The monstrous Grendel from BeowulfIt is true that Grendel is monstrous. He is not only a mortal enemy to Hrothgar and Herot, but to the Geats in general. Grendel seems to derive his only pleasure from attacking Herot and destroying the warriors within. It is a bane to all who live under Hrothgar's rule. They hate him. He is called the “enemy of humanity” (29) and rightly so. However, because of Grendel's actions, they cannot see the other part of Grendel that makes him do the evil that he does. Grendel, like the Angels before him and the Geats soon after, is the symbol of the displaced races/peoples and not simply a mindless monster. When Adam and Eve had children, they had two sons. Their names were Cain and Able. When Cain killed Abel, God “banished him from mankind” (29). From Cain came trolls, elves, monsters and giants. Grendel is a descendant of Cain, so he shares Cain's exile. Cain may have been the first displaced person after Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden. Grendel shares his ancestor's ruling. Not only is he removed from whatever land or wealth he would have if he were “human,” but he is also removed from God. It is this displacement that causes Grendel's destruction. Since he cannot “come near the throne” (28) like other people, he chooses to try to destroy the throne, because he “has no love for him (God)” (28). This is the main reason why Grendel is the symbol of displaced populations. After all, he is a direct descendant of the very first evacuees, Adam and Eve. However, unlike Adam and Eve, Grendel is condemned to an eternity of exile from God's light due to Cain's sin against his brother. This is why Grendel kills, because he cannot be in the light, because he is at war with God. Grendel is not only banished from the light of God, but from the light in general. Throughout the text Grendel is referred to as “the walker in the darkness” (36) and “the shadow of dark death” (29). This type of imagery further shows how displaced Grendel has become. The text refers to him as a “joyless creature” (36). The text also refers to Grendel's home as “his joyless house” (37). It is no wonder that Grendel was considered so monstrous. Like other displaced peoples, he has nowhere that can be a refuge for him, because he has been removed from his home or, in Grendel's case, from the love of the Lord..