How we cite our quotes: (Page) Vintage Books, 1989
Quote #1
Not, of course, that I fool myself with thoughts that I'm more noble. Pointless, ridiculous monster crouched in the shadows, stinking of dead men, murdered children, martyred cows. (I am neither proud nor ashamed, understand. One more dull victim, leering at seasons that were never meant to be observed.) "Ah, sad one, poor old freak!" (6)
Grendel opens his life story with the firm belief that he is and always will be on the outside of everything: he's a freak of nature, an omnivorous murderer, a creature that has no business existing at all.
Quote #2
So it goes with me day by day and age by age, I tell myself. Locked in the deadly progression of moon and stars. I shake my head, muttering darkly on shaded paths, holding conversation with the only friend and comfort this world allows, my shadow. (8)
Gardner emphasizes the dark imagery here to show Grendel's guilty, secretive nature—but also to highlight the misery he finds in that predestined path he has to follow. Grendel doesn't really understand why he's in this lonely, awful position—he just keeps plodding on as the seasons progress.
Quote #3
When her strange eyes burned into me, it did not seem quite sure. I was intensely aware of where I sat, the volume of darkness I displaced, the shiny-smooth span of packed dirt between us, and the shocking separateness from me in my mama's eyes. I would feel, all at once, alone and ugly, almost—as if I'd dirtied myself—obscene. (17)
Alone and not alone: this seems to be one of more difficult aspects of Grendel's cursed existence. He's so close to having someone in his life that he can talk to—and yet so far. He almost gets the kind of love from his mother that a child should—but not quite. Because his mother physically (and probably intellectually) can't talk to him, she can only stare at the child she has brought into suffering and grieve. Yikes.
Quote #4
... And to clear my mind, I sucked in the wind and screamed. The sound went out, violent, to the rims of the world, and after a moment it bounced back up at me—harsh and ungodly against the sigh of the remembered harp—like a thousand tortured rat squeals crying: Lost! (45)
Grendel's just found out that he is the distant relative of the worst person who ever lived (or close to it)... and that humans are apparently awesome, despite what he knows to be true about them. So, yeah, he's not being too dramatic—it's a bad day when you find out you're on the dark side of history.
Quote #5
My heart was light with Hrothgar's goodness, and leaden with grief at my own bloodthirsty ways. I backed away, crablike, further into the darkness—like a crab retreating in pain when you strike two stones at the mouth of his under water den. (48)
The Shaper's version of events persuades even Grendel to think more poorly of himself than ever. He's been cast as the villain of the piece, and he really feels the psychological pain of his separation from the rest of creation.
Quote #6
I discovered that the dragon had put a charm on me: no weapon could cut me. I could walk up to the meadhall whenever I pleased, and they were powerless. My heart became darker because of that. Though I scorned them, sometimes hated them, there had been something between myself and men when we could fight. Now, invulnerable, I was as solitary as one live tree in a vast landscape of coal. (75-76)
It's bad enough that Grendel has to live outside of society because he's the cursed "kin of Cain"—now the dragon has gifted him with another degree of separation from humanity. This new invulnerability makes him even more monstrous and gives him another reason to use his power in wicked ways.
Quote #7
Bitterness went out from him like darkness made visible: Unferth the hero (known far and wide in these Scanian lands), isolated in that huge crowd like a poisonous snake aware of what it was. (97)
Sometimes fame can be a very bad thing. In Unferth's case, his fame is also his curse—he's known as the killer of his own brothers. Now that he's stepped over that line, there's no way he can truly assimilate into society. His attempt to rehab his reputation by doing heroic deeds hits a dead end, because Grendel won't play the game. Misery loves company, and Grendel is doing his best to let Unferth into that little club.
Quote #8
Sometimes she'd slip from the bed while he slept and would cross to the door and go out alone into the night. Alone and never alone. Instantly, guards were all around her, gem-woman priceless among the Scylding treasures. She would stand in the cold wind looking east, one hand clutching her robe to her throat, the silent guards encircling her like trees. (105)
It doesn't matter how gracefully Wealtheow handles her captivity—it is what it is. She is a woman taken away from family, friends, and homeland. She plays her role well, but her sadness and longing still show.
Quote #9
Once, for a long moment, the queen looked at him while listening to her brother, her eyes as thoughtful as Hrothgar's. Then she laughed and talked again, and the king conversed with the man on his left; it was as if their minds had not met. (107)
The sadness of Wealtheow's situation multiplies when you consider how unequal her marriage to Hrothgar really is. Sure, he's king, but he's also a ruthless conqueror—and he's totally old. On the flipside, it's not such a great match for Hrothgar, either. He has to live with the fact that this beautiful woman has been wasted on him. The political advantages might have been great, but the companionship is missing.
Quote #10
In my cave, the tedium is worse, of course. My mother no longer shows any sign of sanity, hurrying back and forth, wall to wall, sometimes on two legs, sometimes on four, dark forehead furrowed like a new-plowed field, her eyes glittering and crazy as a captured eagle's. (145)
The natural companionship he might have with his mother—and any hope that he might have it—slips away as she slides further into animal-like behavior. We can only imagine that Mama Grendel loses her sanity because she is locked inside herself and can't reach out to her son.
Quote #11
The priests walk slowly around the pyre, saying antique prayers, and the crowd, all in black, ignoring the black priests, keens. I watch the burning head burst, bare of visions, dark blood dripping from the corner of the mouth and ear.
End of an epoch, I could tell the king. We're on our own again. Abandoned. (149)
Grendel's got a love-hate relationship with the Shaper. Although he's totally contemplated murdering the poet in horrible ways, it's clear that the old man's death is a loss for Grendel. We can see why: the visions of beauty, the ability to turn the ugly into something good—it all goes up in smoke on the Shaper's pyre. Also, who will help these people define themselves now? Without the Shaper, they're like characters without an author.