singh beowulf aliens (1)

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Richard Singh

Mr. Gregory

British Literature

October 10, 2010

The Motivation and Impetus of the ³Evil´ Monsters in Beowulf and James Cameron¶s Aliens

Throughout the history of literature and film, there have been many memorable monsters:

Dracula, Frankenstein, even Jaws. They killed or terrified people without ever having a thorough

reason to do so. We say they carry out these actions because we freely believe that they are

³evil´. What does evil actually mean? In modern culture we use it for anyone who makes our

lives vaguely difficult whereas its actual meaning is far stronger. The various monsters in The

Beowulf Poets epic Beowulf and James Cameron¶s Science Fiction film Aliens definitely commit

acts of atrocity. Their motives are both very human like in quality. For example, in Beowulf LL

121-125, Grendel alone kills 30 men in a one night raid on the Mead Hall. The Queen Alien in

Aliens rips Bishop into two parts in scene 193. However, these acts are not simply motivated by

only evil. Grendel kills because he is extraordinarily envious of the fact he is excluded from the

Mead Hall, he is ³malignant by nature,´ and that he has ³never shown remorse,´ both line 137.

The Queen Alien kills due to a maternal instinct; she appeared to ³go berserk´ in scene 176 when

Ripley begins to fire her flame thrower at the Queens eggs. The catalyst for the actions of ³evil´

committed by the monsters in Beowulf and Aliens come from very human like emotions and

feelings.

Comment [k1]: Should this be reversed ? M

toward the morst intensive?

Comment [k2]: In the US the comma is inter

to quotation marks. In the UK, exterior. FYI.

Comment [k3]: Imprecise use of vaguely

Comment [k4]: Refrain from adverbs, unless

feel that are needed to sharpen meaning.

Comment [k5]: Human-like

Comment [k6]: Do not begin a sentence with

however; instead, please unite two sentences w

semi-colon and however, followed by a comma.



2

The Monsters in Beowulf are very reactionary motivated in other words something

happened to them that made them carry out their actions. There are Three monsters in Beowulf,

Grendel, his mother and the Dragon are Each of them is motivated or driven to commit their acts

of violence, but they do not do it out of their own free will. Grendel, the first monster to be

alleviated by Beowulf, is provoked to raid the Mead Hall after he is excluded from its events. In

more simple terms, he was jealous: a very human emotion. For ³twelve winters, seasons of woe,´

(LL 146) he struck fear into the hearts of the Danes that is until Beowulf defeats him. Grendel is

spurred on by a survival instinct as well because he needs the flesh of the men he kills for food.

He had nothing to protect so he is not motivated by that. After Grendel is defeated by Beowulf,

there is a new problem: His Mother. She is described as a ³monstrous hell-bride´ Line 1259. Her

incentive to raid the Mead Hall is also human but less complex: it was a maternal instinct, she is

looking to avenge her wounded son and like Grendel, she is fuelled by vengeance and survival.

The final monster in Beowulf is the Dragon. Its incentive is very simple, to guard the treasure

from anything, in this case the Geats, by any means necessary. The Dragons provocation was far

more simple and far less human than that of Grendel and his mother, it simply said (if it could)

that what is mine is mine. During the poem, the Beowulf poet comments on evil on LL 976-978

where they say, ³Like a man outlawed/for wickedness, he must await/the mighty judgment of

God in majesty,´ Here they imply that no matter how powerful and evil you may be on earth,

you will never have the strength of God who will ultimately judge you. On LL

On the other hand, Aliens feature two different ³types´ of monster. There are the

warriors, who are the regular aliens and then only the one Queen Alien. The warriors choose to

attack the unit of humans because it is a matter of them trying to get rid of anyone who is in their

way. They have no special prejudice towards one group; they merely attempt to exercise their

Comment [k7]: This is a run-on sentence.

Puncutate to correct this error.

Comment [k8]: dragon is not capped.

Comment [k9]: Should be

(l. 146)

Comment [k10]: Strange habit you have of

capping

Comment [k11]: Insert comma

Comment [k12]: It is vengeance.

If you mention survival, then you would have to

more specific in your commentary for me to

understand precisely what you mean.

I would question how you might use this term if

is not defending herself from attack.

Comment [k13]: Too casual and offhand

Comment [k14]: Nicely chosen citation.

Comment [k15]: At this point in the paper, I

would like you compose a more considered

transition phrase. See if you can offer a strong

conceptual point of comparison between the

Beowulf and Aliens.

Comment [k16]: Not a topic sentence too

oblique.

Comment [k17]: Inelegant. Combine with

another sentence. And of course these two Alie

have distinctive motives, which play into your

thesis. Such ideas should be stated in your topi

sentence



3

dominance over the given area. They were trying to protect their own area. Their determination

to do so is on full display in scene 150 where they crawl through the ceiling and air vents to try

and get rid of the humans. On the other hand, the Queen Alien is driven, like Grendel¶s mother,

by a maternal instinct. She wants to murder Ripley after she torches the eggs in scene 176 in her

lair therefore killing her ³children´ in the same way Grendel¶s mother wants revenge after her

son is wounded by Beowulf. At the end of the film, when Ripley defeats the Queen by squashing

it under the weight of her mechanical suit, you almost feel sorry for the Queen when she makes

several feeble winces in scene 197 as opposed to her ear-shattering shrieks. Cameron illustrates

that evil is only one side of the story, to a human or Ripley she appears to be a bloodthirsty

creature from another planet but to perhaps another species she may just be a mother looking to

avenge her brutally murdered children.

In conclusion, Beowulf and Aliens are both tales which tell of a maternal figure seeking

requital for their children¶s deaths. They also show how human emotions can be displayed by

non-humans and in such a way that we as a species can understand them. They are also similar in

that all parties involved immediately resort to violence rather than trying to go some other route,

but that is just the suspension of disbelief that comes with reading Beowulf or watching Aliens.

They are different in that the motivation for the aliens is more based around the protection of

their own area whereas Grendel looks to assert his presence on the Mead Hall. In conclusion, the

question must be asked, is there such thing as pure evil or malice? All the monsters described in

these two works were driven to do whatever they did. Or is it something we fabricate or even

perhaps we create our own evil? Comment [k18]: Not certain what you mean

Do we fabricated human motives so that we sof

ideas of evil and malice?



4

Richard:

The core argument here is strong, certainly as strong as your commentary in class.

I lik e your use of citations and your general thought is sound and analytic. The f laws of the

paper are stylistic and mechanical. Mechanically, you need master page citations.

Stylistically, your sentence structure is too simple and too casual. So you should really

spend time af ter you draf t your paper to rewrite it. The work will pay off , trust me.

Grade:

Content: B+

Mechanics: B

singh beowulf aliens (1)

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