William Blake and Grendel

There are many similarities and difference between William Blake's perspective of the paradox through his poems and John Gardner's perspective of the paradox through Grendel. In the poem Infant Joy, Blake portrays the extreme contentedness of a child. For example, the speaker claims, "I happy am, Joy is my name."The excessive happiness is a sign of the innocence that the child portrays within this poem. Not only this, the fact that the child is speaking without any specific identity further exemplifies his innocence. This is similar to the creature in Frankenstein and his innocence right at birth before he was influenced by the environment around him. We see this innocence within Grendel at the beginning of the story just before his foot "was wedged deep, as if the two oak trees were eating it. Black saw-dust-squirreldust-was spattered up the leg almost to the thigh". It is in this chapter that Grendel truly experiences a loss of innocence. First off, it is interesting to note that the denotation of dust is that of human remains. Thus, one can easily infer that Gardner is foreshadowing the figurative death of the child like Grendel who is innocent and naive. It is also interesting to note the symbolism of the two oak trees. The trees can be associated with the story of the Genesis in which Adam and Eve both experienced a loss of innocence when they decided to eat the fruit of the Tree of Forbidden Knowledge. It is here that the two figures were banished to Earth. Thus, Grendel is once again foreshadowing the eventual loss of innocence. Lastly, we see that Grendel is stuck between two oak trees as if he is stuck between the two worlds of innocence and experience. This paradox that Grendel lives him is what seems to be destroying him considering the animalistic characteristics that Gardner gives to the trees when he describes them as "eating". Similar to Gardner, Blake seems to foreshadow the eventual loss of innocence of the child in the poem through the word "befall". This term generally has the denotation of something bad happening to another, and is also a play on the Fall that one takes towards experience. In essence, Blake is portraying the eventual fall that the baby will take to loose his her innocence. Moving on to the poem "Infant Sorrow", it is important to note that both the child and Grendel make a "leap" into the other world as if they are both experiencing the Fall. After experiencing this fall/loss of innocence/leap, both Grendel and the child seem to "sulk upon" their "mother's breast". In Grendel's case, the experience that he achieved allowed him to see his mother how she truly is. She tries to prevent Grendel from the experience and enlightenment. In this same way, the child struggles to go against the "swaddling bands" and is "bound and weary".

The Four Horseman of the Apocalypse

I believe that the story Grendel is centered around the story of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. The coming of the four horsemen are heralds of an apocalypse that indicate the end of the world or the Last Judgement. The very first horse known as the White Horse is symbolic of conquest. I think Gardner makes a direct parallel between the White Horse and Hrothgar in the novel. For example. he claims, “ He’d shown them the strength of his organization…”. Not only this, Hrothgar is actually described as having a “white beard” multiple times throughout the novel. In this way, Hrothgar represents a foreshadow to the upcoming apocalypse of a system. We can actually see this foreshadow again through the advice of the Dragon in chapter 5. He claims, “ A brief pulsation in the black hole of eternity… a speck of dust”. According to the New England Oxford American Dictionary, the denotation of dust is a dead person’s remains. In this way, the Dragon is foreshadowing the end of a system that unite a group of people. He is foreshadowing the end of the Danish system that both Grendel and the Danes are apart of. The second horse known as the Red Horse represents civil war or mass slaughter. The color red indicates that blood is about to be spilled. One of the characters in the novel is actually named the Red Horse in chapter 8. This chapter tells about the political system of the Danes in a play like format through Grendel’s perspective. The primary concern of this chapter is the lack of an egalitarian society within the Danish hierarchy. The concept that those at the top of the “nut tree” are prosperous and happy while those near the bottom on the ground are “dead”. The Red Horse who is actually an old peasant who talks to Hrothulf tries to convince him of the inequality of the system. When asked about the idea of revolution, he claims, “… I’m here to serve. But as for Universal Justice…” The fourth horseman of the apocalypse is named death and also known as the pale rider. I believe that Beowulf is the final horseman who represents the end of a system in Grendel. For example, it is interesting to note that Beowulf is described as having “pale eyes” and shows a natural propensity to stare at the coast guard’s “horse” at the beginning of chapter 11. Not only this, the fourth horseman is never carrying a weapon similar to how Beowulf did not use a weapon to fight Grendel. To look at this through Grendel’s perspective, Grendel is the hero that tries to prevent the end of a system. A hero who tries to preserve the Danish way of life in order to prevent an apocalypse. For example, Grendel claims that he must meet with the stranger in order to preserve the honor of the Danes and the religion of the priests. In this ironic way, he is their savior. The sad part of this story is that the Danes still view Grendel as a brute who wreaks havoc on their existence while they don’t understand that there can be no Danes without Grendel and no Grendel without the Danes. They are intertwined together similar to the “double trunked” oak tree described in Hrothgar’s dream at the end of chapter 8.

Political System in Grendel

Throughout Chapter 8 of Grendel, Grendel debunks some of the apparent flaws of the Danish system through the story of Hrothulf. To begin with, Grendel portrays Hrothulf's story in the form of a play. For example, he claims, " The nut tree wide above my head, stretching its cool black limbs to take the sun, sends darkness down my chest. Its dappled, high crowned roadways make safe homes for birds; quick squirrels run the veins of its treasure-giving hand; but the ground below is dead". The play like structure shows how Grendel views the system as a type of fiction or illusion, which relates back to the theme of reality versus illusion. Grendel views Hrothulf as an observer and watches the play unfold as if the Danish conflicts are trivial and fake. The tree described above is a parallel to the tyrannical and hierarchal system created by the Danes. A system that is inherently flawed according to Grendel, Hrothulf, and the Red Horse because of its lack of equality. The hierarchy is also given a negative connotation through the personification of its "black" limbs that seem to cover up the sun. In fact, it is interesting to note that the denotation of sun is a person or thing that is regarded as a source of understanding. In this way, the system is trying to cover up this understanding of the fake illusion in order to keep it cyclic. The Zodiac symbol for this chapter also tells a lot about the political system of the Danes. For example, Hrothulf is described as a "sweet scorpion" who "sits between their two and cleans his knife". The Zodiac symbol for this chapter is scorpio and it is characterized by an intense curiosity. In fact, the "stinger" signifies a piercing curiosity that delves into the secrets within or in this case the hierarchal system. Also, the opposing connotations of "sweet" and "scorpion" along with Hrothulf sitting in between two people portrays the idea of a conflicted nature and irony of Hrothulf. He is a prince in the blood line of Hrothgar yet he does not fit in with the other Danes. However, he also does not fit in to the hierarchy of peasants like the Red Horse because of his princely nature which is further shown by him tripping three times on the "ground" beneath a tree (system). Red Horse is actually described as having white hair "around his high empty dome like the beams of the sun". Red Horse is an allusion to the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse who represents war and mass slaughter. In Grendel, Red Horse explains to Hrothulf that the system gives power for those who fit the system and enslavement for those who do not. Also, it is interesting to note that his hair is described as the "beams of the sun". This is perfect considering that the sun is representative of the reality that debunks the illusion of the system. This is exactly the role Red Horse plays within this chapter.