Cain is the source of all evil and monsters. Ever since he was born, he was insincere and selfish. The ultimate sin that he committed, which also defies the Anglo-Saxon value of brotherhood, is killing his blood brother, Abel, when Abel’s offering was accepted and his was not. Greed, jealousy, selfishness, rejection, and discontentment drove Cain to kill his brother. “For the killing of Abel the Eternal Lord had exacted a price…the Almighty made him anathema and out of the curse of his exile there sprang ogres and elves and evil phantoms and the giants

too who strove with God”(lines 107-113). All the monsters, including Grendel, his mother, and the dragon, were spawned from this one person who represents all evil, which makes them evil too. The country peoples describe Grendel and his mother as “fatherless creatures [whose] whole ancestry is hidden in a past of demons and ghosts”(lines 1355-7). These “fatherless creatures” are homeless and wander aimlessly around. Due to the fact that they are from an evil family, they don’t really have a home of warmth and love, which contributes to their evilness. His past shapes their future. They all also defy the Anglo-Saxon values, which encompasses comitatus (brotherhood), loyalty, honor, duty, generosity, fame, strength, and unity.

Grendel in reality could symbolize a group of outcast males jealous of Hrothgar and his thanes. Described as “the Lord’s outcast”(line 169) and “[waging] his lonely war”(line 164), the group of men, or Grendel, that attacks Heorot are alone and outcasts because they defy the Anglo-Saxon ideal. A good Anglo-Saxon would have not attacked the people and would have shared the greatness of Heorot, showing the Anglo-Saxon values of brotherhood and generosity. However, the group of greedy men “[inflicted] constant cruelties on the people…[and] took over Heorot”(lines 165-6), which was not very Anglo-Saxon-like because they did the opposite of what was expected of them; they did not embrace their neighbors and they wanted to keep Heorot to themselves. In addition to that, the fact that “it harrowed him to hear

Some topics in this essay:
Eternal Lord, Heorot Anglo-Saxon, Beowulf Grendel’s, Christians Christian, Hrunting Grendel’s, Grendel Beowulf, , Beowulf Geat, Seamus Heaney, Abel Abel’s, grendel mother, grendel mother dragon, mother dragon, anglo-saxon society, imaginary creatures, anglo-saxon values, defy anglo-saxon, grendel’s mother, killed beowulf, evil monsters, child mother,