Grendel was, in my book at least, a very old teenager. It was almost like he could’ve been a character on Daria from how dramatically . All he did was mope around and feel sorry for himself. In all honesty though, who hasn’t? So, in a weird way, Grendel can be considered a relatable character on the terms of the emotions he went through. The difference between Grendel and actual people, is that people usually get out of those funks, Grendel, on the other hand, wallowed in it and never really got out of all his angst. In my opinion, there was no real character development, until the end of the poem he stayed that way. The only real difference I noticed is how he took more of a liking to killing everyone once he was unable to be hurt. 

When first reading I didn’t expect to feel any type of emotion towards Grendel. I expected it to be a big story about how all he did was kill people and that’s it. I didn’t expect him to have real emotions. The portrayal of Grendel between both poems is vastly different. When reading Beowulf, he is portrayed to just be some big, ugly, dumb monster that lives to harass and spread terror, when in reality Grendel wanted acceptance and inner peace. He wanted answers to all his questions of his existence, which I can understand because everyone has that phrase, maybe for not as long as he did but still. It really just shows not to judge a book by his cover because anyone looking, would think he was just a monster with no real thought process.

All in all, I enjoyed reading this poem and seeing everything from a new view. It really gives you insight on the differences in all the characters. I’m more than sure most people wouldn’t think of Beowulf the same, after reading Grendel. I strongly believe if people were nicer to Grendel, many of the events that happened, wouldn’t have happened. Hrthogar would still have some of his men, Grendel would’ve been alive and you never know, what if Grendel could’ve even helped Hrthogar is some way, but in the end that doesn’t happen. Beowulf still kills Grendel and the story still continues.

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