Beowulf's Grendel in Comparison to "The Grinch"
In the epic tale Beowulf, the Danes in Hrothgar's kingdom have a fierce enemy, a "powerful demon" by the name of Grendel (Beowulf 34). This evil character is all too similar to the enemy of the Whos in Whoville in Dr. Suess's How the Grinch Stole Christmas, the Grinch. With evident similarities, the Grinch is a children's version of the classic villain Grendel. Dr. Suess's story also shows the differences between the Grinch and Grendel that affect the characters' outcome as positive or negative.
The first and most apparent similarity between Grendel and the Grinch are their names. They both begin with the sound "grin." The Online Etymology Dictionary states that the Old English word grennian means to "show the teeth in pain or anger." In Old Norse, the word grenja means "to howl" (Harper). Since Grendel and the Grinch are both monsters, and miserable at that, it would be expected that their names would show stereotypical monstrous traits such as bearing teeth or howling.
Grendel is one of Cain's clan. "He had dwelt for a time / in misery among the banished monsters" (Beowulf 35). These were monsters "condemned as outcasts" (Beowulf 35). In How the Grinch Stole Christmas, the very illustrations of the Grinch show him as a monster. He is different from all the Whos. He lives in a cave alone, apart from Whoville.
Feasting, song, and most especially the noise emanating from the halls of Heorot drives Grendel to the brink of insanity. "It harrowed him / to hear the din of the loud banquet / every day in the hall, the harp being struck / and the clear song of a skilled poet / telling with mastery of a man's beginnings, / how the Almighty had made the earth . . ." (Beowulf 34). The reader is left to interpret the reason for Grendel's disgust. One suggestion is that the song "enrages Grendel because it reminds him of the ordering power which shut him out" (Helterman 6). The Grinch complains of the same exact things in his own situation. He first complains of noise the Whos make during Christmas. Then he complains of feasting and singing. Suess's book also leaves the reason for the Grinch's distaste for Christmas celebration up to the reader. It offers suggestions of the reasons, but states, "No one quite knows the reason." Whatever reason both monsters had for their misery, both acted out in response to the celebrations.
"Then he got an idea! An awful idea! The Grinch got a wonderful, awful idea!" (Suess).Both the Grendel and the Grinch have very similar ideas of how to deal with their situations. The Grinch turns to theft as the solution to his problem. He steals everything that the Whos associate with Christmas. This is not unlike the way that Grendel deals with his problem. He strikes out in violence and murder. Since the Grinch is the less horrible version of a villain his offense seems a lesser wrong than murder, yet both creatures use crime as a response to their feelings. Grendel attacks his victims while they are "asleep from their feasting" using the cover of the night for his crimes (Beowulf 35). Like Grendel, the Grinch also completes his task during the night while the "Whos lay a-snooze" (Seuss).
The key difference in Grendel and the Grinch lies within their ability to understand others. Grendel's flaw is that he "would never / parley or make peace with any Dane / nor stop his death-dealing nor pay the death-price" (Beowulf 36). The only reason that Grendel will stop his rampage is that he is destroyed. On the other hand, the Grinch is open to reason with the Whos. He changes his ways, returns the stolen goods, and is able to join society. Grendel's fate is much more tragic. He is destroyed because instead of reasoning with society, he goes against it. He is never able to be a part of any celebration.
Grendel and the Grinch are similar in many ways. Yet, Dr. Seuss's version of the evil demon from Beowulf is able to overcome his misery, while Grendel only ultimately destroys himself.
Works Cited
Beowulf. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Ed. Abrams, M.H. New York:
W.W. Norton and Company, Inc., 2000. 29-99.
Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary. November 2001. Accessed 2 Nov 2003.
< http://www.etymonline.com/>.
Helterman, Jeffrey. "Beowulf: The Archetype Enters History." ELH. Vol. 35. Mar. 1968.
Seuss, Dr. How the Grinch Stole Christmas. New York: Random House, 1957. .