Monthly Blog 2

The authors of Beowulf and Grendel had colliding views about history and mankind. In Beowulf, men are portrayed as pure, honest, and valiant, where history is honored and respected. The author of Grendel, however, depicted men as wasteful, barbaric liars who changed history so that every respected man died with honor.
Originally in Grendel, Grendel just wanted to fit in with the humans. Then, throughout the outbreaks of wars, Grendel began to notice how cruel and truly inhumane the humans could be. Grendel noted in the story that the men were "wasteful" because they did not even eat the things they killed; they simply killed for the thrill of killing. The author of Grendel was also sure to include the way men boasted of themselves without end and how they beat women when the females "deserved" it. Grendel, the evil, malicious monster of Beowulf, was disgusted with the humans' behavior.
The author of Grendel furthered his belief that mankind is barbaric through his depiction of Beowulf. Grendel did not depict Beowulf as the brave hero like the poem did. In Grendel, Beowulf was described as a sincerely crazy man who was born to kill others. Beowulf supported the wars where creatures and men were uselessly murdered and left to rot. He was, by no means, a hero and was doubtingly even human in Grendel's eyes.
In addition, the author of Grendel believed that men change history to their liking. In the story, Grendel listens to the Shaper tell wonderful stories and poems about heroes and bravery and ancestry. But Grendel begins to realize that these stories are not all complete truths. When Unferth crawled up to Grendel's cave, Unferth stated that even if the others could not find his body and had no idea how he died, the Shaper would make it that he died with honor. No matter what the honest truth was, history could be altered to make a better poem. In Beowulf, the poems and stories and songs were where a lot of information about the past came from; it was all the reader had to make judgements from. So, the author of Beowulf either believed all the stories were true or thought nothing wrong in altering the facts of the past.
In conclusion, the author of Grendel differed from the author of Beowulf in that he felt mankind was far from heroic, and history is simply something that is tampered with in order to make it more pleasing.