Who is the monster – Beowulf or Grendel? My first impression of Beowulf was that of an enigmatic, somewhat esoteric work, a necessary evil on the path to reading the most important works. After further reading of the much-celebrated epic, I had a revelation. And what a revelation: Beowulf is wonderful! Perhaps it was the translation, or perhaps the substance of the work itself, but I found myself devouring the poem. I discovered two specific areas of appeal: 1) the fundamental appeal of the archetypal superhero and 2) the more contemporary tendency in modern culture to attempt to recapture the experience of that particular era through fiction and popular cinema. The ideal of the hero is a concept so completely integrated into the human psyche that it is virtually built into it. From Homer's Odysseus to Nietzsche's Ubermensch, we, as a race of beings, are obsessed with the individual who makes things happen, who gets things done, preferably with a healthy dose of bravado . Perhaps this is due to an innate feeling of vulnerability in each of us, that unsettling little voice that whispers to us that, despite our best efforts, we have neglected a crucial factor that will lead to our ultimate demise. The hero has no such insecurities: he is invincible! It is interesting to note that not only has the figure of the hero continued to flourish in the collective human consciousness, but that, in our own Western culture, the prototype of Beowulf has come full circle: there is an entire genre of fantasy novels centered on a unique theme. form or another of the Anglo-Saxon warrior tradition, as well as a veritable plethora of films. Fleet after fleet of ring-prowed ships continually sail the seas of our imagination, amid paper and characters, making them more whole, more three-dimensional. Looking at the two works side by side, a question arises: who is the real monster? Beowulf fans will no doubt argue that their hero is unquestionably a good guy and that Grendel was a vicious bastard who got what he deserved. But Gardner's point of view offers an interesting twist: Beowulf was crazy! An unhinged, obsessive weirdo babbling bizarre gibberish into Grendel's ear as he ripped the unfortunate creature's arm from his chest. This latter interpretation is not as far-fetched as one might think; Police departments in every major city in this country have a number of these so-called "heroes," men so mired in violence that their perception of it is distorted, that they end up becoming exactly what they set out to become. fought so hard..