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Personification
Definition of Setting
Setting is where and when a story or scene takes place. The where can be a real place like the city of New York, or it can be an imagined... read full definition
Setting is where and when a story or scene takes place. The where can be a real place like the city of New York, or... read full definition
Setting is where and when a story or scene takes place. The where can be a real place like the... read full definition
Setting
Explanation and Analysis:
In Grendel, Gardner assumes that the reader is familiar with the setting from the novel's source poem, Beowulf. The novel, like the original poem, takes place in Denmark; the palace of Heorot is believed to have been located in what is now the small town of Lejre on the northern coast of the island of Zealand, about 20 miles west of Copenhagen. However, Grendel himself never refers to the setting of the novel as "Denmark" or any such human place-name; save for the connection to the original poem, Grendel's physical setting is left vague. Historically, the events of Beowulf (and thus Grendel) likely took place sometime in the fifth or sixth centuries C.E. At this time, Scandinavia was still ruled by a collection of small kingdoms, and Christianity was just starting to take hold in northern Europe.
Within this geographical and historical context, there are a few notable locations to consider. The two most important are Grendel's cave, where he grew up with his mother, and the palace of Heorot, where Hrothgar and his men reside. The cave represents Grendel's relationship with his mother. Despite their inability to communicate, Grendel sees their shared origin in the cave as an indelible bond: "We were one thing, like the wall and the rock growing out from it." Heorot, on the other hand, evokes awe, fear, and hatred in Grendel. He cannot resist watching from afar as the Shaper sings or as Wealtheow serves drinks to the men of the castle. Yet Grendel also takes great pleasure in sacking Heorot and eating its men every so often.
The castle, the site of much of the novel's action, is the core of the human society that interests and infuriates Grendel. Between these and the other settings in the novel, Grendel often traipses about the surrounding moors, meadows, and marshes, encountering wild, unkempt nature. On these walks he expresses his disdain for the indifferent natural world and bemoans that his violent urges disrupt the cycles of life and death. Grendel fundamentally does not fit in any of these settings: he feels insurmountably different and unwelcome in the cave, in the castle, and even among nature. The novel's various settings all serve a similar purpose: to show how Grendel does not belong in them.
Related Themes:
