In the poem “Beowulf,” Grendel’s mother, a monstrous creature, is one of the three antagonists Beowulf, the main character, fights against. The battle against Grendel’s mother appears to be the strangest of the three battles. The main reason for its strangeness is that Grendel’s mother is the mother of the monster Grendel, who was killed by Beowulf in the first battle. Another reason for its strangeness is that Grendel’s mother is the only female-type creature. An alternative reason for this strangeness in the battle is due to the fact that Grendel’s mother is not a true monster, aside from her physical form. Through the explanation of kinship, the understanding of the missing words from the original text, and the comparison of Grendel’s mother to other mothers in the poem, specifically Welthow and Hildeburh, it can be established that the intentions of Grendel’s mother are not monstrous even though she has the appearance of a monster.
Kinship is one of the many recurring themes in Beowulf. It is known that kinship establishes an important part of society because this theme is seen throughout the long poem. Kinship is defined as blood relatives. According to Lorraine Lancaster, in the Anglo-Saxon society, one is considered to be kin with someone even if they are fifth cousins. However, after they become sixth cousins, they are no longer kin. In Lancaster’s “Kinship in Anglo-Saxon Society –I,” readers become aware that one is very loyal to their kin. In this article, it is said that it is one’s duty to be loyal to their kin. Because of this loyalty, feuds commence. If a person is killed, it is only fair that the slaughterer is killed by a kin of the person who was killed, and so on. This sounds familiar because it is the main idea ...
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...cannot be called a monster. The translator of the version of Beowulf that was read was not very accurate because it failed to show that Grendel’s mother was a ‘Lady.’ Also, as stated before, translated versions of original texts are always recreated, which means that Grendel’s mother could actually be a queen-like figure instead of being depicted as a monster. Lastly, the intentions of Grendel’s mother were not used to harm anyone but because of her maternal role. She was in a situation similar to Hildeburh’s. Also, she did what she felt was right as a mother, just like Welthow did. The only reason Grendel’s mother can be identified as a monster is because she has a relation with the monstrous Cain, which she cannot be blamed for. All in all, Grendel’s mother had every right as a mother kill a Dane, which is not monstrous. Therefore, she cannot be called a monster.
Grendel's mother, woman, monster-wife, was mindful of her misery, she who had to dwell in the terrible water, the cold currents, after Cain became sword-slayer of his only brother, his father's own son. Then Cain went as an outlaw to flee the cheerful life of men, marked for his murder, held to the wasteland. From him sprang many a devil sent by fate. Grendel was one of them, hateful outcast who at Herot found a waking man waiting his warfare. There a monster had laid hold upon him...Then he went off wretched, bereft of joy, to seek his dying place, enemy of mankind. And his mother, still greedy and gallows-grin, would go on a sorrowful venture, avenge her son's death".
Rudd cites various sections of the poem, describing Grendel as a “night-monster of the border lands” (Rudd 3), and the translation of the poem says that Grendel was, “...Conceived by a pair of those monsters born Of Cain, murderous creatures banished By God…” (Raffel 42). Rudd also gives evidence for Grendel being seen as demonic, and reasons that Grendel attacks the Danes out of “...not mere thirst for gore, as we might suspect… but rather… envy of the Danes’ happiness- and envy was a chief characteristic of the medieval devil.” (Ruud 5). He then ties this devilish persona to Grendel’s humanistic aspects, stating Grendel has a heathen soul, and therefore he must be human. Ruud also notes, however, that there are critics who question the validity of portraying Grendel as this three-sided figure, asking questions such as, “How can Grendel be a devil when he has a physical body? How can he be a man when he is so manifestly bestial?” (Ruud 7). Ruud believes that the original poet of Beowulf is doing this for effect rather than consistency, but a more reasonable explanation that encompasses all three characteristics is that Grendel represents the evil in
In Heaney’s version, we view the entirety of the battle between Beowulf and Grendel’s mother through Beowulf’s eyes. Heaney wants us to view Beowulf as a light in the dark, and this is apparent with phrases such as “Hygelac’s kinsman kept thinking about his name and game: he never lost heart”(Heaney 1529-30). As an audience we experience the ups and downs of this battle, rooting the entire time for the hero, Beowulf. By doing this, Heaney does not give us a chance to consider Grendel’s mother other than with the grim imagery he uses to describe her. It seems as if Heaney wants us to consider Grendel’s mother as a villain that is strong enough to present Beowulf with a challenge, but not strong enough to defeat his goodness in the
They are both beastly, her more than him, and they both have different ways of living. Grendel is curious and wants to know more about his life and the purpose of living it; whereas, his mother stays in the cave and does not question anything. In the beginning he is frightened to be without her and does not stray far from their cave, but the more he grow the more the curiosity does as well. Grendel always relies on his mother to get him out of any dangerous situation he puts himself in, although she rarely follows through. Many times throughout the story we see Grendel’s disgust with his mother because of her inability to speak. He hates how more monstrous she is than he, and would rather go off by himself but deep down, he knows he truly needs her. Though she cannot actually speak, she tries to communicate with her son by caressing him and sometimes suffocating him in her breasts. One of the only times we see her speak is when Grendel asks his mother why they are here and stand to live in the cave and she responds, “Don’t ask!” (11). Grendel cannot fathom why they live in such terrible conditions and wonders what it would be like to live somewhere nice like the humans do, but he never goes against his mother.
