A hero is an individual who alters a society in a progressive way and becomes irrelevant when the society is changed due to a lack of purpose due to the new culture’s different needs for advancement; Grendel, in Grendel, written by John Gardner, is an excellent example of this ideology by showing the replacements of role models in society.
When the hero is unaware of their status, they make rash decisions affecting the society they are shaping. This time period, in a sense, is the beginning of Joseph Campbell’s quest cycle, before the inciting incident. While the humans scrutinize Grendel, he identifies their abilities and the depth of their thinking. He studies them as well, discovering that, “Suddenly I knew I was dealing with no dull mechanical …show more content…
This sparks an interest in their society and how they function in groups while he has always survived with only one other. When Grendel first met the humans, Hrothgar was their leader, and a successful one. In this time period, as Grendel has described it, it was a large step to take land, settle with neighbors, and build a castle. He was able to unite wanderers, create rules and establish trade and dominance over neighboring groups. And once he establishes his reign, he continues to wage war and rule. He even set up a system, relying on a group of warriors for support: “Hrothgar met with his council for many nights and days, and they drank and talked and prayed to their curious carved-out creatures”(39). Hrothgar’s problem is he is too decent. King Hrothgar is over-civilized. Civilization involves repression of uncontrolled, primitive forces, and in the time it takes for him to create his rule the culture of the land adapted to allow him to do so. But his society is loose and unstable, as all cultures become at a point. As he grows old, he does not produce a heir and the group becomes unsettled due to lack of progression. This society is fragile, and Grendel immediately shows the flaws in the system: if he attacks the king, the castle crumbles. But when Grendel begins his raids, the