2/25/20 Katrina Chung PD1

02/25/2020 Katrina Chung PD1 Blog#4

Grendel Chapter 7 Quiz

Aim: How does Grendel's Obsession with Wealtheow illustrate his struggle with his identity?

Do Now: List everything Grendel is not.

So what is Grendel? We know that he feels alone in his world and that he stalks and eats humans. But does that make him a 'monster'? For this discussion, several people mentioned how Grendel isn’t really 'savage' or 'barbaric'. He does not kill randomly. But rather for food, for attention, for purpose. He also succumbs to the humans by leaning towards their humanity (listening to the Shaper and his fascination with Wealthdow) just like the rest of the humans. So does that make Grendel a monster or simply someone longing for company and for their life to have meaning.

Whole Class Discussion: "What will we call the Hrothgar-Wrecker when Hrothgar has been wrecked?" (91)

What reason does Grendel give for not finishing off the Danes? Why does he pace himself with "Form is function"?

The reason Grendel does not finish off the Danes is to give his life meaning and purpose. Killing all of them at once would only give him momentarily happiness, but not long term pleasure. "Form is function" allows Grendel to create a false sense of purpose for himself. The form is not something people get right away; it is a process. It is also something you cannot exist without. Grendel's form is the new law he created, "Grendel's Law". His law is also a sense of organization in which Grendel creates an illusion in which he gains no actual reward at the end but for a false sense of purpose.

If you are still confused by this concept, "Form is function", think of it like this:

Each period, the bell rings to notify you of the ending and beginning of a class. What if there were no bells? We would be able to walk in and out of a class when we please. It may be fun for a while, but in the end, we would learn to hate the lack of organization, the bells. Bells=Form and Learning=Purpose.

Group Work: Struggling with the Dragon

• Grendel falls to meet the Dragon…and what is a dragon exactly. How do these images create a perception and understanding of the Dragon's contrast to how Grendel sees Wealtheow?
• To Grendel, Wealtheow is innocence, beauty, art, balance, compassion, sexuality, femininity all in one. How do these concepts, in Western philosophy, compare and contrast? How does Grendel struggle with the embodiment of all these concepts in one?
• A "bildungsroman" is a coming-of-age novel. In what ways is that true and false in Grendel?

The Dragon is the symbol of sin. He is greedy and nihilistic. He believes that there is no meaning in everything Wealtheow, in contrast to the Dragon is more angelic with her innocence and purity. Her persona defies everything Grendel knew about the destructive nature and characteristics of the humans. Additionally, Wealtheow is like the Shaper- shaping everyone's emotions while accepting anything that comes her way (ie. Being given away to Hrothgar). Her name means "Server of the Common Good", which is pretty self-explanatory. The contrast between the Dragon and Wealtheow shows the balance needed in the world: good vs evil, light vs darkness, everything vs nothingness, etc.

Today, I learned of Grendel's fascination with Wealtheow and her significance in his life. And that significance is her way of making Grendel think about his life and purpose as the Shaper did. One's purpose stems from an activity that they enjoy and want to learn from. So all we have to do in life is to do the stuff we want to do and enjoy the time we spend on it. That is our so-called 'life's purpose'.