Throughout the novel Grendel, Grendel evolves in his philosophical thinking. In the beginning of his tale, he displays a somewhat confused view of the world. Everything seems to enrage him, especially men due to their high spirits that he cannot seem to break. This is due to the fact that mentally, he is still a child. In chapter two, he starts to develop the philosophy of a solipsist, deciding that he alone exists, as noted in the quote “I understood that, finally and absolutely, I alone exist”. This leads him to believe that he is the only one who matters and thus he can do what he pleases.
However, once he meets the shaper he starts to change. The shaper brings art, culture, and good spirits to the thanes and it enrages Grendel. While Grendel does not fully understand why he is enraged so much, it may be because being exposed to the culture of the shaper makes him start to believe that there is a point to living, while he still wants to believe that life is meaningless.
Grendel’s meeting with the dragon starts to change everything. The dragon has a very destructive philosophy, as he believes that there is no meaning to anything. This is also the philosophy of Alfred Whitehead, a man whom Gardner hated. The dragon convinced Grendel that there was no meaning to anything, excusing him from doing anything helpful to the world, and allowing him to do whatever he wishes. After this, the shaper’s songs do not have as much of an effect on him because he has the philosophy that nothing matters. Now his confusion with the shaper makes him fight against the thanes instead of trying to communicate them.
The next several chapters have to deal with some of the other characters in the novel. Chapter six deals with Unferth, and because he makes a more drastic and prolonged attempt to defeat him than the other thanes did, Grendel establishes that other people exist, but he views them as his enemies. Unferth introduces himself as a hero, and explains his whole philosophy that, in short, life does have meaning. However, he is not able to express this clearly enough, and Grendel dismisses his ideas easily by saying that being a hero is a nuisance, and there is no meaning to it. Chapter nine introduces Hrothulf, Hrothgar’s nephew. Hrothulf feels alone in the world and thus seeks out help from his old mentor Red Horse. He teaches him that, basically, government is evil and the only way to fix it is with violence. Grendel watches this and notes that even though they might think this, they still have to follow the laws and can ultimately not do anything about it, and even though Hrothulf is a prince, and could potentially do something if he wanted to, neither of them realize this possibility.
When Beowulf comes along, Grendel begins to feel some fear, and his mother issues him a warning of what might happen. However, he dismisses it, as his philosophical ideas tell him that nobody else matters or knows anything. He also feels that he will not remember that his mother is concerned from him, and thus because he will not feel bad for it, it does not matter to him. Beowulf comes into the story and shatters his beliefs. At this point, Grendel believes that nothing he does will have consequences to him, nothing can really happen if he doesn’t believe it, and that he is the only one who exists or matters. When Beowulf inflicted the mortal wound on Grendel, he is forced to believe that other people can have an influence, and the things he do have consequences. Before he dies, in keeping his nihilistic attitude, he believes that everything is an accident, even his death.
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