One of Hrothgar’s men, Unferth is a strong, proud hero. When he attempts to fight Grendel, though, he is humiliated. Grendel mocks his ideas of heroism and refuses to allow Unferth to die a heroic death. Grendel’s toying with Unferth reveals that a hero needs a cooperating monster in order to be heroic. By refusing to play the part of the monster for Unferth, Grendel denies him his heroic identity and robs Unferth’s life of purpose.
Unferth Quotes in Grendel
The Grendel quotes below are all either spoken by Unferth or refer to Unferth. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 6
Quotes
“It will be sung,” he whispered, then paused again to get wind. “It will be sung year on year and age on age that Unferth went down through the burning lake—” he paused to pant “—and gave his life in battle with the world-rim monster.” He let his cheek fall to the floor and lay panting for a long time, saying nothing. It dawned on me that he was waiting for me to kill him. I did nothing. I sat down and put my elbows on my knees and my chin on my fists and merely watched.
Get the entire Grendel LitChart as a printable PDF.
Unferth Character Timeline in Grendel
The timeline below shows where the character Unferth appears in Grendel. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 6
Then, a man named Unferth appeared. Grendel calls Unferth his salvation. Taller than the other men, Unferth took on Grendel...
(full context)
Grendel returned to his cave. Three nights later, Unferth arrived, having followed him. Grendel woke up startled, stopped his mother from going to Unferth,...
(full context)
Frustrated, Unferth told Grendel that he was wrong about heroism, that it really did exist and that...
(full context)
Unferth fell asleep and Grendel carried him back home, leaving him at the meadhall door. Grendel...
(full context)
Chapter 7
...the Shaper. She softened tempers and mediated arguments, her beauty resolving men’s disputes. She calmed Unferth when other men teased him about having killed his own brother.
(full context)
Chapter 9
All the men but Unferth are asleep. As Grendel doesn’t usually raid in the winter, he heads back to his...
(full context)
Chapter 11
Unferth rises and asks Beowulf if he is the one who supposedly swam for seven nights...
(full context)
