Most authors occasionally use their characters to drive their own personal opinions that they wish to emphasize to their audience. In the novel Grendel written by John Gardner, Gardner uses Grendel as an agent to portray his perspective of the evil and corrupt world of humans and their place in the universe. Gardner not only uses Grendel as a vehicle, but he also uses the Dragon as another source to express his opinions about the people in the world. Gardner can be considered an isolated human being, kept away from the affection of others; Grendel and Gardner may be closely related due to the fact that Gardner is incarnated as Grendel in a more dimensional aspect. Both seem to contain repugnant thoughts towards the world in which they are "forced" to live. The Dragon supports Gardner's claim by going against the Shaper's stories, telling Grendel that life seems to have no meaning and that every story the Shaper tells is altered. people's attitudes. As Grendel converses with the Dragon, the Dragon mocks the Shaper, “[He] provides an illusion of reality, strings together all their facts with a gluey whine of connection. [...] But he turns it all around with harp runs and whistles, and they think that what they think is alive, they think that Heaven loves them” (p. 65). This shows that human beings are weak-minded and are easily persuaded into telling erroneous stories; this places human beings on a low moral scale. Through Grendel's observation of Hrothgar's reign, he is also considered a source of perspective. Grendel witnesses Wealtheow being used as a balance of harmony between the two rival families, the Danes and the Helmings. As Grendel spies on them, he thinks to himself, “But she was beautiful and surrendered with the dignity of a s......half of paper......she hopes to be informed of the essence of how the people they live. Similar to “The Allegory of the Cave,” truth is best expressed through experience because sometimes language is unable to persuade people's beliefs about subjects. In both texts the prisoners and Grendel are chained in a room masked from reality which prevents them from finding enlightenment. In Grendel the fire serpents are his “protector” who keep Grendel away from the corrupt and evil ways of humans. Likewise, the prisoners in “The Allegory of the Cave” are held back from the path that leads them to the light that possesses absoluteness. Both texts are interconnected by similar attempts to use ideas about enlightenment to guide the characters to discover certainty in their world. With all the lies and erroneous stories they are wrapped under, they are motivated to find philosophical meaning.