Characters in Costume Blogfest: Grendel from Beowulf

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Beowulf, Characters in Costume, Comitatus, Disability Theory, Grendel, Jeffrey Jerome Cohen, Monster, Seamus Heaney, Subaltern, Wergild

Okay, so I signed up for looking at King Arthur and, well, that was an attempt to bite off far more than one post could chew. So I decided to delve into a character whose description is rather vague and wholly dependent upon the ideas of the translator and, yes, these are notes from the PowerPoint I have on the topic itself, which came from a much longer essay that I have written and may someday publish. So without further ado, here are my notes on how the character of Grendel could, and arguably should, be viewed as something more than just a monster as he is typically cast.

 

• The term monster may have meant something different back then than it does today

-This thought allows us to reclassify Grendel as an Other

-Monstrous

-Subaltern

-Disabled

-NOT solely Monster

• Using the scope of Disability

-Skepticism of how Grendel has been interpreted

-More nuanced reading

-Reader can sympathize

• Grendel lives on the fringe of the society of Heorot

-He can hear their merriment

-Yet he is an outsider, unable to partake

-He “nursed a hard grievance. It harrowed him / to hear the din of the loud banquet / every day in the hall, the harp being struck / and the clear song of a skilled poet.” (Beowulf, lines 87-90)

-His place in their society is a harbinger of death

-Moves among them like a specter at night

-Terrorizes the halls of Heorot

-Unable to be captured or defeated for twelve winters

-“So Grendel ruled in defiance of right, / one against all, until the greatest house / in the world stood empty, a deserted wallstead. / For twelve winters, seasons of woe, / the lord of the Shieldings suffered under / his load of sorrow” (Beowulf, lines 144-149)

• Jeffrey Jerome Cohen presents seven theses on monster culture

-“A method of reading cultures from the monsters they engender” (Cohen, 3)

• Looking at Grendel through his theory:

-“the monster always escapes because it refuses easy categorization” (Cohen, 6)

-Grendel is described in terms both human and monstrous, making him a hybrid of both

-This inability to classify with the society as a human leaves him no choice but to rage against them as a monster

-Grendel was not classified as human in their society, so “that no blade on earth, no blacksmith’s art / could ever damage their demon opponent” (Beowulf, lines 801-802)

-Only when Beowulf comes, facing Grendel on equal terms, is the reign of Grendel defeated.

• It is common practice to read Grendel as a monster and as little else

-There is etymological evidence that could support other readings

-It is the literary scholars who put the monsters in this poem

-The word ‘mon-ster’ does not appear in English until the fourteenth century . . . They had to go to Latin for monstrum – and even there it originally meant ‘a divine portent or warning

-Thus the text predates the word by several centuries at least

-During the time when the poem was written the old term for children born with marked deformities was monster

-If the term had indeed been used in a poem during this age, it would have referred to a deformed person

• Thus Grendel should be classified as “the monster is difference made flesh, come to dwell among us” (Cohen 7)

• There is no good visual of Grendel’s appearance in the text

-He is cast as a giant, black, deformed monster primarily due to his bloodthirsty violence and reputation of a nighttime terror

-We are told that Grendel is a direct descendant from the Biblical murderer, Cain

-Cain’s children were born as normal men

-Likely represents traits of jealousy, violence, and status of a fugitive or outcast

-All of these fit the character of Grendel

-None of them define him as physically being a monster in the modern sense.

• Two parts of Anglo-Saxon culture help demonstrate Grendel as Subaltern rather than monster

-Wergild was compensation paid by one who commits and offense to an injured party or their family

-This prevents an endless stream of blood feuds

-“Sad lays were sung about the beset king, / the vicious raids and ravages of Grendel, / his long and unrelenting feud, / nothing but war; how he would never / parley or make peace with any Dane / nor stop his death-dealing nor pay the death-price.” (Beowulf, lines 151-156)

-Comitatus was a bond between a ruler and his thanes

-Thanes swore to serve and protect the ruler, fighting his battles

-The ruler provided food and shelter for his thanes

• It may, in fact, be Grendel’s status of an outcast that spurs him into the violent actions seen in the poem

-There is no place for the deformed in this society of warrior men

-The ambiguity of Grendel’s physical nature lends the imagination to picture him as a monster, making his death a heroic deed

THEREFORE:

• Through his subaltern status in Heorot, Grendel has lost essential parts of his humanity
• He lives on the fringe of their society, unbound by their common laws
• He was considered as something less-than-human, not quite man yet not quite monster
• His portrayal is not in physical descriptions, but through actions and reactions

-Leaves the audience free to imagine grotesque deformities

• This presents a very different reading of Beowulf

 

Cohen, J.J. (1996). Monster theory: Reading culture. Minneapolis: University of

Minnesota Press.

