In Gardner’s Grendel, the character of Grendel undergoes a philosophical journey. Since each chapter represents an astrological sign (twelve chapters for twelve signs) this journey can be traced by using the cycle of astrology as clues. Grendel goes through this philosophical journey from when he was a child all throughout the twelve years the story takes place. Since the novel “begins with the end,” a reader can see how well written and advanced Grendel’s words and narration are when they begin reading the novel.
During the first chapter (the spring of Grendel’s “twelve year”), the zodiac sign, Aries, is made known; this is concluded from the ram standing still on top of a cliff that Grendel mentions. The zodiac sign of Aries represents the start of a new “cycle.” This, to Grendel, represents the repetition of each year and as he, Grendel, watches the ram, he sees how “last year at this time” (6) would be the same as this year and how it is an endless cycle. An example of an endless cycle is the door that Grendel always breaks when he attacks Hrothgar’s village. Every time Grendel breaks the door, the villagers just replace it; when Grendel breaks it once again, they replace it over and over again. This shows that the world was and is full of endless cycles.
Chapter two represents the zodiac sign Taurus. The reader sees this sign from the bull that keeps on attacking Grendel. Since the book was about the end of the twelfth year, chapter two starts off when Grendel is a child. A reader can conclude this from the formation and wording of the narration that Grendel provides. This chapter gives insight of when Grendel had first ventured outside. Unluckily, Grendel’s foot gets stuck in a tree when he was returning home one day and he cannot release it. He calls out for his mom for help, but she doesn’t come. When Grendel accepts that his mother will not come to his aid, he concludes “that the world was nothing: a mechanical chaos of casual, brute enmity on which we stupidly impose our hopes and fears. I understood that I alone exist”(16). Later on, when Grendel’s first encounter with humans is over and his mom had rescued him, Grendel once again repeats that “the world is all pointless accident…I exist, nothing else"(22). From these statements, the reader can conclude that Grendel would be a solipsist.
Later on in the story, Grendel’s solipsism is challenged a shaper arrives in Hrothgar’s village. The Shaper essentially “brings life to the village.” He spins stories from nothing; he makes grubby villages seem like magnificent cities, and overall makes the world seem wonderful. The next chapter of the novel, chapter four, represents the astrological sign of Cancer, “the nourisher.” During this chapter the growth of the belief of religion is “nourishing” the world that the Shaper has created for the villagers. In the Shaper’s stories, he says that “god created all things in the world” and in that world Grendel is perceived as evil. The Shaper goes on and on with this story; it is so compelling that Grendel even wants a part of it—even if it meant that he was the “outcast.”
The next chapter of the story is Leo, the dramatizer. In this chapter, Grendel is informed of his “role” in the world that the Shaper has created. Also in this chapter, Grendel goes to see a dragon. The dragon tells Grendel many things in order to “help him.” Many of the things that the dragon says are nihilistic and also materialistic. The dragon also tells Grendel of his place in the world. The dragon tells him:
You improve them, my boy! Can't you see that yourself? You stimulate them! You make them think and scheme. You drive them to poetry, science, religion, all that makes them what they are for as long as they last. . . . You are mankind, or man's condition. (62)
Dragon is trying to stop Grendel from accepting the world that the shaper had created and get him to accept the complex order of the world—not the “simplified theological world-view” that the Shaper says.
In chapter six, Virgo, Grendel becomes an existentialist with the thought that “existence precedes essences.” This means that “people exist as things long before they create themselves as entities…” Before Grendel had become an existentialist, he really did not have a sense of who he really was; he just accepted what other people had thought him to be. In chapter seven, the character of Wealtheow is introduced. Wealtheow is given to Hrothgar by her brother, Hygmod, as a mark of respect to Hrothgar’s power. Libra, the astrological sign for chapter seven, is represented by Wealtheow because Libra is the “sign of conciliators.” Wealtheow is a great representation of this sign because she brings peace to the village. Coinciding with the astrological signs of Libra and Virgo, chapters six and seven are in the center point of the book. As Libra represents balance, Grendel and Wealtheow balance each other out; Grendel would give up nothing, while Wealtheow “would give…her life for those she loved" (88). Also, Grendel is a skeptic at this point of the story, and Wealtheow is the balance to that.
During the course of the first seven chapters, readers have seen Grendel transform from “a frightening solipsistic” into the Grendel that many know now—“an angry skeptical monster.” In addition to Grendel transforming, Hrothgar’s village has also evolved; it has changed from a small village full of huts into a city-state. By this point of the story, the basic plot has evolved and during the next four chapters, the philosophical ideas that Gardner is interested in is developed. Chapter eight, Scorpio, is mainly an introduction Machiavellian statecraft. The Machiavellian statecraft is when something is claimed as “cruel, manipulative, or overly dictatorial.” This statecraft is brought by Hrothgar’s adopted son, Hrothulf.
An indication that the village has entered the modern age is seen in chapter nine, Sagittarius. This chapter shows the reader of the hypocrisy of some of the priests. Also, Grendel is confused when Ork, one of the old priests, tells the other priests with his encounter with “the great destroyer” (Grendel) and the other priests just laugh at him. He, Grendel, wonders why the other priests are laughing at their own “belief.” In chapter ten, Capricorn, the pessimism of Nietzsche is introduced. This is further explained in chapter eleven, Aquarius, which is based on the nihilism of Sartre. Nietzsche can be seen as a nihilist because he believed that “there was no longer any real substance to traditional social, political, moral, and religious values.” By this point of the story, Grendel can be categorized as a nihilist. This is because he believes that “nothing is nothing.” This philosophy is also seen at the end of chapter 10 when Grendel says “nihil ex nihilo”—nothing is nothing. Chapter 12, Pisces, is mainly about the death of Grendel. In addition, this chapter’s astrological sign, Pisces which is the end of the astrological cycle, is in accordance to the end of Grendel’s cycle of philosophies.
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