Grendel Characters
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Created by:
Salemsectra on February 27, 2010
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Classes:
PSAT vocabulary, Brit Lit 11-12, Code 3, Woodlawn Class of '13
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23 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 Grendel | A great, bearlike monster, he is the first of three monsters defeated by the Geatish hero Beowulf in the sixth-century poem Beowulf. In his book, he is a lonely creature who seeks an understanding of the seemingly meaningless world around him. As an outsider, he observes and provides commentary on the human civilization he battles. |
| Hrothgar | King of the Danes. He maintains a highly powerful and prosperous kingdom until Grendel begins terrorizing the area. He is more flawed and human than he is portrayed in Beowulf. Grendel often describes his war with the humans as a personal battle between this character and himself. |
| Shaper | A harpist and storyteller in Hrothgar's court. He provides the Danes with an image of the world as essentially connected and purposeful—an image that Grendel finds incredibly seductive, despite his awareness that the glorious stories of Hrothgar's court are built on a foundation of lies. This character represents the power of art and imagination to create meaning in a meaningless world. |
| Dragon | A great cranky beast that rules over a vast hoard of treasure. He provides a vision of the world as essentially meaningless and empty. Throughout the novel, Grendel frequently finds himself weighing the fatalistic words of this beast against the beautiful words of the Shaper. Some critics hold that this character is not actually a separate character, but rather a personified aspect of Grendel's own mind. Although Grendel only visits him once, he feels its presence throughout the novel. |
| Beowulf | A Geatish hero who comes across the sea to rid the Scyldings of Grendel. Huge and exceedingly strong, he is cold and mechanical, showing little emotion or personality. In the climactic battle with Grendel, he appears to sprout wings and speak fire, prompting comparisons to the dragon. |
| Grendel's Mother | A foul, wretched being, and Grendel's only apparent family member. She lives with Grendel in a cave in a vast underground realm. She desperately tries to protect Grendel from the humans and his fate. She has either forgotten or never knew how to speak, though at times her gibberish approaches coherent language. |
| Unferth | A Scylding hero who is unable to defeat Grendel in battle. He believes wholeheartedly in the heroic ideals of his warrior culture. When Grendel denies him the opportunity to embody those ideals, he becomes a bitter and broken man. |
| Wealtheow | Hrothgar's wife and queen of the Danes. Originally a Helming princess, she represents love, altruism, and an ideal image of womanhood, bringing balance and harmony to her adopted community. |
| Hrothulf | Hrothgar's orphaned nephew. In Beowulf, he usurps Hrothgar's son as ruler of the Scyldings. In Grendel, he is a young man who forms ideas of revolution after seeing the aristocratic thanes subjugate the Danish peasants. |
| Red Horse | Hrothulf's mentor and advisor. A crotchety old man, he believes that all governments are inherently evil and that revolution does nothing but replace one corrupt system with another. |
| Ork | An old, blind, Scylding priest. He is a theologian—one who studies the theories behind religion. Mistaking Grendel for the Destroyer, the supreme Scylding deity, he describes ultimate wisdom as a vision of a universe in which nothing is lost or wasted. He is one of only a few priests in the novel for whom religion is more than an empty show. |
| Fourth Priest | A younger priest who is overjoyed at the news of Ork's encounter with the Destroyer. The fourth priest has a vision of the universe to which Beowulf alludes in his battle with Grendel. |
| Ram | The first creature Grendel encounters in the novel. It stands stupidly at the edge of a cliff and will not budge despite Grendel's repeated protests. |
| Bull | An animal that discovers Grendel hanging in a tree and attacks him repeatedly. The encounter with the bull is a formative event in Grendel's philosophical development. |
| Goat | An animal that climbs a cliff despite Grendel's repeated yells and screams. Grendel tries to bludgeon the goat to death with stones, but it continues to climb. |
| Scyld Shefing | The legendary king from whom Hrothgar is descended. In his honor, the Danes are sometimes referred to as the Scyldings. |
| Freawaru | Hrothgar's teenage daughter. Hrothgar plans to marry her off to Ingeld in order to avoid a war with the Heathobards. |
| Shaper's Assistant | A young man when he first arrives at Hart with the Shaper, he takes over the Shaper's duties upon his death. |
| Halga | Hrothgar's brother and Hrothulf's father. When he is murdered, Hrothulf comes to live with his uncle at Hart. |
| Hygmond | King of the Helmings and Wealtheow's brother. A young king who is gaining in power and prominence, presents Hrothgar with a constant military threat. |
| Ingeld | King of the Heathobards and an enemy of the Scyldings. |
| Hygilac | King of the Geats and Beowulf's lord. |
| Ecgtheow | Beowulf's father. |
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