Afternoon of Alterity - Nazareth College

(the nails of which are described as “heathen talons,” and “most likesteel”), his inhumanly powerful arm, and his gigantic head (which,once severed, causes even the likes of four “stout-hearted men” tostruggle as they attempt to carry it back to Herot) (Liuzza 66, 94,83, 83, 103). Dana Oswald comments on the effect that Grendel’sotherwise absent physical description has on his characterizationas a monster, writing, “By ‘never drawing’ Grendel in the text, thepoet emphasizes Grendel’s monstrosity, not his humanity… This actof erasure… accentuates his strangeness and the dangers that hisexcessive body presents.” (Oswald 71). However, though Grendel’sphysical monstrosity may be emphasized, it cannot be denied thathe possesses recognizable human qualities as well. For instance,though we are told that Grendel’s hand is entirely invulnerable toattacks by iron tools, Oswald points out that, “nevertheless, we arenot told that its skin is scaly or green or even rough… In many ways,this hand is just a familiar appendage whose appearance signalsGrendel’s status as… a creature whose body is both like but not likethose of its onlookers” (72). Similarly, readers are given a glimpseof Grendel’s semi-human status as the poet specifically notes thatwhen Grendel’s head is severed, it is dragged across the floor by itshair. Oswald remarks on the implications of this stating, “We learnthat Grendel has hair, which tells us he does not have animal fur,as few hunted animals were carried into the hall by their hair. Hairalso signifies a marker between the civilized and the uncivilized…Just as socially he exists on the borderlands, so too does his bodyoccupy the murky boundaries between the human and non-human”(72, 70). It is therefore evident that in terms of physicality, Grendelis neither wholly “other” nor wholly human but a hybridization ofboth. I would argue that this renders him a fascinating characterto both medieval and modern audiences. As readers are shockedand repulsed by Grendel’s monstrosity, they are also attracted to adegree, recognizing a reflection of themselves in him, and perhaps a4 afternoons of alterity