Afternoon of Alterity - Nazareth College

dichotomy between monster and hero? There was a clear monsterin medieval society because they saw killers of multiple victims asdemons. In post modern society there is no distinct other becausewe glorify these killers. While in medieval literature there is a cleardichotomy between monstrosity and heroism regarding killers ofmultiple victims, the postmodern cultural lens reconstructs killersas fascinating heroes.In the 7 th - 10 th century Anglo-Saxon epic Beowulf, Beowulf is thehero called upon to kill the murderous Grendel. Grendel was a killerof multiple victims who took the lives of thirty men in one nightfor sport. Liuzza describes Grendel’s multiple murders as “then theGod-cursed brute was creating havoc: greedy and grim, he grabbedthirty men from their resting places and rushed to his lair, flushedup and inflamed from the raid, blundering back with the butcheredcorpses” (Liuzza, 120). Grendel is a killer who is “all action and noreflection” (Farrell, 934). In reading this translation Grendel is veryclearly a despicable demon. Jennifer Farrell says, “Grendel lives inthe water and drinks human blood. The taboo formation of hisname makes his ties to evil and Cain that much stronger” (935). Hismurders are connected with consuming his victims.“Nor did the creature keep him waiting but struck suddenlyand started in; he grabbed and mauled a man on his bench,bit into his bone-lappings, bolted down his blood andgorged on him in lumps, leaving the body utterly lifeless,eaten up hand and foot” (Liuzza, lines738-744).Grendel is not the only monster in Beowulf. His mother is alsoa killer of multiple victims. Wendy Hennequin describes Grendel’smother as an “ogress and an evil beast” (Hennequin, 503). Medievalsociety did not see Grendel or his mother’s character as fascinating;rather they saw his lifeless, hanging arm fascinating. The dichotomy70 afternoons of alterity