What do ya know. I guess today I'm going to have to compare and contrast the characters known as Grendel and Beowulf. Now I can give some differences yet the problem with trying to find similarities between the hero and the villain is that there aren't any. The thing about Epic Poems and even most pre-modern literature is that there is a very clear unambiguous black and white gap between who is good and evil. So instead of attempting to (I apologize for the close curse) speak bull over what this was meant for, I will just state the stark differences between the characters of Beowulf and Grendel
Now Beowulf is a human being and Grendel is a demon to start off by listing off the physical differences between the two. However on a deeper personality level you can easily get from a quick reading at their interactions with others. As this epic poem did have heavy Judeo-Christian influences, I will go by naming each others traits as one of the seven deadly sins or the sins opposite virtues depending on the character. Beowulf himself shows the virtue of kindness by heading across Skagerrak (the gulf between Sweden and Denmark) to help the Danes in the defeat of Grendel, whereas Grendel shows the corresponding deadly sin known by people as Wrath when he slaughters 30 grown men while they sleep just because they woke him up. Now as I feel like I am running close to the word limit. I will only say that while Grendel shows the deadly sin of gluttony in the way that he over-indulges on his blood-lust with his 12 year rampage in Herot while Beowulf shows the virtue of diligence due to the fact that he himself has spent many years hunting demons without end. Patrick out.
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June 2016
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