Grendel is a narrative told from the point of view from the monster from Beowulf. Since Grendel is now the narrator the reader has new insight into the thoughts and motives of the monster. Grendel embodies the philosophical views of existentialism. Gardner opposed the views of existentialism and by using a villain to embody these views it was easy to his hatred. Grendel tells his own life story through many flashbacks, about his childhood and lead all the way up to his death in the end. In his telling we see his many takes on life and philosophical views—the reader sees this more towards the end when his language is more developed.
As a child he is solipsist; he believes he is the only real thing in the universe, he is God. As a child he expresses, “I understood then that the world was nothing: a mechanical chaos of brute enmity on which we stupidly impose our hopes and fears. I understood that, finally and absolutely, I alone exist. All the rest, I saw, is merely what pushes me, or what I push against, blindly-as blindly as all that is not myself pushes back. I create the whole universe, blink by blink.-An ugly god pitifully dying in a tree!” This was when his foot got stuck in the tree.
But even after this experience he changes his view a few times. One instance is when Grendel observes the Shaper and finds a human killed by his own kind; he loses his feeling of loneliness but only for a little while. This connection to the humans lasts until they attack him; he is again set apart from the humans. Grendel still sees the world as if he were God until he meets the dragon. Since the dragon is older and wiser he cannot maintain this viewpoint. Even though he know sees the humans as real, he believes he is still superior.
Because of the dragon Grendel embraces the idea that humans exist with him, not because of him. However they are still not fellows, only enemies and toys. Grendel doesn’t have a place in the world yet but he holds onto the words of the dragon. The dragon tells Grendel, “You improve them, my boy! Can’t you see that yourself? You stimulate them! You make them think and scheme. You drive them to poetry, science, religion, all that makes them what they are for as long as they last. You are, so to speak, the brute existent by which they learn to define themselves.” This idea was easily accepted by Grendel because of how desperate he was to fit in even willing to be an evil villain.
After Grendel loses his arm his final views on the world somewhat revert back to what he believed in the second chapter. He views the world more like a cold, logical, machine. These are the thoughts he returns to. Grendel’s speech starts to flee at the ending of the book but he still manages to speak. His last words were, “’It was an accident,’ I bellow back. I will cling to what is true. ‘Blind, mindless, mechanical. Mere logic of chance.'"
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