Heaney, S. (2001). Beowulf: A new verse translation. New York: Norton Paperbacks.

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Top Ten Books You Should’ve Read in High School But Didn’t

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1984, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Beowulf, Books You Should Have Read in High School, Ender's Game, Fahrenheit 451, Frankenstein, Hamlet, Jane Eyre, The Count of Monte Cristo, The Hobbit, Top Ten List

All of us were guilty of it at some point in time. A class assigned a book that just didn’t appeal to us, or we didn’t have the time to get it in. Or maybe you read it and found yourself bored out of your mind. There are some books that schools have their students read that are simply there because, well, everyone places that book on the reading list. They get paraded around as being worth reading because they are old, by famous authors, but the weight of their worth is never actually evaluated in terms of whether the book is enjoyable to read.

It is no secret that I love reading older books as much as I do the newer ones. I was lucky enough that one of my two teachers for English and Literature classes actually assigned books that were worth reading (while the other stuck to those oh-so-dreadful books like Grapes of Wrath) and introduced me to books that ran away with my imagination. So several of these books below are directly from what he pointed me toward. The others have come across my table later in life and, upon evaluating the books that are commonly-assigned reads, they stood out as being ones that are very much worth picking up and reading. You can thank me later. In no particular order:

• 1984 by George Orwell

Odds are that you’ve heard, or even used, the phrase that “Big Brother is watching”. But if you skipped the book, you missed out on the magnitude behind the entire plot. It is so much more than spying on the doings of the common people, it includes an almost brain-washing of the masses daily to change who they are at war with, who they have peace with, and so much more. Woven within this frightening image of the future is a great story that will keep you riveted the entire way. Another book to read with a glimpse at a possible future, which just barely missed the list, would be Brave New World by Aldous Huxley.

• Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Forget what you think you know about Frankenstein, because the tale of the book is very different from anything that the popular culture and the movies have created. It can be a hard stereotype to break, but this book will do so when you get to see an intelligent creation struggle with people’s reactions to its own existence. This is one of the shorter reads on the list, and that alone should grant it merit on your reading list. This is one of those many instances where the book is way better than any other adaptation.

• The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

The first of the books I can credit to the aforementioned teacher in high school. This is not a short book. The leatherbound copy on my bookshelf comes in at over 1,000 pages, but don’t let the size deter you on this one. This is a novel that has it all: action, adventure, true love, fencing, fighting, torture, prison escapes, political intrigue, pirates, treasure, and so much more. I finally reread this book back in January and was blown away by just how magnificent this novel truly is. It all builds up for an unforgettable literary experience.

• Beowulf

By far the oldest of things on this list, yet it has merit in its own right. Pick up a good, readable translation such as the one by Seamus Heaney and get swept away on an adventure that will see the protagonist, Beowulf, do battle with three different monsters (one of them is a dragon!) by the time it reaches its conclusion. Or, if the thought of this old poem really intimidates you, check out my previous post on Beowulf and click the link that takes you to Beowulf for Beginners. Once you familiarize yourself with the story, you might be better prepared to dive into the poetic translation of Heaney. Fans of this one would also do well to pick up a few of the Icelandic Sagas, such as Njal’s Saga or Egil’s Saga.

• Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

Another shorter work, this one being a fun and whimsical story that we’re all fairly familiar with from the various film adaptations. Much like Carroll’s Jabberwocky poem, you can expect to come across the strange and unexpected in this story and its sequel, Through the Looking Glass. If you have a rainy afternoon and are looking for something to occupy your time, leave the Netflix turned off and pick this book up. You’ll enjoy the experience.

• Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

I didn’t read this one until a college Lit course that was solely reading Victorian literature. Among all of the books we read that term, which included works by Dickens, Austen, Thackeray, and Eliot, this book stood head and shoulders above the rest as being the highlight of the term. It had everything the others contained: a fun glimpse into the Victorian-era lives, while pairing it with elements of the supernatural. The underlying themes captured my mind while the book itself stole my reader’s heart and I cannot wait to dive back into this one. It was that good.

• The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

This is the second book on the list that I have to thank that high school teacher for introducing me to. I do not know how I made it to my Junior year of high school without reading a single word of Tolkien, but this book did not exist to me until that class. I devoured the book in two days and dove straight into the Lord of the Rings trilogy afterwards (by his recommendation, of course!) and this has since become my favorite book of all time. I reread this one almost every year for a reason, and fully expect that my children will know this story just as well as I do. I still have not decided whether or not they will ever get to learn that movies were made “based” on this book…

• Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

This is another book that I absolutely devoted every possible moment toward reading when I first encountered it. I spent an entire afternoon lost in the world of Bradbury’s imagining and have since revisited it two more times (including an audiobook venture last year) and it still captivates me every single time. This one pairs well with 1984 on the list, showing a possible future where books, and the information contained in them, are considered dangerous. Bradbury was a tremendous writer, and if you only read one thing by him in your lifetime, this would be the one to read. But you may find, like I did, that his fiction is too good to stop after reading just one of his books. If you need to scratch that Bradbury itch after finishing this, I recommend The Martian Chronicles as a good second read.

• Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card

The last of the books I can thank my old teacher for, this one probably isn’t on many high school reading lists but I firmly believe that it should be. If you guessed that I downed this book in a day or two, you’d be correct. Forget the recent movie, this book is so much better than anything in that film. Ender Wiggin made his mark in this book and it was something the direct sequels never really lived up to. Enjoy following this young boy through Battle School as he tries to help Earth ward off the threat of a future Bugger invasion and then follow it up by reading Armada by Ernest Cline if you’re looking for something more in a similar style.

• Hamlet by William Shakespeare

This list would be a tragedy without at least one Shakespearean play and this one still stands far above the others as being the best of the best. Forget the typical reading of Romeo and Juliet and opt instead for this dark tragedy about the prince of Denmark. It is such a quotable work, and something everyone should get the chance to experience. This was Shakespeare writing at his finest, when so many of the gems were coming out, and while you can ask a dozen Shakespeare scholars which one work should be read and get a dozen answers, this one should make all of their lists for top three Shakespearian plays. Then hop on Youtube and watch the version with David Tennant, Patrick Stewart, and Penny Downie.

Have you read any of these books? Agree or disagree with what is on this list? What are some of the books from high school reading lists that you would recommend a person should read? Comment below!

Scholarly Saturday: Beowulf

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Anglo-Saxon, Beowulf, J.R.R. Tolkien, Old English, Poetry Month, The Wanderer

Welcome to another edition of Scholarly Saturdays. Each Saturday in April I am covering a major poetic work that I highly recommend reading, along with a shorter work to read and enjoy that has some sort of connection to the longer poem. Sometimes the connection is based on time period, like today’s shorter poem. Other times it is connected by subject matter, like last week’s shorter poem. Here are the three major poems I have covered so far in April:

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Goblin Market by Christina Rossetti
Paradise Lost by John Milton

And this week we will be discussing what is perhaps my favorite of the five works getting covered in April: Beowulf. There is a lot to love about this poem, which has monsters and a dragon and three epic battles. This is the longest poem that was composed in Old English and is comprised of three acts: Beowulf versus Grendel, Beowulf versus Grendel’s Mother, and Beowulf versus the Dragon. Beowulf is a Geat and comes to the aid of the Danish kingdom to help them ward off the monster Grendel. The first two acts take place around the same time among the Danes, whereas the Dragon encounter occurs 50 years later after Beowulf has become the king of the Geats.

Beowulf was a work that J.R.R. Tolkien taught frequently throughout his career. He was famous for coming into the classroom reciting the first 50 lines of the poem from memory in Old English (While it isn’t Tolkien, this is a good video of the opening lines in Old English). He wrote two fantastic essays on this work, one of which was highly influential on the way Beowulf was studied and still holds sway to this day for scholars of this work. Tolkien knew this poem extremely well and had outstanding notes and lectures on this work. While the translation released recently was never intended by Tolkien to be published – I firmly believe he would have published a poetic translation rather than a prose one – the notes and commentaries within that book make it worth the investment to anyone with an interest in this poem.

Perhaps the most beloved of translations is the one by Seamus Heaney, which is the translation that I will be using for this short excerpt from the poem where Grendel is approaching Hrothgar at night, not knowing that Beowulf is there waiting for him:

Then out of the night
Came the shadow-stalker, stealthy and swift;
The hall-guards were slack, asleep at their posts,
All except one; it was widely understood
That as long as God disallowed it,
The fiend could not bear them to his shadow-bourne.
One man, however, was in a fighting mood,
Awake and on edge, spoiling for action.
In off the moors, down through the mist bands
God-cursed Grendel came greedily loping.
The bane of the race of men roamed forth,
Hunting for a prey in the high hall.
Under the cloud-murk he moved toward it
Until it shone above him, a sheer keep
Of fortified gold. Nor was that the first time
He had scouted the grounds of Hrothar’s dwelling—
Although never in his life, before or since,
Did he find harder fortune for hall-defenders.
Spurned and joyless, he journeyed on ahead
And arrived at the bawn. The iron-braced door
turned on its hinge when his hands touched it.
Then his rage boiled over, he ripped open
the mouth of the building, maddening for blood,
pacing the length of the patterned floor
with his loathsome tread, while a baleful light,
flame more than light, flared from his eyes.

