Honestly I feel as if I love Grendel but hate him just as much at the same time. He began innocent and sweet which made me feel so attached to him, but because of the actions of a few human beings that found him with his leg stuck in a tree and did not trust him, he does not trust the human race. Yes, I feel bad for him, but he is letting one experience define what happens in his life. I can see why the men did not trust him in the first place since they stumbled upon a man-beast that was laying on the ground and moaning with cuts and gashes all over his body from the attack of the bull... Call me crazy, but I would not trust Grendel either. However, Grendel takes instant offense; he ends up hating the human race because of poor judgement from these characters. However, at the same time I empathize with Grendel since he was plunged into a dark world where he felt as if he knew nothing. When he was younger, he clung to his mother and knew barely anything more than the cave he lives in. I guess he believed that he would be accepted with open arms into a society of people who are smaller, less hairy and just completely different from him. I believe this to be because of his immaturity at the time-- he does not know any different from being accepted by his mother, so he expects to be accepted by everyone else. Grendel seems to me to be a misunderstood soul who then turned dark. After his many trials and errors of joining in to the closeness and community-feel of society, he begins to accept the fact that he will never be trusted; his solution? Kill everyone, that will show them. Though this solution is poorly planned, keep in mind that he is a mere monster who has no one but his growling mother to talk to. He must teach himself the things society naturally knows. His plan is poorly executed, however, since society defends against him. He has never seen such a thing before-- how can these people be even more dangerous than him? With every attack that Grendel launches, the men have a counterattack. Though Grendel has not yet murdered everyone, he is still trying. However, later on in the novel I believe that he is learning that killing is not the answer. He decides public humiliation is worse than death, so he taunts Unferth by throwing apples at him and defiles the queen by grabbing her, spreading her legs apart, then leaving her. His new forms of attack are more intelligent since he knows that in the Anglo-Saxon society, it is worse to live as a fool than die as a hero. He will not give these men what they want, he will rip it away from them by destroying their social ranking. I have to be honest, I do admire Grendel for this since he is becoming more clever and cunning than ever before.
