DE MONSTRO: AN ANATOMY OF GRENDEL by MARCUS DALE HENSEL A DISSERTATION Presented to the Department of English and the Graduate School of the University of Oregon in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy September 2012 DISSERTATION APPROVAL PAGE Student: Marcus Dale Hensel Title: De Monstro: An Anatomy of Grendel This dissertation has been accepted and approved in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy degree in the Department of English by: James W. Earl Chairperson Martha Bayless Member Anne Laskaya Member Mary Jaeger Outside Member and Kimberly Andrews Espy Vice President for Research & Innovation/Dean of the Graduate School Original approval signatures are on file with the University of Oregon Graduate School. Degree awarded September 2012 ii © 2012 Marcus Dale Hensel iii DISSERTATION ABSTRACT Marcus Dale Hensel Doctor of Philosophy Department of English September 2012 Title: De Monstro: An Anatomy of Grendel Demon, allegory, exile, Scandinavian zombie—Grendel, the first of the monsters in the Old English Beowulf, has been called all of these. But lost in the arguments about what he means is the very basic question of what he is. This project aims to understand Grendel qua monster and investigate how we associate him with the monstrous. I identify for study a number of traits that distinguish him from the humans of the poem— all of which cluster around either morphological abnormality (claws, gigantism, shining eyes) or deviant behavior (anthropophagy, lack of food preparation, etiquette). These traits are specifically selected and work together to form a constellation of transgressions, an embodiment of the monstrous on which other arguments about his symbolic value rest. iv CURRICULUM VITAE NAME OF AUTHOR: Marcus Dale Hensel GRADUATE AND UNDERGRADUATE SCHOOLS ATTENDED: University of Oregon, Eugene OR Baylor University, Waco TX University of Texas at Austin, Austin TX DEGREES AWARDED: Doctor of Philosophy, English, 2012, University of Oregon Master of Arts, English, 2004, Baylor University Bachelor of Arts, English, 1998, University of Texas at Austin AREAS OF SPECIAL INTEREST: Medieval Studies Monster Studies PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE: Assistant Director of Composition, University of Oregon, 2011-12 Graduate Teaching Fellow, University of Oregon, 2005-6, 2007-12 Teaching Assistant, Baylor University, 2002-03 GRANTS, AWARDS, AND HONORS: Graduate Teaching Fellowship, University of Oregon, 2005-06, 2007-12 Outstanding Composition Teacher, University of Oregon, 2011 Founder’s Prize (Runner Up), Medieval Association of the Pacific, 2007 Teaching Assistantship, Baylor University, 2002-03 Beall Poetry Festival Fiction Prize for Short Story, Beall Poetry Festival, 2001 v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS First, and most importantly, I’m poor in words but rich in thanks to Robyn and Finn, sine qua non. My Penelope and my Telemachus, I’ll be home soon. 34. I also thank my parents: ne gefrægn ic freondlicor feower madmas golde gegyrede gummanna fela in ealobence oðrum gesellan. To Jim Earl, who has made his life out of what he has given to others. To Martha Bayless, for following Donne’s advice to “doubt wisely” and asking the hard questions. To Anne Laskaya, who, like Timon, knew it was not enough to help this feeble student up, “but to support him after.” To Jeffrey Jerome Cohen, who could never have known it would come to all this. To Eileen Joy, my favorite Bolshevik. To Asa Simon Mittman, ferrum ferro acuitur et homo exacuit faciem amici sui. To past teachers—Karen Collier, Lori Watts, Dann Walker, Majorie Woods, and Mary Blockley—who helped shape my mind into a productive organ instead of the depository it once was. I thank you all. Without you, I would never have asked the questions nor sought the answers. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page I. GETTING TO THE BOTTOM OF GRENDEL ...................................................... 1 Introduction ............................................................................................................ 1 Grendel, A Critical Review.................................................................................... 5 Criticism: Pre-War Apologists and Myth Critics................................................... 6 Criticism: Poetic Form and Narrative Structure .................................................... 7 Criticism: Moralistic and Robertsonian ................................................................. 9 Criticism: Germanic Concerns ............................................................................... 11 Criticism: Monsters qua Monsters ......................................................................... 11 Criticism: Socio-Historical and Cultural ............................................................... 13 Semiotic Constellations: Triadic Semiotics ........................................................... 18 Semiotic Constellations: Benjaminian Constellations .......................................... 22 Notes ...................................................................................................................... 25 II. DEFINING THE INDEFINABLE .......................................................................... 29 What Is a Monster? ................................................................................................ 29 What a Monster Is .................................................................................................. 34 What a Monster Is: Morphology ............................................................................ 45 What a Monster Is: Behavior ................................................................................. 49 What a Monster Is: Morphology + Behavior = Monster ....................................... 51 vii Chapter Page Affect and Context ................................................................................................. 54 Notes ...................................................................................................................... 61 III. THE BODY GIANT .............................................................................................. 67 Introduction ............................................................................................................ 67 The Description ...................................................................................................... 69 The “Problem” of Description ............................................................................... 71 The Symbolic Complex ......................................................................................... 76 Giants: Size Does (Not) Matter.............................................................................. 81 Grendel’s Gigantism: A Thought Experiment ....................................................... 85 Grendel and the Traditions of Giants ..................................................................... 90 The Latin Christian Tradition ................................................................................ 97 The Germanic Tradition ......................................................................................... 101 Notes ...................................................................................................................... 108 IV. ALL EYES AND CLAWS .................................................................................... 113 Introduction ............................................................................................................ 113 Grendel’s Shining Eyes.......................................................................................... 114 Shining Eyes: The Traditions................................................................................. 116 Medieval Theories of Vision ................................................................................. 124 Grendel’s Eyes: ligge gelicost ............................................................................... 129 Grendel’s Eyes: unfæger ........................................................................................ 135 The Philologists’ Claws ......................................................................................... 137 Notes ...................................................................................................................... 146 viii Chapter Page V. YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT: FOOD TABOO AND SYMBOLISM ................. 151 Introduction ............................................................................................................ 151 Food Studies and the Four Food (Studies) Groups ................................................ 154 Anthropophagy and Cannibalism .......................................................................... 158 Humiliation and Grendel’s Anthropophagy........................................................... 164 Consuming the Comitatus ...................................................................................... 170 Food and Eating ..................................................................................................... 176 Drink and Drinking ................................................................................................ 179 Notes ...................................................................................................................... 187 VI. YOU ARE HOW YOU EAT: CUISINE AND ETIQUETTE .............................. 192 Introduction ...........................................................................................................