The Elusive Meaning of Life - Essay Example

The Beast: An Anomaly of the Human Psyche Throughout the ages, humans have searched for the elusive meaning of life and its relationship to the cosmos. In an effort to address the mysticism and anonymity of many elements in nature, mankind took time to scrawl down their perception of life’s purpose and of the unseen forces lurking in the deep recesses of humanity’s physical existence and consciousness. Literature developed which was profoundly founded on humans’ need of a clear picture of their hosted surroundings and the fate of their civilization, and most significantly their self-identities. An epic, which generically narrates human features such as morality, beauty, courage, and unconditional love, was invented by mankind to suffice the need for clarity. One of the most celebrated Anglo-Saxon epics is an account of the perilous adventures and incredible battles with monsters of the legendary king Beowulf. Yet, this human-centered view of the world which was manifested by Beowulf’s almost superhuman abilities and talents was reversed by an acclaimed fictional author, John Gardner; this reversal was done by means of placing Grendel, the monster in the epic as the rational and intuitive protagonist instead of the idealistic human image of Beowulf in his own version entitled Grendel. Suffering from a gruesome childhood accident, Gardner’s affected psychological state manifested its brilliance through his continual production of grotesque fictional literary pieces during his lifetime. Grendel is absolutely not a feel-good work of art but a elaborate literary style that uses abstract philosophical notions of both irrational non-human and rational human existences to reinforce the underlying themes of the story, which are the two faces of mankind in the mercy of historical progression and the evolution of humanity from barbarism to a civilization ruled by esteemed morale and social order. Emerging from these points of view, this paper will argue that Grendel was the symbolical figure in the narrative that embodied the primitive instincts of mankind, yet triumphantly achieved a higher understanding of essential human values through assuming a position as an outside observer of the human world. Moreover, Grendel as a monster was an allegory to represent the inevitable engagement of every individual in discerning the blatant conflict between “what is” and “what ought to be”, and to transform themselves to rational beings capable of creating institutions such as religion, and ideologies that could serve as their protection from both the terrifying retributions of nature and man-made catastrophes and disorders. In Chapter two, the gloomy and isolated childhood years of Grendel were graphically described as an attempt to break his birthright limitations in order to see a more sophisticated form of reality. Strangely, Grendel as a monster was able to speak the language of the Danish people ruled by King Hrothgar and was capable of controlling animalistic instincts through logical thinking which blur his role as a repulsive and atrocious fiend. Given the two most important human faculties, language and reason, Grendel becomes just an out-casted deformed human from the society displaying much superficial order and sanity. According to Thomas Hobbes, a renowned political thinker, humans cannot be left alone with their unlimited freedom and liberties because they will act in accordance to their natures, which are self-preserving and aggressive. A social contract, or an agreement between peoples to enter into a constitution that will confiscate their God-given freedom and as a return will guarantee their protection from harmful outside energies, is necessary to limit the destructive nature of mankind (Mintz 134). Grendel’s devious attempt to “belong” to the Danish kingdom was painfully rejected thus throwing him back to the savage condition he was born into. The outright refusal of the Danish people of Grendel’s challenge to be a part of their citizenry unleashed the human nature that Hobbes illustrated; Grendel became the monster who relentlessly destroyed and devoured the Danish communities with the intention to preserve his being and regain the ego that was painfully wounded by the shameless rejection. Ironically, the primitive human nature exhibited by Grendel, pestered the Danish kingdoms on the onset of their rise as a civilized society under the rule of Hrothgar. Grendel, with his habitual visits to the kingdom, witnessed the sinfulness of mankind shown by much debauchery and atrocities toward their fellow people. Grendel was about to accept the unpleasant realities until the arrival of the two key figures that created much anxiety in him yet made him more human, the Shaper and the dragon. In Chapter three, the ascension of the disorganized ancient tribal communities into a centralized government with a leader and administrative infrastructures such as the meadhall named Hart where the blind singer Shaper conducted his glorious and inspiring chants was described in a genuine historical fashion; from nomadic bands of tribal people to a centralized population system. The sudden presence of the Shaper who delivers moving musical scores using a harp affected Grendel’s emotional and mental dispositions toward humanity the moment he heard the Shaper’s fabricated rendition of the ancestry and history of the Danes. Being an outcast, an observer of the kingdom’s