Student Essay on Exile in Beowulf and Grendel

This essay compares the similarities between the exiles of Grendel and Beowulf with perspectives from the books "Grendel" and "Beowulf."

Throughout the stories of Beowulf, an Anglo Saxon epic, and Grendel, a more recent novel written by John Gardner, a common theme is constant; the theme of exile. In both stories, the main character lives through a period of solitarily existence. Beowulf follows the life of a warrior-king who performs great deeds of power including destroying a creature called Grendel. He has gone into exile from his own country to fight this creature and emerges victorious. In the story of Grendel, the perspective is shifted to the banished being and follows it's life. This creature also lives out it's life in exile, but the difference between the two character's is that Beowulf, the great warrior of the Geats, has put himself into exile, while Grendel the monster was banished from society because of his corrupt lineage,.....