The raucous feasts and joyous celebrations within Heorot make the reader believe that Grendel is attacking the hall out of envy, an emotion generally associated with wickedness. However, ambivalent lines such as: "Grendel waged his lonely war" offer the possibility of dual meanings (line 164). If Grendel is indeed attacking Heorot due to his loneliness and misery, which are probably caused by his exile, then one may begin to question whether Grendel is as evil and malignant as the author claims. Grendel may not have been acting out of pure evil, but out of grief. Signe M. Carlson elaborates on the portrayal of Grendel's moral ambivalence in the fight with Beowulf, explaining how Grendel's "enormous strength, wrestling ability, and blood-thirsty cannibalism are contrasted with his very real pain and anguish on having his arm wrenched off by Beowulf and his agonized return to his cave, where he died" (Carlson, 362). It is also interesting to note that Grendel is said to be "insensible to pain and human sorrow," which is refuted once we see the pain and agony he feels during the fight (line 120). Robert L. Chapman raises a good point concerning the fight, he explains that Grendel does not resist Beowulf's attacks, but instead tries to flee from his monstrous power (Robert L. Chapman). Again, we see a lack of malignance and evil within Grendel. .
An exilic figure such as Grendel who is "broken and bowed, outcast from all sweetness" is a character who is not just meant to be hated, but also to have sympathy and sorrow felt for them (1274 – 1275). Scholars tend to agree with this, claiming that "the mere mention of Grendel's exile has always stirred the heart of an Old English poet". Furthermore, Hrothgar's description of Grendel conflicts with other descriptions of him in the poem, where Grendel is not portrayed as monstrous but instead as "warped in the shape of a man" (lines 1351–1352).