Grendel

His narration returning to the present, Grendel points out that the Shaper now sings more somberly, after years of the men enduring Grendel’s fatal attacks. While there might be more exciting places for the bard to sing his poetry, he remains with Hrothgar out of pride. Grendel disdainfully looks upon the Danes’ most prized meadhall, and he recounts how it came into being and how his war with humans began:

Inspired by the poetry of the Shaper, Hrothgar planned to build a new meadhall: The Shaper sang about an extraordinary meadhall, one “whose light would shine to the ends of the ragged world” (47). As Grendel listened to the songs, he could not reconcile the truth with the beauty of the Shaper’s words; while Hrothgar was destructive, the poetry glorified him. Despite Grendel’s awareness of Hrothgar’s violent capacities, his “heart was light with Hrothgar’s goodness” (48). Men continued to arrive from afar to hear the Shaper’s songs, and Grendel noticed that the Shaper changed the poems to meet the desires of his changing audience. This realization caused Grendel to feel that his own efforts to “[transform] the world with words” (49) were futile.