On Grendel, the monster...

The term monster is subject to interpretation.

History is written by the victors, so Grendel's arch-enemy Beowolf is the protagonist, and Grendel is the antagonist. The name Beowulf means bee-hunter or bee-slayer and is a kenning for bear.

Some people think that the Grendel character from Beowulf was taken from the Biblical Cain tradition. Cain killed his brother Abel and became an outcast for the murder.

Others think that Grendel's character might be derived from the Berserkers: "berserks are often described as being fantastically ugly." The reason for that is much more than physical appearance.

According to the Cain tradition, Cain's mother saw him drink the blood of his brother Abel in a dream, and Berserkers were said to have drunk the blood of bears and wolves to gain their superhuman strength and battle fury.

A Grindle Stone is a grind stone by definition. It sounds a lot like Grendel, and if you remember "Be he alive or be he dead, I'll grind his bones to make my bread" as a quote from the Giant in the children's story Jack and the Beanstock, you might think there was a connection.

The Biblical character Sampson was a man of superhuman strength who was captured by his enemies, blinded, and put to work at the grinding house of a mill. It seems possible that, because of his strength, he was tied in some way to the mechanism turning the grindstone, so that he took the place of a beast such as an ox or a team of oxen. His captors made fun of him, and in the end, his rage and misery caused him to pull the supporting pillars of the temple down, killing himself and his tormentors.

Fum and odur, Fume and rage: Odin's name meant rage, and fum from the Giant's rhyme probably meant fume, as in the sentence "He was fuming with rage", describing the Berserker and the Giant.

Whatever the case, Grendel was not like those that taunted him. He was probably mistreated all his life. Is it any surprise that he lashed out and ripped people limb from limb, biting and clawing like an animal?

Beowulf and his band of men crept up on Grendel on his deathbed and cut off his head. So much for monsters.