In a land far away, called Heorot, life in mead-hall was pleasant. With the sun rising in the morning and the moon setting in the west, this beautiful life was granted by the fate of the Almighty and the most high who decided what was destined to be. Times were as they were, “until finally one, a fiend out of hell, / began to work his evil in the world” (100-101). “Grendel was the name of this grim demon / haunting the marches, marauding round the heath / and the desolate fens…” (102-104). “There was panic after dark, people endured raid in the night, riven by the terror” (191-192).
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He was a descendant of Cain, the one who killed his brother, which is against all the values of a common Anglo-Saxon. From Cain sprung this evil known as Grendel. He came to haunt the nights for he hated the sound of music and the laughter of those drinking away. “The God-cursed brute was creating havoc: greedy and grim, he grabbed thirty men / from their resting place and rushed to his lair” (121-123). He gets people at their most vulnerable and in their sleep. “..He would never / parley or make peace with nay Dane / nor stop his death-dealing nor pay the death-price” (154-156). No sword could kill the speaking monster and only the brave have attempted to stop the unstoppable. Beowulf is the only one that was able to take him down with his bare hands. Before Beowulf, all were endangered and hunted by the dark death-shadow. Grendel took over Heorot and waged his lonely war. The death price or avenging means nothing to this lonely, giant monster who is so large in comparison to humans.
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