How we cite our quotes: (Page) Vintage Books, 1989
Quote #1
I understood that the world was nothing; a mechanical chaos of casual, brute enmity on which we stupidly impose our hopes and fears. I understood that, finally and absolutely, I alone exist. All the rest, I saw, is merely what pushes me, or what I push against, blindly—as blindly as all that is not myself pushes back. I create the whole universe blink by blink... (22)
Grendel's first childhood accident scars him for life in a lot of different ways. It's his first glimpse at the indifference of the universe and the only way to make the experience less psychologically painful is to do something pretty human—make up a philosophy that covers it. In this case, it means a pretty strong sense of self-determination: other things only exist if and when he perceives them. That rock over there? It's only a rock if Grendel stubs his toe against it. If you think about it, it's a pretty great defense mechanism.
Quote #2
"My knowledge of the future does not cause the future. It merely sees it, exactly as creatures at your low level recall things past. And even if, say, I interfere—burn up somebody's meadhall, for instance, whether because I just feel like it or because some supplicant asked me to—even then I do not change the future, I merely do what I saw from the beginning... Let's say it's settled then. So much for free will and intercession!" (63)
The dragon addresses the age-old problem of having God-like powers of future vision: if he can see future events does it mean they are fixed and can't be changed? Does his vision imply that he's fixed the future because he's following a pre-determined script? His tongue-in-cheek tone reinforces the dragon's sense that none of it really matters. If life is governed by each person (or monster) making its own choices or by some big master plan, it all comes down to one thing: death. Nice.
Quote #3
"In a billion billion billion years, everything will have come and gone several times, in various forms. Even I will be gone. A certain man will absurdly kill me. A terrible pity—loss of a remarkable form of life. Conservationists will howl." He chuckled. "Meaningless, however. These jugs and pebbles, everything, these too will go. Poof! Boobies, hemorrhoids, boils, slaver..." (70)
For a fiery creature, the dragon is one cool dude. For instance, he's able to talk about the extinction of Everything on Earth—including himself—with absolute detachment. It's a terrible blow for Grendel, who is still struggling to believe that he means something and can change his pre-assigned role in life as the bad guy. Bah, says the dragon. There's no point in worrying about it. We're all just a blip in the cosmic scheme of things.
Quote #4
They all knew what was coming, though nobody believed it. Who can look into the wet-mouthed smiles of children and see a meadhall burning, or listen past their musical prattle to the midnight roar of fire? (120-121)
There's the dragon-type ability to look into the future, and then there's a more everyday kind—you know, when you just happen to be good at reading between the lines. This is the perfect example of that second type of prophecy. Everyone but Hrothgar and Wealtheow can watch the orphan Hrothulf in the meadhall and know what's going to happen to the little boys who should inherit the throne. It may be common sense, but it's also another in a series of predestined moments.
Quote #5
I would be wiser to be curled up, asleep like a bear, in my cave. My heart moves slowly, like freezing water, and I cannot clearly recall the smell of blood. And yet I am restless. I would fall, if I could, through time and space to the dragon. I cannot. (137)
In that dead time before Beowulf arrives at Hart, Grendel feels a change come over him and realizes that there's a lot about himself and the world that he can't control. His body is fighting against the natural rhythms of the season—anything to push against the unthinking and purposeless impulses of nature. But Grendel finds that he can't have it all his own way. He can't make it back to that dark Jedi master who might reaffirm the path of monsterdom he's "chosen" to take.
Quote #6
Afraid or not, I would go to the meadhall, I knew. I toyed, of course, with the ridiculous theory that I'd stay where I was safe, like a sensible beast. "Am I not free?—as free as a bird?" I whispered, leering, maniacal. I have seen—I embody—the vision of the dragon: absolute, final waste. (158)
This is the final fall for Grendel as he makes his way to the meadhall to take on Beowulf. There seems to be a choice for him now, but is there really? He knows the options might be out there, but it's clear that he's compelled to have this meeting. Is it fate? Fate implies purpose, Grendel knows, and that's just not the way of the dragon. Take Beowulf or leave him, Grendel's existence seems to mean nothing.
Quote #7
"Fate will often spare a man if his courage holds." (162)
Yes, Beowulf is dead serious when he utters this sentence in Hrothgar's meadhall. He's just finished dissing Unferth and defending his swimming record. Beowulf has no problem believing that he's Odin's gift to Hrothgar, so it's much easier for him to believe in things like fate and purpose without any hint of irony. But remember that a belief in fate is one less vote for free will, so in essence, Beowulf is kind of fatalistic. So what's the thing that separates him from Grendel (other than all the hair)? Beowulf believes he's on the right side—and that people want him around.
Quote #8
The old king chatted of his plans for Freawaru, how he would marry her off to his enemy, the king of the Heathobards. The stranger smiled on, but closed his eyes. He knew a doomed house when he saw it, I had a feeling; but for one reason or another he kept his peace. (165)
This is kind of like that moment with Hrothulf and Hrothgar's boys: you don't need to be a Delphic oracle to figure out what's going to happen. Beowulf has heard this story before and knows just how well marrying off your daughter to an enemy king works out. It's the same old path being tread again, without variation. In this case, Hrothgar thinks he's making a conscious decision to avoid destruction. However, he's really upping the odds that things will work out as they always do—badly.
Quote #9
"If you win, it's by mindless chance. Make no mistake. First you tricked me, and then I slipped." (171)
At last, Grendel's belief in the absolute pointless chaos of the universe is working out for him. Or maybe it's not. He can't believe that any human could have the ability to overcome his brute strength, and let's face it—he's a bit of a sore loser. We're not sure what Grendel was expecting when he met with his enemy, but he's still not willing to believe in the Shaper's version of glorious heroism. It's not possible that Beowulf is really destined to overcome him because that would mean there was a purpose to his misery.
Quote #10
I will fall. I seem to desire the fall, and though I fight it with all my will I know in advance that I can't win. Standing baffled, quaking with fear, three feet from the edge of a nightmare cliff, I find myself, incredibly, moving toward it. I look down, down, into bottomless blackness, feeling the dark power moving in me like an ocean current, some monster inside me, deep sea wonder, dread night monarch astir in his cave, moving me slowly to my voluntary tumble into death. (173)
The dragon isn't there to tell Grendel "I told you so," but he's probably around somewhere, thinking it. Despite his fine philosophies about life, the universe and everything, Grendel finds himself at the point of death. He's in disbelief that such a thing could happen to him, yes. But we can see that this involuntary journey—kind of like his last one to the meadhall—becomes something he yearns for and chooses. In the end, we're left with a conundrum: can a person (or a monster) choose something that is inevitable?