A Comparison of Nihilistic and Christian Archetypes in Beowulf and John

Grendel, Beowulf and the Relationship between Nihilistic and Christian Archetypes The Wisdom god, Woden, went out to the faggot of circlesand demanded to know how outrank might triumph over chaos.Give me your left affectionateness, said the king of trolls, and Ill tell you.Without hesitation, Woden gave up his left eye.Now tell me.The troll said, The secret is, Watch with both eyesWodens left eye was the last sure hope of gods and men in their kingdom of empty-headed surrounded by darkness. All we have left is Thors hammer, which represents non brute force but art, or, counting both hammerheads, art and reflection The philosophies expressed in the Beowulf epic complement the exploration of existentialism passim the modern work, Grendel, by John Gardner. Both works portray unalike perspectives of the same invention, involving the same characters Beowulf, the ancient Anglo-Saxon electric ray who destroys Grendel, and Grendel, the monster who terrorizes Hrothgars hall. Beowul f and Grendel act as archetypes that explore humanitys perception of the world. In the Anglo-Saxon epic, Beowulf and his companions represent beloved, and the monsters, including Grendel, represent evil. When Beowulf kills Grendel, the world is less evil, but since Beowulfs companions die in the struggle, the world is also less good. Ultimately, the two forces of good and evil will destroy each other, but the story maintains that god will interfere and save mankind from destruction. In Gardners story, the overture of society begins when mankind creates a monster and then creates a hero to fight the monster. Once the greater power of the hero had been established, once the meshings resolution strengthened societys power, than a greater monster developed ... ...fact, it is the saving grace of mankind the hope that beau ideal will save society and establish harmony and justice. The modern story takes the opposite view it shows what happens when hope is lost, when society has nowh ere to turn it is a more pessimistic, more complicated view of humanitys progress.Throughout this paper, G after a characters name refers to Gardner AS to Beowulf the poem.Works CitedGardner, John. Grendel , New York vintage Books Edition, 1989.Gardner, John. Moral Fiction. New York Basic Books Inc, 1977.Heany, Seamus. Beowulf A Modern Translation. New York Farrer, Straus, and Giroux, 2000.Sources CitedCohen, Jeffrey Jerome. nut Theory. George Washington University www.upress.umn.edu/Books/C/cohen_monster.html, 2001.Johnson, Tim. Grendel. New York www.panix.com/iayork/Literary/Grendel/grendel2.html, 2001.