Comparing and Contrasting the Monsters of Beowulf with...

In any classic story about heroes and villains, the monsters involved are often characterized as the evil ones and, consequently, receive no justice under the law. Throughout the epic story Beowulf, the hero of the story encounters three monsters that are threats to society: Grendel, Grendel’s mother, and the dragon. The monsters in Beowulf are quickly targeted and destroyed because of the harm they cause to society. However, upon further examination of the monsters and the motives for their actions, the reader can view the monsters not as the cutthroat villains they may initially appear to be, but perhaps as victims of society. In today’s society, murderers and robbers are also portrayed as â€Å"monsters† because of the atrocious†¦show more content†¦On the other hand, Grendel, a creature who dwells in the swamplands away from human society, is treated as an outcast because of his lineage and relationship to â€Å"Cain’s clan, whom the creator had outlawed and condemned as outcasts† (ln. 106-107). Grendel has neither wealth, fame, nor honor; the fact that he does not even have a father to identify him makes him that much more worthless in society’s eyes, because the lack of a father downgrades one’s status. At a time when a person was identified by his or her paternal ancestry, fatherless Grendel roamed around aimlessly with no self-identity. Grendel was born completely devoid of distinction. To be fair, it is not Grendel’s fault that he is an outcast. He has no control over being one of the â€Å"fatherless creatures, [whose] whole ancestry is hidden in a past of demons and ghosts† (ln. 1355-1357). Yet it is because of this one unchangeable element, his birth into Cain’s clan, that Grendel is looked down upon by society. For this reason, Grendel’s natural-born characteristics eventually lead to his own destruction. Just as Grendel’s social status precludes his being shunned from society, so today is society’s relationship to wealth and social status significant in determining criminality within a population. The 2008 National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) stated that â€Å"[i]n