Grendel

by

John Gardner

Ork is an old priest, who encounters Grendel at a sacred religious site one night. He cannot see who Grendel is and so believes him when he says he is The Destroyer, the king of Ork’s gods. Pretending to be a god, Grendel teases Ork but is put off by his intense, earnest faith. The ease with which Ork is tricked demonstrates the fallacy of the Danes’ religious practices, which Grendel sees as particularly foolish.

Ork Quotes in Grendel

The Grendel quotes below are all either spoken by Ork or refer to Ork. 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:
Monsters and Humans Theme Icon
).
Chapter 9 Quotes

The ultimate evil is that Time is perpetual perishing, and being actual involves elimination. The nature of evil may be epitomized, therefore, in two simple but horrible and holy propositions: ‘Things fade’ and ‘Alternatives exclude.’

Related Characters: Ork (speaker)
Page Number: 132-133
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Grendel LitChart as a printable PDF.
Grendel PDF

Ork Quotes in Grendel

The Grendel quotes below are all either spoken by Ork or refer to Ork. 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:
Monsters and Humans Theme Icon
).
Chapter 9 Quotes

The ultimate evil is that Time is perpetual perishing, and being actual involves elimination. The nature of evil may be epitomized, therefore, in two simple but horrible and holy propositions: ‘Things fade’ and ‘Alternatives exclude.’

Related Characters: Ork (speaker)
Page Number: 132-133
Explanation and Analysis: