Who Is Beowulf A Grieving Mother

Equally important, the innocence Grendel had as a child provide an outline for his lack of baneful intentions. One act of innocence that has shown through Grendel’s entire life, from childhood until death, was a tendency to call for his mother when in danger of any kind. Putting this into perspective, shortly before the death of Grendel, on page one-hundred and seventy, he calls for his mother for the final time. “Mama!” he is heard bellowing.

Beowulf, translated by Raffel, show how two monsters, Grendel and his mother terrorize the Danish people of Herot. The poem itself demonstrates the role that monsters’ play in a story, and how they are seen by the human society. Gender, religion, and societal expectations are the main types of commentary the poet focuses on to demonstrate the role that Grendel and his mother play in the story. At the beginning of the poem, Grendel continuously terrorizes the Danish people due to his desire for killing. Once Beowulf finally kills Grendel, Grendel’s mother discovers this and begins to fume with anger, just like any mother with a son would do.

Grendel emerged the night Beowulf did and he tore his arm off during their fight proving that he is worthy to subjugate the beast. Grendel’s mother is upset about her son’s death and comes

Grendel’s mother was described as a she-wolf, a monster, (Beowulf 449) however in the movie she is a beautiful creature, with an attractive human-like body, and not a “wolf” like appearance. The course of events in the poem, such as the battle against Grendel’s mother and the truth behind Grendel’s identity, are much different from those of the movie.

Nina Ortiz Prof. Kappes ENG 301 26 February 2018 Two Tales of a Mother A woman, a savage, a mother, or a beast may or may not be your opinion of Grendel's mother in the Anglo-Saxon epic poem Beowulf. Beowulf leaves much to the reader to imagine who she is as person and so interpretation varies. However, throughout the text, the poet seems to praise Beowulf for his heroic ventures while Grendel’s mother gets no real recognition other than distasteful descriptions.

It 's because after Beowulf kills Grendel and then Grendel 's mother gets very angry and she tried to kill Beowulf as revenge for him killing her son. I can relate because not

In the poem, she serves as a feminine figure that is attempting to undertake a traditionally masculine role in enacting vengeance (Beowulf lines 1257-1259, 1276-1278, 1281-1291, 1290-1304, 1330-1340, 1349-1355, 1500-1569; Acker 703-709; Morgan 54-58, 60-61). As author Paul Acker asserts in his article that “Grendel’s mother acts aggressively, arguably in a fashion reserved for men” (Acker 705) when speaking about the vengeance that this character is attempting to enact (Beowulf lines 1257-1259, 1276-1278, 1281-1291, 1290-1304, 1349-1355, 1500-5659; Acker 705). In the poem, the introductory description of the attack launched by Grendel’s mother is written in such a way so that there is less emphasis placed on her actions that besieged Heorot by the poem stating that “Her onslaught was less only by as much as an amazon warrior’s strength is less than an armed man’s when he hefted the sword …” (Beowulf lines 1282-1285) to which Acker supplies the implication that “Grendel’s mother was less horrible simply by virtue (so to speak) of lacking a phallus.” (Acker 705).

Her actions do seem cruel and evil, but she is also a grieving mother that wants to avenge her son. After Grendel’s death, “Grendel’s fierce mother” begins to exhibit human-like characteristics such as her caring and protective nature for her child. This can be shown when she carried “off the claw that Beowulf tore from her child” to demonstrates her anger and grief for her son’s death. While she is characterised to be a “she-wolf,” she is also a “mighty mother” that just wants to protect her child. Her whole purpose of killing Hrothgar’s friend and wreaking in Heorot is was to avenge Grendel’s death.

Even though it was a close battle between them, Grendel’s mother still could not defeat the mighty Beowulf. Beowulf killed Grendel’s mother because she came to get revenge on the Danes for killing Grendel. Beowulf did this again for the fame and glory that he would receive shortly after doing

This vengeance gives Grendel’s mother a superhuman strength, however, it leads the destruction of various men and

His masculinity proves to be Grendel’s mother’s ultimate downfall. No matter her strength or power, it was no match for Beowulf, the manliest of all

In the Epic Beowulf, Grendel, the Monster, killed many people. Beowulf ended up killing Grendel by ripping his arm right off and him limping into the wilderness and died slowly. Grendels mother came back for revenge of the killing of her son. While all the warriors are sleeping from the party they celebrated for the killing of Grendel, Grendels Mother attack the Heorot Hall. After she attacks, she ended up running back to her cave where Beowulf finds her there and ends up killing her.

The tone of the entire passage presents Grendel’s mother as an inhumane

This reinforces the idea that Grendel’s mother is also a monster, since put in the same position as the prior one. The two monsters, Grendel and his mother are also associated with the night as a time for action. This reinforces their animal-like behavior, and the monstrosity of their actions because they are not giving fair warning to the humans. The monstrosity of Grendel is also seen through his savagery when killing the men. He is carnivorous and feeds on human flesh.

Beowulf is eagerly confident in his pledge to Hrothgar, and it seems almost certain that he will defeat Grendel’s mother. However, once he penetrates the dangerous waters of her home territory, Beowulf no longer has the upper hand and he begins to understand his predicament: Then once she touched bottom, that wolfish swimmer carried the ring-mailed prince to her court so that for all his courage he could never use the weapons he carried; and a bewildering horde came at him from the depths, droves of sea-beasts