Every woman has a future job down the line called motherhood. As we go through school we learn that we can choose it or it can choose you. We also learn that sometimes we have to understand what it means. “Motherhood is a great honor and privilege, yet it is also synonymous with servanthood. Every day women are called upon to selflessly meet the needs of their families. Whether they are awake at night nursing a baby, spending their time and money on less-than-grateful teenagers, or preparing meals, moms continuously put others before themselves.” This is a quote by Charles Stanley a pastor. He is like any man who talks about God’s word and elaborates on things we don’t understand. For instance, how Eve decided every women’s fate by eating the apple. We decided our own fate no matter what Eve did. That is where Grendel’s mother did what any mother would do to avenge the death of her son. She felt that if she didn’t do what anything she would eventually fall apart. Grendel’s mother decided that she had to hide herself and her son Grendel from the world. As we look at this story we try to find a connection to real life situations for instance, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Every mom has a moment where they don’t want to give their child to anyone else to hold. With Grendel’s mom she is described as a “monstrous hell-bride, brooded on her wrongs.” (Beowulf line 1259). She is blamed because Cain killed his father’s son and her son is related by …show more content…
Work Cited Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi. “We Should all be Feminists.” Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: We Should all be Feminists| TED Talk, Ted Talk, November 2012, https://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_ngozi_adichie_we_should_all_be_feminists. Accessed 30 Sept. 2017. “Charles Stanley Quotes.” BrainyQuote, Xplore, www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/c/charlessta451704.html. Accessed 30 Sept. 2017. Greenblatt, Stephen, and M. H. Abrams. The Norton anthology of English literature. 9th ed., A, New York, W.W. Norton & Company, 2012. Pp
Grendel has been murdered, and now his mother shall avenge him. Just like Grendel, she creeps up on the thanes and viciously murder Hrothgar's best man. After proving that women have power too by killing the best man, she took back her son's arm as a symbol of who is really winning this ongoing battle. Once this has happen, she will wait for Beowulf's next move in her wolf den.
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.
Stillinger, Jack, Deidre Lynch, Stephen Greenblatt, and M H. Abrams. The Norton Anthology of English Literature: Volume D. New York, N.Y: W.W. Norton & Co, 2006. Print.
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
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.
...to the other women. She is the only woman to fight and die directly in an actual battle in “Beowulf”. This is not normal by any standards at that time. Not only is Grendel’s mother extremely violent, she is also an outlier to the expectations of women in “Beowulf”. Grendel’s mother defies what it means to be a woman in “Beowulf” through her pure love of violence and hands on approach to battle.
Unlike Grendel, she receives has no name of her own, she is simply referred to as Grendel’s mother. If Grendel is descended from the line of Cain, then his mother must be a part of that descent, his status, therefore, is in some ways dependent on hers (Slusser). Grendel 's mother is not as powerful Grendel, but she is motivated by revenge after finding out what the had been done to her son. She set out on a “savage journey” grief racked and ravenous, desperate for revenge (Beowulf, lines 1276-1278) She head out for the mead-hall looking to take her anger out on the people who killed her son. She manages to kill one of many men but leaves when she sees the strength of the men at the hall. Beowulf follows her and is determined to kill her, doing this results in him becoming the invader into her hall just as Grendel and her where in Heorot. Here Grendel’s mother fights back when Beowulf attacks her, however not being as string as Grendel, she also ends up being killed (Beowulf,
Unlike Grendel, who was merely a bitter monster who could not partake in the mead hall’s festivities, Grendel’s mother has more of a motive to kill; she merely wants to avenge her son’s death. In the same way that Hrothgar and Beowulf avenged the deaths of the poor civilians that Grendel had killed, Grendel’s mother tries to obtain due justice for her son. This is certainly not uncommon for literature of this time, and it puts Grendel’s mother and Beowulf on more of an even playing field when it comes time for them to duel. Unlike in his battle with Grendel, Beowulf struggles when battling Grendel’s mother. While “the strongest of warriors [Beowulf] stumbled and fell” when in altercation with Grendel’s mother, there is no sign of true struggle from his battle with Grendel. This justifies the revenge motive of the poem; because Grendel’s mother had a true motive for killing the civilians, she is a stronger character and more evenly matched with Beowulf, unlike Grendel who killed for the sake of
Abrams, M.H., et al. ed. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. 6th ed. 2 Vols. New York: Norton, 1993.
In the text the role of the female monster is played by Grendel 's mother. In which she has the embodiment of masculine energy and goes against the social expectations of what a woman should be and do in society. For example, Grendel’s mother has characteristics in which at the time warrior men should only have. In this society in the text women are monsters when they seek vengeance whereas men are seen as heros. For example,” Sorrowful journey to avenge her slain son” (1276-1278) In this quote we get the understanding that once her son was killed she wanted to kill the person who killed her son because of the love that she had for him and for that she was seen as a monster because that wasn’t an expected behavior of women to have in this society. In Beowulf this made her an outcast because she was seen as if she wasn 't fulfilling her womanly duties since she had the behavior trait of vendanges for her son. This is what made her a monster. If you aren’t the ideal women during this time then you are outcasted.That is why Grendel’s mother is seen as a monster and isn’t even given a name of her own. She is identified as “Grendel’s
Greenblatt, Stephen. The Norton Anthology Of English Literature. 8th. A. W W Norton & Co Inc, 2006.
In this quote from Grendel, as Grendel is dying he calls out to his mother. Grendel yells, “ ‘Mama, Mama! I’m dying!’ But her love is history. (Grendel, 173)”. He was crying out to his mother for help and comfort but she was nowhere to be found. She had abandoned him. If she loved her son she would be there for him when he needed her the most but she was not. She left him because she did not care about him. Another example is when Grendel’s mother is described as Greedy. In the text it reads, “And all at once the greedy she-wolf who’d ruled those waters for half a hundred years discovered him.(354-356)”. This shows that Grendel’s mother only cares about herself. She is trying to build her name and prove she is better than her son by killing Beowulf. The last example is when Grendel’s mother is about to kill Beowulf. Beowulf describes the scene and says, “Squatting with her weight on his stomach, she drew a dagger, brown with dried blood… (421-422)”. She has killed before and is used to it. She shows no regret because she is doing this out of anger. This is Greed in itself. She desires nothing more than for Beowulf to be dead and the reason people can conclude that it is not for the death of her son is because she wasn't there for him when he was dying. If she was it would show that she cared which would better explain the reason for her desire to kill Beowulf but since she was not there we can infer that she wants to kill
Abrams, M.H., ed. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. 6th ed. Vol. 2. New York: Norton, 1993.
Abrams, M. H., et al., The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Vol. 1. New York: Norton, 1986.
The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Ed. Christ Carol T., Catherine Robson, and Stephen Greenblatt. New York: W. W. Norton, 2006. Print.