Bro is the first word I see when I started reading this translation and it put into my mind that stereotypical frat boy that often appears in media. This translation is not what I was expecting when Beowulf was on the required texts list. It reads like an accounting of some dude-bros adventures, triumphing against the horrors of the world. I say this because of a few lines, one of which is “There is a dress code! You’re denied.” Even with the context of the person being dressed for war, the image that springs to mind isn’t one of a warrior, but of a class divide. This class divide was established earlier when a boat of riches was sent off as funerary offerings that the poor had to pick at.
But what really struck me is how Grendel is seen as monstrous but it is through no fault of his own, he is “God-cursed”, “Unlucky, fucked by fate.” Grendel was “cursed under the line of Cain, ‘the kin-killer….Though none of that was Grendel’s doing, he descended from bloodstains.'” The way this has been translated all I can think about is how Grendel was fated to be a monster. Nothing he could have done would have changed it. Beowulf needed a foe and Grendel presented the perfect opportunity. The biblical imagery of Cain and Abel, where Cain was frequently passed over for the favored Abel further pushes this idea that no matter Grendel does, it will be seen as monstrous.
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You bring up a really interesting point of fate within Beowulf, and with that, fate in older literature. It’s such a typical trope nowadays it’s interesting to see it in one of its’ more original forms. Bringing fate into Beowulf can bring about a lot of different mindsets such as what we touched on in class; virtues and their more modern connotations. If Grendel’s existence was fate in order to give Beowulf a foe, then what is the moral compass of who or what created this fate?
Your post provided great context and helped me comprehend our class discussion from Tuesday on a deeper level. It seems as though we’re coming to a bit of a consensus that Grendel is in fact a victim we need to feel some type of empathy for, while Beowulf is the perpetrator of violence, and should be thought of as such. It’s a really unique take and I think it has a lot to do with the language of the translation. I like how you paint Grendel as almost helpless to Beowulf’s need for aggression. Great work on this post!
I completely agree that the use of the word “bro” throughout the text, but especially in the beginning, sets the tone for the story. We talked about the frat boy connection in class, and it’s crazy that we can draw those comparisons from a story written so long ago! It makes me wonder about masculinity throughout the ages. Obviously no one today is slaying a mysterious evil vector, but I wonder what the modern equivalent would be…