Nihilistic Dragon

The dragon within Grendel by John Gardner is depicted as a nihilistic creature, and it almost imposes it's views on poor Grendel. Throughout the chapter in which the dragon is speaking, it is evident that the dragon is an existential nihilist. In a part of his conversation with Grendel, the dragon says that the "essence of life" is discovered within the "frustrations of the established order", and that the universe resists any attempts of "complete conformity" (67). This is an example of nihilism, particularly the part about the universe refusing conformity, but it is also an example of cosmic nihilism*. When the dragon says that the "essence of life" is found within the "frustrations of the established order", it may be interpreted that life itself is inside the frustrations of a chaotic system. With that in mind, it is possible to conclude that the dragon thinks that nature, or life, is basically indifferent, and may be hostile to humans. With this hostility, the essence of life emerges. Grendel is a prime example: since he is not human, one can assume he is with natural forces. These natural forces, or Grendel, come to destroy the established order of humans, causing an adverse effect of blossoming culture. The dragon confirms this by saying that Grendel is the "brute existent" that the Danes "learn to define themselves." (73). Grendel, and the rest of the forces of nature, are the ones drive mankind "to poetry, science, [and] religion" (73). This is an example of cosmic nihilism in the dragon.

Since nihilism is the philosophy that everything eventually turns out to become meaningless, there is no point to pin meaning to any thing within the universe. This is why the dragon claims that the universe resists the attempts of conformity to human interpretations. For example, the Shaper is someone who helps the Danes pin a meaning on to things that are happening around them, like Grendel attacking Heorot. The Shaper sings in his song that essentially, Grendel is a part of "the terrible race God cursed" (51). The dragon states that the Shaper's words as "illusion" (62), meaning that they are just a facade that provided the people with a structural framework for them to live by, familiarize themselves with, and make it become a part of their culture. In the Beowulf epic poem, the Germanic warrior culture of the Danes, Geats and Swedes are always referenced, and some of these values appear within Grendel. A prime example is Unferth's argument against Grendel about the meaning of the word heroism, and how a hero is one who "sees values beyond what's possible" and that is the true "nature of a hero", and that makes "the whole struggle of humanity worthwhile"(89). At this time, Grendel does not agree with Unferth's definition, and the dragon more so. The dragon, due to his extensive knowledge of the past, present and future, considers the history of man just a "swirl in the stream of time" (70), let alone the values that they held dear to them. Due to his supposed huge cache of knowledge, almost everything becomes inconsequential and insignificant to him, which is why he is also a moral nihilist as well as an epistemological nihilist**. As a moral nihilist, the dragon rejects the values and morals that man holds dear, because they are inconsequential. These values essentially become meaningless in the dragon's wide scope of past, present and future, and thus mean nothing to him. As an epistemological nihilist, the dragon denies the truths and meanings that the humans pin to specific phenomena because of the same reason: in his wide scope of past, present and future, the history of man and his values, truths and meanings are only a "temporary gathering of bits" and just a "few random dust specks" (70), merely "a ripple in Time's stream" (71). Thus, the dragon disregards the values, truths and meanings of mankind as trivial in his vast view of time.

Just as a side note, this reminds me a lot of Joker from The Dark Knight film. The Joker believed in the philosophy of a life without rules was the best one, and it relates to nihilism. As stated before, nihilism is the philosophy that everything is meaningless, and so there is no point in trying to place limitations, or force things to conform to you because it will essentially turn out to become a wasted effort. This is similar to Joker's ideals because he thinks that rules will only get in his way when he wants to do something, so without rules, he won't be limited. Nihilists have the same view, but differing results, meaning that they also think that rules and limitations are pointless, but not because they want to achieve something, but the fact that nihilistic philosophy states that rules and limitations are pointless. So, in a sense, Joker is a nihilist, and I think he is most likely a moral nihilist, and possibly an epistemological nihilist.

Anyway, back to the dragon. Since the dragon fulfils the requirements of a moral nihilist, epistemological nihilist and cosmic nihilist, the dragon can be considered as an existential nihilist.

I used an essay as well as a SparkNotes report to help me compile this analysis of the nihilism of the dragon as portrayed in Grendel by John Gardner.

*Cosmic nihilism is also similar to, and may also be known as, the philosophy of Cosmicism
**Epistemological nihilism is also similar to, and may also be known as, philosophical skepticism