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Grendel Must Die: Redefining the Monstrous in Beowulf
Jude, Patenaude
Jude, Patenaude
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Abstract
What makes Grendel a monster in the world of Beowulf? Is it his superhuman strength? His violation of sacred laws? This paper interrogates how Grendel’s monstrous qualities are matched and mirrored by men. While Grendel is despised for taking thirty thanes at a time, Beowulf is praised for having thirty men’s strength; where Grendel is represented as a descendent of the kin-slayer Cain, so too is Unferth charged with the same crime—yet Unferth is never accused of being a monster and is even permitted to sit at the feet of lord Hrothgar. Beowulf’s actions could be brought into moral question just the same as Grendel’s. In her essay “Grendel and His Mother,” Toni Morrison argues that the melting of the sword Beowulf uses to kill Grendel’s mother could represent the idea that “violence against violence…is itself so foul that the sword of vengeance collapses in exhaustion and shame.” So if Grendel’s monstrous identity is not so easily defined, then why is it treated as absolute? In my stage adaptation of Beowulf titled “Grendel Must Die,” I am aiming to highlight this logical disparity by imagining Beowulf and Grendel in a homoerotic relationship. Giving Beowulf and Grendel equal character status calls into question both the overlooked humanity of Grendel and the overlooked monstrosity of Beowulf. Defining something or someone as monstrous is often just an attempt to separate ourselves from characteristics that are deemed unseemly in a given society—but these same characteristics are, in fact, what make us human.
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These are the slides from a presentation given at the MAM/MAMA/IMA Medieval Conference held in Chicago, IL on 10/17/2025.
Date
2025-10-17
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University of Kansas
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PatenaudeJ_2025.pdf
Adobe PDF, 11.07 MB
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Keywords
Beowulf, Grendel, Queer, Monster, Romance