Then his rage boiled over, he ripped open
the mouth of the building, maddening for blood,
pacing the length of the patterned floor
with his loathsome tread, while a baleful light,
flame more than light, flared from his eyes.
He saw many men in the mansion, sleeping,
a ranked company of kinsmen and warriors
quartered together. And his glee was demonic,
picturing the mayhem: before morning
he would rip life from limb and devour them,
feed on their flesh.
– Beowulf, Seamus Heaney (trans.)
Lines 723-733: Grendel is depicted as the embodiment of evil, destruction and malice, coming to destroy Hrothgar’s hall and all those within it.