GRENDEL: ELLOR-GAST ‘ESSERE DELL’ALTROVE’

This essay examines the figure of Grendel in the Beowulf epic through the names given to him in the poem. The monster’s physical appearance is not described and we learn little more about him than his name and the terms applied to him in the poem. These however allow us a glimpse of the complex nature of Grendel, who far from being a mere ‘monstrous being’ shows different aspects. He is human (wer, guma ‘man’) but he is also a supernatural being, a ‘demon’ or ‘spirit’ (gāst), an ‘alien being’ (æl-wiht, ellor-gāst). He displays connections with the devil: among his titles are ‘fiend from hell’ (fēond on helle), ‘God’s adversary’ (Godes andsaca), ‘enemy of mankind’ (man-cynnes fēond), terms also used to describe the devil, in one case even deofol. In other cases, however, he is denoted by simpler terms referring to his terrifying appearance which strikes fear on those seeing him (such as æglæca ‘the awesome one’, one of the most frequent titles in Beowulf), or to the ‘damage’, the ‘injury’ brought about by his destructive activity (scaða). One intriguing aspect is the possible reference to the mythic Germanic past by the use of terms such as mæra ‘? incubus, night monster’ and perhaps þyrs, eoten ‘giant’ which allow different interpretations. Grendel therefore displays himself as a threshold figure moving about the boundaries between humanity, myth and the supernatural world. In the appendix a list of all titles used in Beowulf to denote Grendel in frequency order is provided.