Despite her evil actions, it is evident that there is less malice in her than Grendel and she is less of a symbol of pure evil than he is. For example, her attack on Heorot is somewhat appropriate and could be considered honorable by the standards of warrior culture, as it marks an attempt to avenge one’s son’s death. In fact, the motive for her attack is similar to Beowulf’s motive for his attack on her: avenging the death of a loved one. One of the most interesting aspects of Grendel’s mother’s attachment to this vengeance-demanding code that the warriors follow is that she is depicted as not entirely alien or monstrous. Her behavior is not only comprehensible but also justified. In other ways, however, Grendel and his mother are indeed portrayed as creatures from another world. One aspect of their difference from the humans portrayed in the poem is that Grendel’s strong parental figure is his mother rather
This illustrates an inner problem of a suppressed evil side to society. Beowulf and other men that battled Grendel had trouble defeating him with weapons. They all had to tussle with Grendel and everyone except for Beowulf failed at this challenge. Symbolically meaning that that evil side to society will always be there no matter how much people try to fight it. Grendel also plays the role of envy. Imagine him being an outcast with no joy in his life hearing the mead-hall at night and all the laughter, he must have felt envious and longed to be a part of that world. Another symbolic role is revenge. Upon learning that Beowulf has hurt her only child Grendel’s mother becomes angered and seeks revenge. Her and Beowulf battle it out and the mother loses the battle. Relating this back to Cain, Grendel’s mother wants to kill Beowulf and get revenge and just like Cain, she faced her punishment, for her it was
There are three prominent monsters in the Beowulf text, Grendel, his mother, and the dragon. While the dragon proves to be the most fatale of foes for Beowulf, Grendel and his mother do not simply pose physical threats to the Germanic society; their roles in Beowulf are manifold. They challenge the perceptions of heroism, a sense of unrivalled perfection and superiority. Moreover, they allow the reader to reconsider the gender constructs upheld within the text; one cannot help but feel that the threat that these monsters present is directed towards the prevalent flaws in Beowulf’s world. Moreover, what makes these monsters is not their physical appearance; it is what they embody. Both Grendel and his mother have humanlike qualities yet their monstrous appearance arises from what their features and mannerisms represent. The challenge they pose to societal paradigms makes them far more terrifying to our heroes than any scaled flesh or clawing hand. These monsters provide the ‘most authoritative general criticism […] of the structure and conduct of the poem’. Their presence provides contrast and criticism of the brave society (Heaney 103).
...atiently waits because she knows that the same person who slew her son would be coming after her as well. Beowulf’s pursuit of the mother is nothing more than another way to build his reputation because if he had slain Grendel and it got him such recognition, slaying both ogre’s would raise his reputation tremendously thus bringing him even closer to his name being secured on the cover of the history book. Him going after Grendel’s mother has nothing or very little to do with the fact that she is a woman, it however has everything to do with the fame he would get and the respect that would be associated with his name.
