1. The Enemy Outside And Within: Grendel And His Mother
... making monsters out to be outsiders remains firmly in place, witnessed through the descriptions, attitudes, and actions of the fiend Grendel and his horrific Mother. There exists, however, a paradoxical symbolism within the epic's framework concerning this beast and his kin in which they serve as examples of the negative aspects of the Germanic society in which the story originated. Therefore, while they are still ... placed outside of the boundaries of Human civilization, they are, at the same time, a part of it as they represent the evils of the culture whose imagination spawned them....
- Word Count: 1184
- Approx Pages: 5
- Grade Level: Undergraduate