Chapter 7 Grendel by John Gardner

Chapter 7 Grendel by John Gardner

Aspects of the chapter that were different than Beowulf epic poem.

Beowulf and Grendel were different in many ways these are what we found in our chapter.

Aspects of the chapter that were similar to Beowulf epic poem.

Beowulf and Grendel had many similarities to each other the ones that we found in our chapter

• Wealtheow was never in Beowulf
• Grendel was more thought out with his actions
• Grendel fell in love with Wealtheow
• Grendel on multiple occasions just sat outside the hall and stared and listen
• there was a bear given to Hrothgar as a gift from Unferth
• Half of the chapter takes place during a harsh winter

• Grendel still kills people.
• Similar main characters.
• Grendel still kills people to kill people.
• Still the Hall where the parties take place.
• Same situations with the conflict.

Introduction of characters from the chapter.

Other interesting aspects of chapter 7

Grendel

Unferth

Favorite lines in book.

• How Grendel try's to justify his killings.
• the difference in perspective of the similar actions in the book Grendel is in Grendel perspective and Beowulf is a narrative.
• The difference in how Grendel is described
• the difference in how the setting is described
• the New characters in the book compared to the original book.

Hrothgar

1. "No more the rumble of Hrothgar's horseman, riding at midnight, chain-mail jangling in the whistling wind, cloaks flying out like wimpling wings, to rescue petty tribute-givers."

2. "What will we call a Hrothgar-Wrecker when Hrothgar has been wrecked?"

3. "I could see myself leaping from my high tree and running on all fours through the crowd to her howling, whimpering, throwing myself down, drooling and groveling at her small, fur-booted feet."

4. "I knew, for one, that the brother-killer had put on the Shaper's idea of the hero like merry mask, had seen it torn away, and was now reduced to what he was: a thinking animal stripped naked of former illusions, stubbornly living on, ashamed and meaningless, because killing himself would be, like his life, unheroic."

Grendel's Mother

Wealtheow

Vocab

Overview of events from the chapter

• Absurdity: state of being ridiculous or wildly unreasonable.
• Decimated: kill, destroy, or remove a large percentage of.
• Blighted: spoil, harm, or destroy.
• Shrewd: having or showing sharp powers of judgement.
• Tedious: to long, slow, dull.
• Relinquish: voluntarily cease to keep or claim.
• systematically: Having, showing, or involving system method or plan.
• vassal: A person granted the use of land, in return for rendering homage, fealty, and usually military service or its equivalent to a lord or other superior; feudal tenant.
• Splendid: Gorgeous; magnificent; sumptuous.
• tediously: Marked by monotony or tedium; long and tiresome.
• Illusory: Causing illusion; deceptive; misleading.
• Bludgeoning: A short, heavy club with one end weighted, or thicker and heavier than the other.
• helming: Nautical.
• chilblains: an inflammation of the hands and feet caused by exposure to cold and moisture.
• phantasm: an apparition or specter.

Poetic devices

In chapter seven, it explains that Unferth is trying to take over Hrothgar' s kingdom and he plans to get everyone on his side and turn everyone from Hrothgar.

Also, Grendel plans an attack on the queen, Wealtheow. She describes how he intruded the castle to get to the queen. He broke the bear's back and threw Unferth across the room.

Grendel announces, "I would begin by holding her over the fire and cooking the ugly hole between her legs". In the end, he changed his mind and did not kill her.

Similes:

1. "She was beautiful, as innocent as dawn on winter hills".

2. "They were still, as if her voice were magi".

Alliteration:

1. "It would be, for me, mere pointless pleasure, an illusion of order for this one frail, foolish, flicker-flash in the long dull fall of eternity. (End quote.)".

2."... whistling wind, wimpling winds, and merry mask...".

Reputation:

1. "I listened to my mother move back and forth, a pale shape driven by restlessness and rage at the restlessness and rage she felt in me and could not cure".