Shaper and Dragon

The character Shaper in Grendel fascinates me. On the outer surface, he seems like a mere old man who entertains the Danes. But he has such a greater role. To begin to understand his character, we need to know some historical context of when the events of Beowulf actually occurred. During that time, writing had not really been developed. As a result, stories were passed orally and essentially, this preserved the culture of the Danes. Thus, these story tellers were just as important and respected as the warriors because the story tellers were protecting the identity of their culture. I could only imagine the royal treatment and respect these shapers received from the people. The shapers were the only people who knew the history of the people.

The shapers also dramatically rewrote much of their history. They had all the power to do so and purposely exaggerated man’s glory in all their songs. For example, if the Danes fought a war with the Geats and won by a narrow margin, the shapers would definitely claim that they had trampled over the Geats. Therein lies one of the major sources of the Shapers power. They made history. They wrote it. They altered it. That earned the deep respect of Grendel. Strangely, a monster even like Grendel understands the power the Shaper possess. The poetry the Shaper sings tears apart Grendel. He also knows that most of the lyrics the shaper is singing is false and untrue. However, the power of poetry makes Grendel want to believe whatever the Shaper is saying.

The Shaper is probably an accurate representation of the powerful story tellers before writing was widely used. All shapers probably twisted and changed the stories to over glorify man. It is interesting to note that the Shaper and dragon are like opposites. Even though they are opposites, they both are similar in that they have a significant influence on Grendel. The Shaper’s poetry makes Grendel want to believe him about everything. At the same time, the dragon hates the Shaper and refuses to listen to what Grendel has to say about him. In class we briefly discussed whether the shaper and dragon was good or evil. The general consensus was that people thought neither the dragon nor shaper was necessarily evil or good. However, I think that Shaper is evil and that the dragon is good. A main characteristic of the devil is twisting the truth so that it appears to be true but in reality isn’t. The shaper fits this description perfectly. On the other hand, the dragon seemed to be almost like a God figure to me. His deep voice and large body as well as his ability to see the future, past, and present make him seem omnipotent. It is ironic to note that the dragon is in a body shaped like a serpent. A serpent in literature usually represents a devil but I think in this case it doesn’t necessarily imply that the dragon is evil. I don’t know. Grendel makes my head hurt.