18 only identifiable in their telephone circuit of one a nonher. If there was noaffair busheld as beautiful, for instance, zipper could be ugly. There would be no such concept. Similarly, having no definition of unsloped would exonerate evil, too, a non-actual idea. In Grendel, Gardner grasps this thought, and maximizes its importance with the help of a horrendously tangled monster and the society that he terrorizes. Throughout the novel, this monster, Grendel, seems confused as to whether he wants to view life analogous his existentialistic dragon mentor, or like the ignorantly optimistic humans on which he feeds. At times he is captivated by the quixotic songs of the Shaper, and feels no desire to kill, while at others he thrives on the experience of the dragon, and goes on bloody rampages. At one point during Grendels insecure state, the dragon tells him something that changes his outlook, and gives him a new feeling of self-worth.   You better them, my boy Cant you see that? yourself? You take a leak them You make them think and scheme. You drive them to poetry, science, religion, all that makes them what they are for as large as they last. You are, so to speak, the brute existent by which they learn to define themselves. The exile, captivity, death they shrink from--the blunt facts of their mortality, their abandonment--thats what you make them recognize, embrace You are mankind, or mans condition inseparable as the mountain-climber and the mountain. (72-3)   In short, the dragon is saying, You are evil and they are good, but the only thing that makes them good is you. In this statement, it is obvious that good and evil have inseparable, moreover undefinable boundaries, and are real two in the same. Grendels evilness motivates the fearful people to work, to strive, to think, and to overcome their problems. In this, however indirect or glom it may seem, Grendel is actually producing good. Amazingly, he manages to be both evil and good at the same time. On the other hand, it is obvious that evil Grendel could not survive without the good humans.Free Grendel Essays Good Requires Evil Grendel EssaysGood Requires Evil in Grendel The classic struggle of good versus evil is taken from a different perspective in Grendel, a story in which John Gardner demonstrates that neither one can exist without the other. As in the match comparison of beauty to ugliness, it can be seen that good and evil are only identifiable in their contrast of one another. If there was nothing defined as beautiful, for instance, nothing could be ugly. There would be no such concept. Similarly, having no definition of good would make evil, too, a non-existent idea. In Grendel, Gardner grasps this thought, and maximizes its importance with the help of a horrendously confused monster and the society that he terrorizes. Throughout the novel, this monster, Grendel, seems confused as to whether he wants to view life like his existentialistic dragon mentor, or like the ignorantly optimistic humans on which he feeds. At times he is captivated by the romantic songs of the Shaper, and feels no desire to kill, while at others he thrives on the knowledge of the dragon, and goes on bloody rampages. At one point during Grendels insecure state, the dragon tells him something that changes his outlook, and gives him a new feeling of self-worth.   You improve them, my boy Cant you see that? yourself? You stimulate them You make them think and scheme. You drive them to poetry, science, religion, all that makes them what they are for as long as they last. You are, so to speak, the brute existent by which they learn to define themselves. The exile, captivity, death they shrink from--the blunt facts of their mortality, their abandonment--thats what you make them recognize, embrace You are mankind, or mans condition inseparable as the mountain-climber and the mountain. (72-3)   In short, the dragon is saying, You are evil and they are good, but the only thing that makes them good is you. In this statement, it is apparent that good and evil have inseparable, yet undefinable boundaries, and are actually two in the same. Grendels evilness motivates the fearful people to work, to strive, to think, and to overcome their problems. In this, however indirect or abstract it may seem, Grendel is actually producing good. Amazingly, he manages to be both evil and good at the same time. On the other hand, it is obvious that evil Grendel could not survive without the good humans.