Cain and Grendel

In "Beowulf", Grendel is a dreadful monster that terrorizes and kills Hrothgar's subjects. Grendel is the absolute antagonist and the representation of evil in Beowulf. I find it interesting that Grendel is actually the clan of Cain who killed his brother Abel out of jealousy in Genesis: “the wretched creature ruled for a time since him the Creator had condemned with the kin of Cain” (Line 107). With further observations, I can identify some similarities between Cain and Grendel.

The greatest similarity lies in the fact that both Cain and Grendel commits a sin due to jealousy. In Genesis, Cain kills his brother because God rejects his tithe while regards Abel’s. His punishment is to eternally be “a vagabond and a fugitive on the earth” (Genesis, 4:14). Grendel who “impatiently endured dreary time and dwelt in darkness” (Beowulf, line 87), however, is woken up from the darkness by the Dane’s noise, or joyful sounds from Hrothgar’s royal hall. Therefore, both Cain and Grendel are outcasts from the society who wander purposelessly from the peace and joy. Also, it is mentioned that Grendel would drink Danes’ blood after killing them. Coincidently, God condemns Cainby by saying that the earth “hath opened her mouth and received the blood of thy brother at thy hand” (Genesis, 4:11). The way Grendel cruelly slays the Danes is in parallel to the symbolic representation of Cain’s crime.