There are two important modern philosophies vying for Grendel's heart: nihilism and existentialism. Lurking somewhere in the mix is a more traditional Judeo-Christian/classical philosophy of truth, sacrifice, beauty and love. Here's my brief (very) overview of the first two:
Nihilism - philosophy that denies any basis for objective truth; state of radical skepticism about reality
Existentialism -- the religious varity believes that through God one may find freedom from the tension of existence (caused by the apparent absurdity of existence); the atheistic variety asserts that existence precedes "essence" and we create essence or meaning by making conscious choices -- through sheer will an commitment, one imposes reason and structure on the chaos of existence and gives it meaning; however, making such choices also forces a recognition of the absurdity of existence (or at least our inability to understand it reasonably). Failure to do so results in a sort of passive, "semi-conscious" existence.
So -- using the above or your own common sense -- what's Grendel's problem? Who or what's the cause? Any solutions? What does he believe about life?
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Grendels probelem is that he is completely isolated from everyone. He has no one to talk to or have fun with. Besides his mother, who can not communicate with him and seems to hate him at times, he is completely alone. A solution would be if he could find someone or something to be able to talk to.He does not really care about life, he just does whatever he wants, nothing really matters. This is a nihilistic view of life.
Grendel is very lonely and feels isolated from the world around him. He watches the townspeople everyday and envies the way they have fun and enjoy their meadhalls. I think he just wants to be invited to a party and see what all the fuss is about. The main cause is Hrothgar who hates the monster and throws an axe at him. Grendel is a firm believer that nothing should ever be put to waste whether it be human, goat, or cow meat.
"I understood the world was nothing: a mechanical chaos of casual, brute enmity on which we stupidl impose our hopes and fears... I create the whole universe blink by blink" (Gardener 21-22). this quote gives a lot of insight about how Grendel feels about life. Grendel feels like the world revolves him.
poor grendel. all he wants is someone to love him or atleast to act as if he exists. even his own mother does not show him that she loves him. if only he had someone to communicate with, he might not be so angry and cruel. grendel does not care how his actions affect anyone else because he simply does not care. he spends all of his time observing the human life from the outside, constantly searching for an understanding of the world around him.
That's an important quote philosophically-speaking, patrick. Existentialists generally believe that reality is created and "existence precedes essence" -- you have to create your essence by making choices. Grendel has a hard time deciding on anything. Whenever he makes up his mind to do something, he changes it or thinks the result is ridiculous and pointless.
Grendel is so messed up because he has always been alone. His mother has always been too crazy and unstable to love him as she should and to take care of him.. Despite his inital desire to befriend the humans, they have always tormented and shunned him. It is no wonder as to why Grendel mainly has a nihilistic view of life.
Grendel has absolutly no friends and has never associated with humans ever before, therefore he does not know how to act around them. He does not worry about the past or the future, he simply just does whatever he feels and doesnt plan at all. There is no reason for him to plan because he has no friends and his mother is not attentive, therefore there is nobody for him to really dissapoint.
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