development, and a listener of Shaper’s song, Grendel became confused with reality. Confusion occurs among humans whenever the senses clash with reason. Prior to the arrival of the Shaper, Grendel’s reality was formed by his contemplation on his isolated condition in relation to the merry and thriving Danish society; he made use of his reason to justify his miserable and remote existence as an indispensable part in the creation of a civilized humanity; if there is a concept of what is barbaric then there will arise an opposite of it, the civilized. However, Grendel’s perception of the truth was shaken by the Shaper’s highly artistic and magnificent songs narrating the splendid past and fertile prospect of the Danish kingdom; Grendel’s senses were stimulated by the falsely constructed reality by the Shaper therefore distorting his logically realized truth. To make matters worse for the intelligent Grendel, in Chapter five, Grendel gained awareness at the presence of a dragon living in a cave filed with precious stones. For the first time in his entire desolate life, he was able to find a creature to actually talk to. The dragon was a prolific philosopher and a straitlaced cynic. It conveyed eloquently to Grendel all its negative stances toward the human world. It attacked the foundation of humanity which is reason by claiming that humans heavily rely on incoherent observation to establish their logical system which consequently makes it futile and gibberish. It also proclaimed that time is the immortal enemy of mankind since it can wipe away all the splendor of an ancestral history in just one tick of a hand. After the dragon’s preemptive discussions of philosophical premises, Grendel walked away but he failed to walk away from the dragon’s cynical convictions; the dragon’s words haunted him until the fateful day he met his annihilator, Beowulf. The entire adventure conducted by Grendel in Gardner’s fictional novel, revealed the two faced humanity: one that is consumed with hatred and lust and the other one reigned by compassion and love. Grendel stood as the insignia of these two contradicting human faces. He manifested the wicked side through his unrelenting attacks against the Danish people and his insatiable appetite towards human flesh and blood whilst the opposite side was manifested during his conscious endeavor in spying the humans so as to listen to the Shaper’s imaginative songs and his admiration towards Hrothgars beautiful wife, Wealtheow. He has observed that the patriarchal nature of the Danish kingdom was pacified by the Helming princess Wealtheow because of her affectionate and tranquil nature. She as well aroused Grendel’s emotional and sexual desires thus kindling his irrational human drives which he culminated through attacking the meadhall to seize Wealtheow and expose her sexual organ for his satisfaction. According to the psychoanalyst, Sigmund Freud, humans are not always guided by their reasons because there are irrational urges that sometimes rule over our powerful minds; that is human, being rational while simultaneously being irrational, and vice versa (Gaarder 358) Furthermore, as aforementioned, Grendel’s attempt to attain a higher existence was due to the historical progression that the humans undertake which he witnessed with eyes wide open. Grendel unconsciously associated human character to the natural changes in the environment. The moment the scattered quarrelsome humans realized that their condition is getting dangerous due to increasing usurpation of natural resources by burgeoning tribal villages which crucially led to the boost in warfare, they immediately entered into a constricted social agreement just to achieve security and to gain collective benefits; Grendel saw a transition from belligerent humans to cooperative and peaceful citizens of the centralized government, and from barbarism to civilization. Furthermore, for C. Wright Mills, a radical sociologist, it is better to be an outside spectator rather than belong to the society that undergoes social transformation (Willis 58). Grendel was established in the novel as an outcast observer of the Danish kingdom and this position, prior to the appearance of the Shaper and the dragon, gained him an unblemished knowledge of imperative human values such as morality, altruism, and courage. He witnessed the erection of powerful institutions such as religion and ideologies by humans to wrestle against the peril of the unknown. The ritual that Ork and the other priests conducted to communicate with the Destroyer for the obliteration of the monster Grendel proves the point that religion played an indeed significant role in the story. Ideologies to reinforce the kingdom’s greatness were embodied by the Shaper’s blasphemous songs which had the evident intention to perpetuate the survival of the realm. Grendel’s miserable faith, “I understand, therefore I alone exist” (Gardner 13) contradicts the human psyche which respects the credence, “I think, therefore I am”. Works Cited Gaarder, Jostein. Sophies World. Norway: H. Aschehoug & Co., 1991. Gardner, John. Grendel. New York: Random House, Inc., 1971. Mintz, Samuel I. he Hunting of Leviathan: Seventeenth-Century Reactions to the Materialism and Moral Philosophy of Thomas Hobbes. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1970. Willis, Evan. The Sociological Quest: An Introduction to the Study of Social Life. St. Leonards, N.S.W.: Allen & Unwin, 1999. Read More