HIST-281 Lecture Notes - Lecture 17: Mead Hall, Jutes, Hygelac
27 Oct 2020
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The monster from the chilly swamp is incomprehensible to them and beyond their reach. He is the reverse side of their own civilized standards. Grendel symbolizes the rejected, natural, animal-like elements of the psyche, conjured up by the danes" sudden leap in civilization. Except for beowulf, everyone else is completely unconscious of this particular type of evil: grendel"s name is associated etymologically with ground or bottom. Grendel is described repeatedly in terms of deprivation and negatives. "mearc-stapa", a border stepper: grendel metaphorically represents the warriors" own brutish violence and fratricide. Grendel can be interpreted as a mirror image and symbolic representation of the vices and flaws in the character of the danes themselves. Hrothulf, hrothgar"s nephew, will kill his first son and legal heir and assume the throne. The fight at finnsburg between the danes and the jutes (hnaef): he is a "fiend of hell", "the slave of hell", and "the spirit of hell".
