Grendel And Frankenstein example essay topic

Grendel and Frankenstein are two monsters whose society ignores their existence and find them to be burdensome to their society based on the mere fact that they are not like the rest of their surrounding man-kind. Grendel and Frankenstein both strive to accept their place in the views of their surrounding peoples. Although their sporadic happiness comes from them engaging in fights and killing members of their societies, they learn to accept their place within the societies by coping with their ability to stay loyal to themselves and to fight back with self-devotion and not wanting to give up on themselves. Grendel, surprisingly, adapts quite well to his society despite its detestation of his existence.

Grendel live is a rattlesnake-guarded cave, which allows himself to detach from his society, giving him the necessary space to cope with the troublesome thoughts among his people about Grendel. Unlike Frankenstein, Grendel tries to associate with the members of his civilization but is rejected every time he tries to do so. Every night Grendel goes to Herot to listen to the Sharper's stories because the history interests him. He is quite intrigued and appreciative of the tales he hears, but when he comes in contact with those from Herot, they do not reciprocate the appreciation of his presence in Herot.

The ones he admires so much taunt and torture him to the point they try to kill him for "intruding". As retaliation, Grendel fights back and raids Herot every night. On the flipside, Frankenstein shows no interest in interacting with his society. He feels as though his society already has pre-conceived notions about his existence, and that if he even tried to win their affection, he would fail in doing so. He knows that the members of his surrounding civilization detest those different from themselves.

Eventually their ways of demoralizing Frankenstein's feelings lead Frankenstein to escape from their antagonizing. Frankenstein ventures to the North Pole, one of the coldest and most deserted, barren, and empty places known to man-kind. He stays isolated at the North Pole until he realizes Dr. Frankenstein has been following him, hoping to push him off the edge of world, never to be seen or heard from again. Frankenstein, once again flees, trying to escape his father, whom later dies. Frankenstein, although he never fit in, was accepted by one person, the captain. But the declaration of admiration comes too late.

The captain's declaration comes during Frankenstein's own declaration, a declaration of suicide. It seems that a common theme among the novels in which the two are associated with is heroism. Heroism is different in everyone's views depending on the society, the place, the time period, and many things aside from those. But the fact is the common theme in heroism. Both Frankenstein and Grendel have qualities that constitute to that of a hero.

The definition of a hero differs between the time of Grendel's existence and the time of Frankenstein's existence, but it can be negotiated to one widespread definition. A hero is someone who protects and earns glory for themselves and for those he represents. Grendel and Frankenstein both exhibit these qualities; they just aren't noticed by their surrounding society. It is more like an upheaval for two beings, both unwanted by their people, to reveal such redeeming qualities. Grendel, although he does more harm than good to his community, his persona is what categorizes him as a hero. 'The incitement to violence depends upon total transvalution of the ordinary values.

By a single stroke, the most criminal acts may be converted to heroic and meritorious deeds' (Gardner 117). He is more like a hero to himself. The way he handles situations and the way he fights and doesn't back down, shows true signs of a hero. Grendel never boasts about his power and his bravery, he merely uses it to fight for himself in a society that rejects his being.

Grendel fights for himself, rather than for his surrounding people. His courage and his gallantry to himself is what set him apart from other stereotypical heroes. 'Fate will often spare a man if his courage holds' (Gardner 162). He is not afraid, he does what he believes is right without regret or doubt. Grendel raids Herot, reeking havoc on the hall and annihilating its men, bunches at a time.

He does this with no fear. Grendel goes for it and knows what he is doing will get a point across to those who taunted and ridiculed him in the first place, when he did no harm. Instead, he was showing appreciation and acceptance of them, but they jumped to other conclusions and tortured Grendel. Most people see heroes like Spiderman or The Incredible Hulk or Batman, battling the bad guys to do good for their community or to live up to their image of being the biggest and strongest to battle their rivals in a fight for power and to take over the world.

Or they see these admired heroes help other people battle their problems. Grendel is not like that. Grendel has nobody to protect. He is alone in the world and has only his feelings and actions to rely on and defend. To have the self-power and the self-motivation to stand up for himself, when he never has had anyone else to guide him to do so, is appraisable. Frankenstein's society does not physically torture Frankenstein as Grendel's society did to Grendel, but they mentally torture him.

His surrounding people make it clear that Frankenstein is not wanted and is not accepted among their society. The way his society works is that they mentally bring down those that are unwanted among their community and they exclude them from their society. By doing so, they essentially push them away from society, into solitude and seclusion. The unwanted are pushed into the deepest and darkest places of their minds and sometimes even chased to these actual places, and are made to believe that is really how they are to live their lives because nobody else wants them in their civilization. This is exactly what happens to Frankenstein, between hiding in a barn and being forced to the North Pole, it is no way to live, but it is how he has learned to live, running in fear of those who do not accept him. Since Frankenstein shows no interest in attempting to befriend these people, he learns to deal with the consequences that come with being an outcast from society.

There are a select few who he acknowledges and does good things for, even though they hate him. The family whose barn he runs to, even though they dislike him, he still helps them because they are a poor, struggling family. He harvests their crops and saves them from starvation. And the only thing they can do to repay him is chase him off their land. He was chased to the darkest parts of the world by his father, his creator, Dr. Frankenstein.

Ironically, when Dr. Frankenstein died, the first person to set him to rest was the one he had been chasing, in hopes of destroying. There is no denying that Frankenstein exhibits qualities of a hero. He is like Grendel in the sense his heroism comes through from his persona. Although, he does morally good things like saving the starving family and setting his father to rest, despite their hatred towards Frankenstein.

His true heroism comes through his charisma. Frankenstein knows that the world is against him. He is not what the rest of the world is; therefore the rest of the world wishes to disregard his existence in their society. He is true to himself, like Grendel. He stays true to himself and is loyal to himself.

Frankenstein's actions reflect his defending of his feelings and thoughts. When society is against him, Frankenstein ignores them. When his creator wishes and repeatedly tries to destroy him, Frankenstein learns to deal with the harsh reality. His basis for everything he does is based exclusively from what he believes in and what he thinks to be important to his well-being. .".. nothing contributes so much to tranquillize the mind as a steady purpose... ". (Shelley).

It comes to the point where he will do for others, regardless of their hatred towards him. If he can help a struggling family and the only thing they can do is chase him away, then so be it. He knows what he did was morally correct and making someone else happy and doing for others are always good deeds. And to be honest, he is used to being on the run, so it is no different for him whether or not a miracle happens and someone takes him in for saving their lives or if he continues to live how he has been, always on the go. Frankenstein is an independent person and learns to accept his place in the world as that.

Both these characters exude such power and strength through their personalities. The way they handle situations and the way they don't give up on themselves is something that is truly honorable. Grendel and Frankenstein, both very different from each other, are both very similar in regards to their heroism. These two characters are essentially alone in their societies and have nobody to turn to for help. They base everything around their beliefs and what they feel is the good and bad thing to do, whether society rejects their beliefs or not. Their loyalty to themselves illustrates their heroism of honesty, loyalty, courage and bravery and their never ending power to continue to fight alone for themselves against a world who wishes to overlook their existence and contributions to diversify the society.