Grendel and Nihilism

While I enjoyed being mystified at the events of Chapter 5, in which Grendel descends (it doesn’t say anything about descending, that’s just how it feels- like the archetype of passing through hell) into the dragon’s lair and comes up again, I so far have been most interested in Chapter Six, which in my opinion is about Grendel’s resurgence into his own world as a changed creature. He’s taken the “hero’s journey” into “hell” and has had a rebirth. I enjoyed realizing the connections that this archetype has to Greek myth lore and pondering about how it relates to Grendel.

Before Grendel has his perspective altered by the mind-bending conversation with the Dragon, he’s sort of unsure about himself, the world around him, and his place in it. I couldn’t define any sort of social philosophy he adheres to, despite the fact that he is a very sentient and pensive creature. He acts and appears to feel just like an angry child on the brink of adolescence, alternating periods of hopelessness and longing with those of blind destructive anger. But after he is put in the position of student to the dragon’s professor, Grendel has a change- both physical and emotional. He’s told by the dragon that he is insignificant, that life existed long before him and will go on long without him until nothingness and that once his existence is over, the world won’t have been much changed. Now this is something rather upsetting for anyone to hear, let alone a sad angsty monster (albeit an adorable one, judging by the cover of Gardner’s novel), so it’s understandable that Grendel is rather shaken by this encounter.

Aside from the emotional effects that the wise (is he wise? Can you be a figure of evil and wise? Is he evil?) old dragon has on Grendel, the physical effect that he brings to Grendel after their Socratic learning seminar is incredibly significant- Grendel finds that he is completely invulverable now to the weapons and techniques of the men who are trying to kill him. So their whole dynamic changes as a result. Grendel, now invulnerable like a true monster and a little bit less like the people, becomes further isolated from society as a result. This is only spurred on by the opinions taught to him by the dragon- nihilism. Grendel has been told that his one purpose is to be the monster for society, give them something to fight and ultimately succeed against. Far from questioning this (as he once would have), Grendel (out of nihilistic bloodlust?) runs with his new worldview. He destroys like a mindless monster (like his mother). This makes me wonder about one of the questions that our class will be discussing over the coming days- Is Grendel a depressing or optimistic novel? I’m not one to find nihilism depressing, but I feel that this chapter’s take on it certainly does not bode well for Grendel’s feeling of belonging in the world.