Grendel Ending

I think Grendel has given me the biggest headache in AP Lit thus far. There is so much stuff going on! I don’t think that I have ever read a book with quite so many confusing layers. All of that being said; I still appreciate the incredible depth and intellect of Grendel. The ending is brilliant. Firstly, I personally like Grendel more than Beowulf. The way that Grendel describes Beowulf is so creepy. I imagined Beowulf and his people as robots or zombies coming from a frozen hell. They are described as “dead” looking and Beowulf’s words do not match up with his mouth. I find this very interesting because it is as if Beowulf is a shell to something else; something inhuman. When Grendel imagines Beowulf with wings, it is as if the dragon is perhaps disguised as Beowulf. This explains the several times that Beowulf is described in a serpent-like fashion. It also describes his unbelievable strength. But anyway, I feel like the ending was super fast. Grendel seems totally baffled the entire time… he barely has time to think. I think that Grendel is a funny guy so although the ending is completely gruesome, I could feel the humor in it all as well. Grendel’s bewilderment lightens the entire episode. One minute Grendel is comically feasting upon a man, and the next he is being taken down by Beowulf. Grendel is of course fearful and in incredible pain, but he also is evidently shocked by the entire episode. He is confident that Beowulf is a lunatic which for some reason makes me like Grendel and find the ending ironically funny. Also, it is ironic that Beowulf, who is essentially described as a machine, is Grendel’s downfall. Grendel despises the mechanics of nature his entire life and he is killed by it. So perhaps mechanics and thoughtlessness is superior to free will in some ways. But also, Grendel’s last words are strange; “Poor Grendel had an accident. So may you all”(174). It almost sounds as if he is cursing them- telling them that they too will die. But the more I think about it, the more I wonder if it is almost a blessing. Grendel craves death and finds his death possibly joyful. He probably feels this way because he finds life torturously tedious and mechanical and evil so death is the only escape. So, by saying that all of the animals will have an accident, It’s almost like he is assuring them that they will be free of the hellish earth as well. In the end, Beowulf and Grendel are both evil in some ways, but Grendel is the lesser evil. When the shaper dies, history and, consequently, order is destroyed. Although order is nice, it is also lies. When Beowulf arrives, order reoccurs which means that lies prevail over reality. In Grendel’s eyes, Beowulf is clearly insane and clearly evil… so I guess true evil (but outwardly heroic figure) covers up reality/ chaos, and replaces it with order/ lies. Basically, I think that Beowulf is demonic but conveniently is beneficial to the people, whereas Grendel is deep-down a good guy, but is hated by the people because he exposes their evils.  My head hurts.