Ashley Donahoo
Fitchburg State University
In examining deeper into the characteristics of villains, scholars and readers are able to analyze motivations and intentions of villains because of each character’s specific personal experience. The villain of the story tends to react appropriately to his or her past and current environment and is sometimes even damned by fate beyond control. Here, I analyze the motivations and morals of villains from Lord of the Rings and Beowulf. Specifically, I look closer at Grendel and Gollum in order to uncover their true motivations and reasonings for their presence in each story. In comparing these two specific characters it is clear that both Grendel and Gollum derived from human-like creatures, making them relatable to both the protagonists of their respective texts and the readers. In doing this, we can see that both of the characters are doomed by fate they cannot control, yet continue to survive and attempt to live out their damned lives.
It is not until Grendel feels as if his territory is threatened (due to the noise and music that echoes from Heorot) that he puts up a fight against the happy and cheerful hall and is understood to be a bloodthirsty villain. However, if readers consider the history of Grendel and his uncontrolled fate, it may reveal new interpretations as to how the villain can be perceived. Comparing this to Gollum, the one Ring controls Gollum’s destiny, even when his inner Sméagol tries to reason with himself. Throughout Gollum’s adventure with Frodo and Sam, he has many moral arguments with himself over what he wants and what is meant for him. Though he struggles with emotion and misses his life as a Stoor Hobbit, he internally understands the destiny that has already been set for him. In analyzing Grendel’s and Gollum’s motivations, it is significant for readers to reflect on each character’s role in their stories with sympathy in order to truly understand their desires. This argument is significant because it changes the dynamic of the story for the readers, allowing a closer observation of each character’s motivations and histories. Instead of the traditional mindset of hero vs. villain, readers can consider each character’s role within the setting allowing sympathy for their motivations.
Beowulf is an Old English epic poem that tells the story of a Geat warrior who travels to the aid of Hrothgar, king of the Danes. A monster known as Grendel has targeted Hrothgar’s mead hall, Heorot, and Beowulf is the soldier the king relies upon to save them. Grendel is introduced in Beowulf as a “grim spirit called Grendel, / mighty stalker of the marshes, who held / the moors and fens; this miserable man / lived for a time in the land of giants, / after the Creator had condemned him / among Cain’s race- when he killed Abel / the eternal Lord avenged that death. / No joy in that feud- the Maker forced him / far from mankind for his foul crime” (ll. 102-110). Scholars most commonly debate the ch