Beowulf's Physicality

The entire characterization of Beowulf confuses me as I read Grendel. He’s described with a “voice, though powerful was mild. Voice of a dead thing, calm as dry sticks and ice when the wind blows over them (153-154).” Looking into this quote specifically, there’s a sense that Beowulf seems almost mechanical for Grendel views all nature as dead due to their mindless, autonomic thoughts. Moreover, by describing Beowulf as calm it makes one almost feel as if he’s not easily disturbed or jostled by either the perils or the possibilities of the future. Additionally, when Beowulf’s voice is compared to sticks and ice, one can almost perceive a sound of cracking as stepping foot on either a tree branch or on top of a frozen lake there’s almost always that frightful Crack! that penetrates the air when one’s least unexpected. To say that Beowulf’s voice can produce such an effect seems to suggest that his words are caustic, audibly snapping at his adversary. Grendel’s attention then shifts from Beowulf’s voice to his countenance. Although no detailed features are recounted, Grendel does perceive the face as familiar as is illustrated by the following quote, “He had a strange face that, little by little, grew unsettling to me: it was a face, or so it seemed for an instant, from a dream I had almost forgotten. The eyes slanted downward, never blinking, unfeeling as a snake’s. He had no more beard than a fish.” The connotation of the word “strange” in this context doesn’t suggest that Beowulf’s face was disfigured or even unappealing, rather it suggests that Grendel can’t quite put his finger on where he’d seen the face from before. He considers whether or not it had been a fleeting moment from a dream that he had nearly forgotten. From this scenario alone, one cannot help but be drawn to the conclusion of Chapter 4 that nearly mirrors this dream-like stupor Grendel questions. His mind is described as “a blank” that “fell, sank away like a stone through earth and sea, toward the dragon (56).”Moreover, by describing Beowulf’s face with eyes that are slanted alludes to the Dragon whose eye “closed to a slit (63).” However, there is also a sense of cold that comes from the fact that Beowulf’s glance is perceived as unfriendly, unwelcoming. This again alludes to the juxtaposition of fire and ice. Ironically though Beowulf is portrayed as the defender of the people, in Grendel he is described with a more icy persona, while the Dragon despite his greed seems to be the much warmer individual, therefore suggesting one possible difference between the two characters. Yet Beowulf is also described to have no facial hair, like a fish which happens to be very coincidental considering the element of the zodiac sign in Chapter 11 is water. This is also significant in that this sounds like the travel that was made in order for Grendel to reach the Dragon’s cave in chapter 5. Although we don’t know if Grendel really swims in the ocean, lake, or whether the entirety is a product of his mind, we can be sure of the fact Grendel was descending since the connotation of “sank” leads to the image of Grendel either mentally sinking deeper into the thoughts of his mind, and that he has reached the Dragon subconsciously or metaphysically. To say that Beowulf therefore is a fish, means that perhaps, he has also been influenced by the Dragon, and therefore, also enlightened.