The novel Grendel is a wonderful example for analyzing how a central character reacts to seemingly irrational situations. This is because the central character, Grendel, has such a peculiar nature. He is not human, yet shows human and animal-like characteristics and needs. This is why he can only be placed as a monster, if it were not for those few and far between moments in which he shows his human like nature when he seeks only to be nurtured, to be wanted by other men. In the novel, we see how Grendel is thrust into a seemingly irrational situation, at least irrational for him to be in, given who and what he is.

One night, while stalking Hrothgar's hall, he stumbles upon the Shaper's music coming from inside the hall and is mesmerized by its spell. Even though he cannot join the men inside, enjoying the Shaper's music and even if he is, in fact, being condemned by it, he continues to go to the hall every night to hear the Shaper's music. This is an absurd situation for Grendel, seeing as he has been enchanted by the very people he hates and kills. It makes little or no rational sense for Grendel to be mesmerized by the Shaper as Hrothgar's men are, but he is because, even though he is being condemned by the words in the melody, it calls out to his humanity.

Grendel, even when thrust into this illogical situation, seems to be able to do nothing except sit mesmerized by the Shaper's words as the night passes by. It is not until the Shaper ends his song and all of Hrothgar's men sleep that Grendel is again able to be like his old self as he kills and devours them. Because Grendel is thought of as a monster, and he does fit most of those qualifications, it is odd for us to see him react as a human.

It is as though he is two-faced, one compassionate, more humane, the other instinctive, primal, a killer. Furthermore, as he stops to listen to the Shaper, it is as his primal side, the killer within him, that freezes or dies down. Basically, it is as though he switches those two sides around, and now becomes that human, a part of him that generally only exists in his subconscious surfaces. It is unfortunate, but the instinctive animal within always resurfaces, and the killer always returns.

It is this that the irrational situation, along with a few other choice predicaments, tries to show us. That underneath the killer lies something, perhaps someone, wanting to be accepted. I believe that is the ultimate purpose of this situation, it's contribution to the meaning of the novel, to show us a part of Grendel we would never expect nor understand if we were to not analyze these moments in which he displays compassion and needs other than that to kill.