Grendel's hatred of men is explained at the very beginning
of the story. In the following passage, we find that he has been exiled from the
happiness that is the Danish Kingdom:
So lived the clansmen in cheer and
revel
a winsome life, till one began
to fashion evils, that field of
hell.
Grendel this monster grim was called,
march-riever mighty, in
moorland living,
in fen and fastness; fief of the giants
the hapless
wight a while had kept
since the Creator his exile
doomed.
Importantly, he is
compared with Cain, who is one of the first people in the Bible to be exiled. Cain had
killed his brother Abel, so there is reason for his exile. We don't know if Grendel had
done something wrong, but this comparison is important. He may have done some evil deed
to get himself exiled. Or, he may have just been hated by other
men.
On kin of
Cain was the killing avenged
by sovran God for slaughtered Abel.
Ill
fared his feud, and far was he driven,
for the slaughter's sake, from sight of
men.
The last part of the
passage illustrates that there will be revenge. Cain was vengeful, and Grendel is
vengeful:
Of
Cain awoke all that woful breed,
Etins and elves and
evil-spirits,
as well as the giants that warred with God
weary
while: but their wage was paid
them!
This is how the story
begins. It sets up nicely to let the audience know why Grendel attacks Herot on a
nightly basis.
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