List of artistic depictions of Grendel

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This list of artistic depictions of Grendel refers to the figure of Grendel. He is one of three antagonists (along with Grendel's mother and the dragon) in the Anglo-Saxon epic poem Beowulf (c. 700-1000 AD).

Grendel has been adapted in a number of different media including film, literature, and graphic/illustrated novels or comic books.

Cinema

1999 Baker adaptation

Vincent Hammond portrayed Grendel in Graham Baker's film Beowulf (1999). Among the artistic liberties taken in this version set in a post apocalyptic future, Grendel is stated to be the son of Hrothgar and he is shown to be capable of rendering himself partially invisible in a Predator-like manner. His manner of death also differs from the original source. As with the poem, Beowulf tears off Grendel's arm during their first battle, though Grendel survives the wound in the film. Beowulf kills Grendel later on by stabbing his stump.[1]

2005 Gunnarsson adaptation

The film Beowulf & Grendel (2005) purports to be a more realistic depiction of the legend. Grendel, played by Ingvar Eggert Sigurðsson, is portrayed as a large, primitive-looking man, whom King Hrothgar and his men believe to be a "troll". His mother, referred in the credits as a "sea hag", is portrayed as more inhuman-looking.

2007 Zemeckis adaptation

Crispin Glover portrayed Grendel in the Robert Zemeckis film, Beowulf (2007). This version changes elements of the poem by introducing a relationship between Grendel's mother and Hrothgar which results in the birth of Grendel,[2][3] much like Graham Baker's adaptation eight years prior.

Grendel, as portrayed by Crispin Glover in the 2007 film Beowulf

In the film, Grendel is portrayed as a diseased and deformed creature. Described by the film crew as "The embodiment of pain", he was born with a large external eardrum which causes him pain whenever the singing in Heorot echoes in his lair. This weakness, an attempt to explain Grendel's ability to hear the singing in the original poem despite his cave being many miles from the hall, is exploited by Beowulf in his battle with the monster. When frightened or weakened, Grendel is shown to shrink in size. When not attacking the Danes, he is shown to be a timid, childlike creature who speaks in Old English in the presence of his mother.

Philosophy professor Stephen T. Asma argued in the December 7 issue of the Chronicle of Higher Education that, "Zemeckis's more tender-minded film version suggests that the people who cast out Grendel are the real monsters. The monster, according to this charity paradigm, is just misunderstood rather than evil. The blame for Grendel's violence is shifted to the humans, who sinned against him earlier and brought the vengeance upon themselves. The only real monsters, in this tradition, are pride and prejudice. In the film, Grendel is even visually altered after his injury to look like an innocent, albeit scaly, little child. In the original Beowulf, the monsters are outcasts because they're bad (just as Cain, their progenitor, was outcast because he killed his brother), but in the newer adaptation of Beowulf the monsters are bad because they're outcasts [...] Contrary to the original Beowulf, the new film wants us to understand and humanize our monsters." [4]

Other film adaptations and portrayals

Grendel, as shown in Grendel Grendel Grendel

Comics and graphic novels

Essays

Grendel appears in the speech Harold E. Varmus gave for winning the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work on oncogenes, at the Nobel Banquet, December 10, 1989. He stated a cancer cell is "like Grendel, a distorted vision of our normal selves".[10]

Games

Final Fantasy Tactics

Literature

Grendel has appeared in multiple works of contemporary literature.

Military

Music

Television

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Beowulf (1999)
  2. ↑ Walter Quinn (2007-11-23). "Beowulf' movie takes poetic license -- and then some -- from the original text". Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Retrieved 2007-11-27.
  3. ↑ John V. Fleming (2007-11-29). "Good Grief, Grendel". The New Republic. Retrieved 2007-11-29.
  4. ↑ Asma, Stephen (December 7, 2007 Issue). Never Mind Grendel. Can Beowulf Conquer the 21st-Century Guilt Trip? "The Chronicle of Higher Education" Check |url= value (help). pp. B20. Check date values in: |date= (help)
  5. ↑ Official site
  6. ↑ Grendel, Beowulf (1987) Archived September 27, 2007, at the Wayback Machine.
  7. ↑ Grendel, Beowulf: Dragon Slayer, Issue 2 Archived October 24, 2009, at the Wayback Machine.
  8. ↑ GRENDELL, Marvunapp.com
  9. ↑ Kleyn, Ramana. "TalesOfLegend Comics". Retrieved 2008-07-29.
  10. ↑ Varmus, Harold E. (December 10, 1989). "Nobel Banquet Speech".
  11. ↑ "1972 Mythopoeic Award". isfdb.org. Retrieved 2014-09-20.
  12. ↑ Namjoshi, Suniti. St Suniti and the Dragon, North Melbourne: Spinifex, 1993.
  13. ↑ St Suniti And The Dragon
  14. ↑ NPR article:Grendel
  15. ↑ Mangan, Timothy (June 9, 2006). "Opera: 'Grendel' is a monster of a show". The Orange County Register.
  16. ↑ Song
  17. ↑ IMDB: Grendel
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