The Journey Of Man Through Philosophy In Grendel

The novel Grendel by John Gardner explores the concepts of Orphism, Nihilism, and Empiricism to express how a human mind develops over the course of a lifetime. Grendel mirrors this process as he discovers these various philosophies that define his life.

The first chapter of Grendel expresses Orphism as Grendel is a child-like figure, manifested by his interactions with the ram and nature. The chapter opens as “the season is upon us” and “the twelfth year of [Grendel’s] idiotic war” begins (Gardner 5). The description of a new season is linked to Grendel’s seemingly new life. Grendel is repeatedly depicted as child-like, placing the following events at the beginning of his life and story. As Grendel begins to interact with the ram he seems to have a breakdown, he appears to be “trapped in a seemingly… horrible now” (Tuso 185).

The endless state Grendel is in is expressed as a cycle, as he interacts with the ram year after year in the same way. “The theory of the world as repetition and endless cycles” is Orphism (Stromme 2). Paired with the stage of life Grendel is in, the idea that at the start of life, the world is a cycle and seems to repeat itself over and over. This evolves into a boring and repetitive life. Grendel conveys his frustration, that his “childhood too feels good… before one happens to notice the terrible sameness” (Gardner 9). For this first portion of his life, Grendel’s life is defined by Orphism, this repetition of his interactions with the ram and nature, much as a small child simply sees the repetition of day to day actions and nothing beyond this.

The interactions between Grendel and the dragon in the fifth chapter represent a human’s exposure to nihilism at a midpoint in their life. Grendel approaches the dragon for advice and quickly learns “the falseness of man’s logic and philosophy” (Ladensack 43). This idea of the lack of logic and belief men think they may have expresses how Nihilism works. There is no meaning, no logic, no beliefs. The dragon helps explain this concept to Grendel, that “it’s all the same in the end” and “if [Grendel] withdraw[s], [he’ll] instantly be replaced” (Gardner 73). Grendel is not important, nothing he does is important. This interaction happens at about the midpoint of Grendel’s life, as he is an adult, and “prevents Grendel from accepting the theological world-view offered by the Shaper” defining a good portion of his life as meaningless in his own eyes (Stromme 3).

This idea presented by the dragon causes Grendel to denounce the beliefs he held before this interaction and view the world as just there, no meaning to it and nothing he can do about it. Grendel’s years as a middle-aged adult is spent defining the world as a place in which what he does will never matter and will never change anything, as “he has finally accepted the Dragon’s… philosophy” (Kenemore 2). This represents this point in man’s life where he believes that his choices and actions do not matter and do not affect the outcome of the world. A mid-life crisis many adults face at one point or another.

Chapter twelve exhibits the concept of empiricism at the end of a lifetime, manifested as Grendel dies at the hands of Beowulf. Once Grendel realizes he is dying, he awakens from his “long pale dream, [his] history” (Gardner 169). He recognizes that none of his life can truly be defined, that is may not exist at all anymore that it is just a dream established by his mind. At this point, the end of Grendel’s life, he discovers that he cannot tangibly define the life he has led up to this point in his life. Death is the only tangible experience he has and this realization comes at the end of his life when he is faced with it. This idea that “all knowledge, all truth, all art grows out of the contact with reality” helps define what Grendel is facing, empiricism (Stromme 6). This idea defines the short rest of Grendel’s life he has left.

At this point, as he fights Beowulf and reflects on all he has faced in his life, Grendel “reasoned himself into a corner of doubt, cynicism, and skepticism” (Kenemore 2). This is the result of the journey Grendel has gone through, and all the philosophies he has encountered. He only can define what he knows to be true through his experiences, and everything he experiences pushes him further towards the idea that maybe the ideals he is taught by others may not be true as he cannot truly define him. Now facing death, just as man, Grendel discovers this philosophy and believes this final philosophy before his death.

The life of man is closely paralleled in the novel Grendel. In each of the chapters, Grendel’s worldview evolves from one philosophy to another. In the beginning, he holds a very simplistic, childlike view of the world, seeing it as a cycle and nothing more. Eventually, this evolves into a more mature view of the world as Grendel encounters Nihilism, a view of the world in which one believes there is no purpose to life and no actions he takes matters.

Finally, at his death, Grendel becomes an empiricist in that he cannot define his life beyond his death, as it is the only tangible thing he has experienced. In the end “Grendel’s philosophical journey is almost circular,” much like the circle of life (Stromme 6).