In the Anglo-Saxon poem Grendel’s mom is described as a giant swamp like monster and could not be penetrated by a regular sword. According to Beowulf the Anglo-Saxon, “it was then he saw the size of this water-hag, damned thing of the deep…He dashed out his weapon, not strinting the stroke, and with such strength and violence that the circled sword screamed on her head a strident battle-song. But the stranger saw his battle-flame refuse to bite or hurt her at all; the edge failed his lord in his need.”(Ln.1517) In the movie Beowulf Grendel’s mother is a very seductive monster that appears to be very beautiful, Beowulf’s sword goes right through her skin. They then engage in sexual intercourse. One could assume Grendel’s mom is anything but a “hag.” According to Beowulf Gets a Modern Makeover. “In the film, Angelina Jolie plays Grendel 's monster mom as a babe, not a hag.” In the movie Beowulf Grendel’s mother kills Beowulf’s men before he fights the dragon. However in the poem it never happened because she was dead. According to Georgette Lewis-Brown, “The wrath of Grendel’s mother is more pronounced in the movie as she slaughters many of the men while Beowulf sleeps and has a nightmare about
Grendel, is John Gardner’s 1971 novel that is set in Fourth Century A.D. Gardner portrays Grendel as the visible monster, in that he is known by all the people as being a big scary murderer who is a descendent of Cain, and since most people are quick to judge this is how Grendel’s reputation began. Gardners’s use of good and evil in his novel shows that not all monsters are what you expect them to be, and sometimes they aren’t always the obvious culprit. Throughout his novel, Gardners’ use of evil shows that sometimes things can be misinterpreted, and his use of good shows that you don’t need to have a bad reputation or a scary face in order to be evil. This is why Grendels’ portrayal in the novel is hidden and why he isn’t the true monster.
After Grendel was killed off by Beowulf, Grendel's evil mother came lurking to avenge for his death. She attacked the hall and killed Aeshere, elder brother of Yrmenlaf. He was a very important person to this community. Beowulf was nowhere to be found when this occurred. The people rely heavily on Beowulf's strength and bravery. Beowulf spoke to those mourning Aeshere's death and reassuring to them that Grendel's mother will not get away with what she had done. Hrothgar and a few others set out to find where this haggard beast was hiding, "suddenly discovered the dismal wood." (Pg.99 Beowulf) They had found where the monsters and evil things lived, and even saw Aeshere's head near the cliff. Beowulf was gearing up for his underwater fight with Grendel's mother.
Grendel, the beast conceived by a pair of monsters born of Cain, one of the thousand forms of evil, truly evil or misunderstood? Grendel is typically seen as an evil creature, but is he? Throughout this essay I will tell my perspective of Grendel and rather it has changed or not.
There are three key monsters in the story of Beowulf. Grendel, Grendel’s mother, and the Dragon. Each have special qualities, all different in their own way. Their personal characteristics are different although the author gives Grendel and his mother human qualities. Each of their homes are different and the reason for Beowulf hunting them is different as well.
The film and novel both do give a close interpretation of Grendel’s relationship with his mother. The novel, Grendel seems to feel sympathy for his mother. She is seen as a wicked being that lives with Grendel in the cave but actually plays a much bigger role in his life. Grendel described her as a “life-bloated, baffled, long-suffering hag” (Gardner 11). Grendel, for how menacing he is, is a big baby for his mother. We see this when Grendel is stuck in the tree and he weeps for his mother, crying and yelling for her to save him. He needs to be loved by her though she incapable of communicating to him due to not making sense when she speaks. Gardner made his mother feel more like an animal than a human being. Gardner gives the two characters a loving and touching relationship that shows the emotional and soft side of Grendel people didn’t know had. We also see this side when he is fighting Beowulf in chapter 12 and bawls out “Mama!” (Gardner 171). His mother plays the role of his protector, ultimately protecting him from the outside world. The cries for his mother make the reader feel sympathetic for the creature, as they can relate to a son’s love for his mother. The film version doesn’t show their relationship as the novel does. His mother is not depicted as she is in the novel, she is seen as a gold dripping reptilian serpent rather than an old hag. The film version shows them communicating to each other and the mother’s language is understandable in the movie as opposed to the novel where she speaks gibberish. We see Grendel after his attack of the mead hall back in the cave speaking to his mother then falling to the ground as his mother tells Grendel that those humans have killed many of their kind. We sense that the two have a relationship but it is not explored as it is in the novel. Zemeckis still depicts his version of Grendel as a mother’s boy, which is similar to the novel. In the film
Grendel's mother, unknown to the Danes or Geats, is plotting to avenge the death of her son. After the celebrations are over in Heorot and everybody is asleep, Grendel's mother appears out of her dwelling place, the swamp.