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John Gardner’s Grendel is seemingly a story based on the poem Beowulf. It is easy to see that the book is meant to depict the story of Beowulf from the point of view of the hated and feared monster. While this is true, we also learn a lot about human nature from the isolated character Grendel. The character of Grendel is angry at the world and kills humans savagely to express this anger. These killings actually have little effect on the human’s way of life. This proves the character of Grendel is really a representation of existentialism. Existentialism was born from common religion. The first existentialists came to their beliefs because of an event that made them re-evaluate themselves and their ideals. As existentialism became more popular and a more recognized belief and way of life, it was done so with a feeling that religion had failed the people. In the beginning of the story line, Grendel listens to the Shaper sing his tales and spin his web of events. The Shaper is representative of religion. Just as many religions do, the Shaper molds events and interprets them in ways to make the p