Two Monsters Alike: Beowulf Vs. Grendel

Grendel, the infamous, wretched monster introduced in the legendary epic of Beowulf, was described as a mass-murdering devil-like monster that represents many killers in real life, one of them gives such representation and is known in the real world as the “Nurse Murderer.” Richard Speck, the nurse killer, and his infamous, chilling story is so close to Grendel’s story in Beowulf. The two go hand-in-hand when it comes to malicious, demonic, hellish attitudes. Their murderous techniques bring such terror and chills. Also, their fates become one as their stories end with justice. Appearances can be deceiving. But reading the epic, Grendel’s attitudes are definitely not friendly. Although, not much is known about what Grendel’s appearances, both Richard Speck’s and Grendel’s attitudes are so similar in a way that gives you chills. 

In the story of Beowulf, Grendel was described as he “made his home a hell” and been called from the epic as “spawned in that slime, conceived by a pair of those monsters born of Cain”. Coming from the text, you can tell that Grendel was just born evil, sinister and very devil-like. Richard Speck has unique tattoo imprinted on his on his right arm that has a message saying, “ Born to Raise Hell,” this means he does not intend to be a good person with morals, no, he intends to be a person that wants to make everybody's day their most miserable day ever. Both Grendel and Speck have malicious thoughts that want to raise hell on the area around them. Grendel was “delighted by his nights slaughter,” and felt no remorse towards his victims. He would slaughter the masses and create an avalanche of blood. After his slaughter, would take his victims to his lair where he would leave nothing left of the humans. He kills because of all the celebrations Hrothgar, the king of Herot, throws in his mead hall. The cheers, the loud music, all the excitement and positivity just pain Grendel to the bones. Richard Speck was too like this. He too had no remorse for his victims due to the amount of alcohol he consumed. He didn’t care about his victims and proceed to do whatever he wickedly pleased. Just by telling you their attitudes and how similar they can be, their methods of slaughter are absolutely horrific. 

When the sun set and the moon was shining at night, Grendel “so set on murder that no crime could ever be enough, no savage assault quench his lust for evil”. When Grendel would arrive at Herot, a horrific massacre occurred. He was a complete monster like the boogie-man that would smash men, women and children in their beds and snatched up to 30 people to his lair to feast on his victims. Because he had sharp claws, as described in Beowulf, Grendel would slice his victims and rip them apart with his bare hands. Every since then, Grendel would continuously bring terror to Herot and make the people suffer terribly. Richard Speck’s murders was very much like Grendel’s. He was intoxicated one night, then he abruptly intruded into a house of eight nursing students. He had a knife to slice his victim’s neck and stab them. He tied ropes around the students and strangled them. And just when it couldn’t get worse, Speck raped his last victim. He didn’t just barge into the nursing student’s house to kill but he also intended to make them suffer with his pleasure. 

However, when the antagonist of the epic, there’s also a protagonist that will cleanse the evil and bring the monsters to justice. Finally, Grendel’s fate was to be killed by the hero himself, Beowulf for his murders and Richard Speck was brought to custody by a surprising, hidden witness named Corazon Amurao. The two had their lives ended, literally for Grendel and figuratively for Speck, as one person that was brave enough to stop the two mass murderers. Beowulf is a legendary leader and main character of the epic with immense strength that was the only one to kill Grendel. Corazon Amurao is a Filipino nurse student that was forgotten by Speck’s victims and hid under the bed until the next morning after the massacre. When rumors of a devilish monster spread across the land, Beowulf heard the rumors and was quick to arrive to Herot. Amurao was hiding during the whole time Speck was torturing the poor students, and after went to the police to report her story. She didn’t get to see his face but she deliberately remember seeing a tattoo that said: “Born to Raise Hell.” A search party and fliers went out and eventually, someone found Richard Speck and the police finally put him to jail for life. Both had their fates to come an end as they can do no more harm from brave people who wanted to stop the two murderers. However, they may be brought to justice, they still brought an impact towards the people who were affected. 

The journey of Grendel’s and Richard Speck’s were almost similar in terms of their attitudes, killing ways, and their end story. They both wanted to bring evil and were not people with good morals to say the least. Actually, they were terrible people as they felt no remorse or guilt in their murders. They tortured their victims and brought terror to the victims and those affected by their murders. As Grendel started killing in Herot, the people there ran away with fear to feel somewhat safe from the monster. Just like Grendel, Richard Speck brought terror and insecurities in Chicago, which is where the story originated. Speck’s murder occured in Mid-July 1966. His story was widely known across the state and nation and was considered an “End of Innocence.” This was significant enough that people in their homes started to build more security on their property.