There are many excellent translations out there to read this poem in full. And for those who don’t think they are ready to tackle the full poem, there is a wonderful website, Beowulf for Beginners, that might be a great entry point to appreciating this poetic work.

The shorter poem being shared today, in the spirit of Beowulf, is an Anglo-Saxon poem titled “The Wanderer”. It is believed to be about a warrior who gets rendered unconscious during a battle in which his chief dies, and this is him recounting his plight later in life. It is a short poem, just over 100 lines long, but an enjoyable delving into the Medieval poetry.

Read “The Wanderer” here.

For those bold enough, you can also listen to it in its Old English form.

Have you read Beowulf before? Was it assigned reading for a class or merely for pleasure? What are your thoughts on “The Wanderer”?

Tolkien on Translation

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Beowulf, J.R.R. Tolkien, Medieval Literature, Middle English, Old English, Translation

Yesterday we celebrated the works of J.R.R. Tolkien with a Tolkien Reading Day, so it is only fitting that today, for Scholarly Saturday, the post concerns Tolkien. This turned out to be a coincidental scheduling, as I did not remember the Tolkien Reading Day until Thursday, but it was a fun day. I helped run a chat throughout the day on Twitter, and you can search through the #TolkienChat entries to see what we discussed and chime in with your own thoughts on the books, movies, soundtrack, and more.

There are many excellent works of literature out there to read, and understanding how translation affects your experience with a text is essential to getting the most out of anything that was written in a different language. Tolkien was a linguist and a Medievalist. He devoted himself to reading texts like Beowulf, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Pearl, Poetic Edda, Prose Edda, and many others. He formed a group known as Kolbitars (Coal biters) that would sit by a fire at night and read their own impromptu translations of Icelandic Sagas. He developed his own languages throughout his works, the most popular being the Quenya and Sindarin (both of them a form of Elvish) languages. He understood the importance of translation and wrote about it at some length.

In his essay, “On Translating Beowulf” (originally published as “Prefatory Remarks on Prose Translation of Beowulf“), Tolkien writes that, “No defence is usually offered for translating Beowulf. Yet the . . . publishing of a modern English rendering needs defence: especially the presentation of a translation into plain prose of what is in fact a poem, a work of skilled and close-wrought metre” (Tolkien, ix). In other words, the translator fails to defend their reasoning for providing this new and different translation of Beowulf to the world (when there are already many good translations to be had), and felt that those who translated the poem into prose especially needed to provide a strong defense for their decision. A poem loses something when it becomes a prosaic story, yet the ironic thing is Tolkien’s own translation of Beowulf was in prose form. Granted, he never anticipated this translation being published and, if he had, I imagine he would have either done a poetic translation or else offered a suitable defense for his decision to translate it into prose. For, as Tolkien himself stated regarding a prose translation of Beowulf, “The proper purpose of a prose translation is to provide an aid to study” (Tolkien, x) rather than one to read and study on its own. A prose translation was to function as a supplement to a poetic translation, or the text in its original form.

Tolkien also weighed in regarding the choice of using modern words or the words that would have been fitting for the time period of composition. Tolkien believed, “if you wish to translate, not re-write, Beowulf, your language must be literary and traditional: not because it is now a long while since the poem was made, or because it speaks of things that have since become ancient, but because the diction of Beowulf was poetical, archaic . . . in the day that the poem was made” (Tolkien, xvii). So he was firmly entrenched in the camp that believed using older terms, fitting for the time period, was the way to go rather than pandering to the modern crowd’s choice of vocabulary. This is something you can see not only in his translation work, but also seeping through all of his writing. Even children’s tales, such as Roverandom, use words that fit the story rather than ones that fit the audience. Yet while Tolkien was a proponent for a traditional translation, he also cautioned that “words should not be used merely because they are ‘old’ or obsolete. The words chosen . . . must be words that remain in literary use, especially in the use of verse, among educated people” (Tolkien, xix), which is why you won’t see thees and thous and other completely outdated stylistic language in his work.

This is only scratching the surface on Tolkien’s thoughts regarding translation. I highly recommend getting a copy of The Monsters and the Critics, which has his essay “On Translating Beowulf” in full along with six other worthwhile essays/lectures from Tolkien.

When it comes to translations, here is a list of the works he translated and had published:

Beowulf
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Pearl
Sir Orfeo
Ancrene Wisse
The Old English ‘Exodus’
Finn and Hengest: The Fragment and the Episode

Works Cited

Tolkien, J.R.R. “Prefatory Remarks on Prose Translation of Beowulf.” In Beowulf and the 

          Finnesburg Fragment: A Translation into Modern English Prose. Tr. John R. Clark Hall.

Ed. C.I. Wrenn. London: Allen & Unwin, 1950: ix-xxvii. Print.