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- Title
Essential Incongruities in Grendel's Final Attack.
- Authors
Cronan, Dennis
- Abstract
Readers have long recognized that the sleep of Beowulf's men as they await Grendel's arrival in Heorot is a peculiar incongruity in this scene. Early scholars attributed this oddity to an undigested element of the underlying folktale; literary critics focused on the structure and aesthetics of the scene have simply accepted this sleep, while some recent oral-formulaic studies have attributed it to the imperatives of an oral-derived theme. Yet no one has realized that two aspects of Grendel's approach are equally incongruous: his intention to ensnare someone in this hall which has been empty for twelve years, and his purposeless rage as he pushes open the door. When we compare this scene to the brief account of Grendel's first attack, it becomes apparent that the poet has withheld many of the details which belong to this initial attack, delaying their occurrence until his final approach to the hall, when they are dramatically much more effective. This postponement, with its disregard for narrative logic, provides suspense and uncertainty for a combat scene which would otherwise be entirely predictable, and it reveals the inner horror and vacuity of Grendel's existence.
- Subjects
BEOWULF; GRENDEL (Monster); INCONGRUITY in literature; OLD English poetry; OLD English epic poetry; ENGLISH epic literature; LITERARY criticism; POETRY (Literary form)
- Publication
Review of English Studies, 2017, Vol 68, Issue 286, p633
- ISSN
0034-6551
- Publication type
Poetry Review
- DOI
10.1093/res/hgx002