Introduction: When considering the criticisms of Beowulf from its beginnings through to more recent writings the initial lack of interest in Grendel's mother is very evident. Background: In 1936 JRR Tolkien dismissed her as a secondary figure to his son. Even mainstream feminist critics seemed to avoid her until the 1980s, when Jane Chance focused on the female monster, discussing Beowulf's structural unity. Thesis Statement: Although the episode concerning Grendel's mother is shorter than that of his son, the issues the poet raises in these lines seem infinitely more complicated and encompassing than the obvious sense of good and evil communicated in the struggle between Beowulf and Grendel.Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Topic Sentence: Grendel, Cain's murderous and bloodthirsty offspring, commits crimes unprovoked and indiscriminately. Evidence and Quotations: He is undeniably evil, and the poet certainly goes to great lengths to portray him as a grotesque and frightening being. Grendel is the "feond on helle" (Beowulf 101), "grimma" (102), and "wonsaeli" (105). The poet is never at a loss for new words to describe Grendel's wickedness and his ugly face. Comment: The situation is simple; the beast is evil and deserves to die. The murder must be avenged, quickly and mercilessly. The simplicity of this judgment and the slaying of the evil Grendel resides fresh in the readers' minds as they confront the next monster, a nameless being, referred to through a kinship connection, Grendles modor (1282). Jane Chance points this out in her essay; Topic sentence: Grendel's mother is...described in human and social terms. Evidence and Citations: She is specifically called a wif unhyre “a monstrous woman” and an ides aglaecwif “a monster-woman.” Ides elsewhere in Beowulf denotes "lady" and connotes both a queen and a woman of high social rank... Furthermore, as if the poet wished to emphasize her maternal role, she is usually characterized as a modor or relative of Grendel, the former being a word almost reserved exclusively for her, even if other mothers appear in the poem. Commentary: It seems clear from these epithets that Grendel's Mother reverses the Germanic roles of mother and queen, or lady (Chance 249). Already contradictory, the poet attributes to it an element of status, but also presents it as an inversion of the ideal. As such, a woman who acts in a manner unsuitable for her sex, in an active rather than passive role, should be forced to return to her rightful place. A woman should not avenge her children and carry out blood feud. Theme sentence: Beowulf's adventure in the abode of the woman-monster should therefore be simple, he must kill her and in so doing restore the Germanic social ideal. Evidence and Quotations: Yet the Beowulf poet refuses to make Beowulf's triumph easy. It is not achieved without considerable effort and does not stick easily in the minds of readers. Grendel's mother obviously does not act without provocation, as her son did. He is seeking revenge for his son's death. The only reason she isn't justified in doing so is that she's a woman. As a woman, she is destined to passively accept her son's death and leave the issue of revenge to her male relatives. Yet, how can he do this when Beowulf has killed his only male relative? Comment: The poet never mentions brothers, a father, or a husband on whom she can rely to maintain her safety and honor. Therefore, she has no choice but to take on male responsibility (Chance 252). Here, Grendel's mother is a mixture of many things, she is a grieving mother,a monster and a servant. Topic sentence: There is no denying that she, in at least two of these faces, is entitled to a share of sympathy. Evidence and quotes: As Chance points out, she resembles a human mother; Like Hildeburh, he is guiltless and "gloom-minded" galgmod; his journey to Heorot must be sorrowful because he "remembered his misery". However, according to the Danish story of Saxo Grammaticus, a woman's primary loyalty as a pledge of peace was to her husband, not her son. Perhaps for this reason, Grendel's mother is presented as husbandless and obsessed with her son, to suggest to an Anglo-Saxon audience the dangers inherent in women's function as a “pledge of peace” (Chance 252). If this is indeed the case, the poet is certainly guilty of using Grendel's mother to baffle his audience, rather than to represent the embodiment of evil. A grieving woman can be very dangerous in this sense, but she cannot easily be considered evil. Comment: In his aggressive masculine attempt at blood revenge, the poet makes her more pathetic than terrifying. Highlighting her feminine attributes more than anything, he has her kidnap a lone man, not directly involved in the killing of her son, who she hastily takes back to his lair for fear of being confronted by the others; 'héo wæs on ofste wolde út þanon/ féore beorgan' (Beowulf 1292:93). Topic sentence: The great act of revenge is vague and cowardly. Evidence and Citations: We cannot forget that the monster is shaped like a human woman and poses less of a physical threat than her human-shaped son. 'Waes se gryre laessa/ efne swa micle swa bid maegpa craeft/ wiggryre wives be waepnedmen' (Beowulf 1282:84). Commentary: Martin Puhvel discusses the discrepancy between the reader's introduction to Grendel's mother and his second appearance. Since she is initially portrayed as inferior, and since her act of revenge is somewhat pathetic, the difficulty Beowulf faces in defeating her must be questioned. Although having Grendel's mother escape into the swamps can certainly be seen as a dramatic device used by the author to create tension and suspense it is understandable, but the eventual difficult battle between Beowulf and Grendel's mother seems to have another more significant meaning ; Some critics have suggested that the poet's moral sensibility, his "sense of fairness", is a significant factor. Topic Sentence: According to this reasoning, while Grendel is a ruthless and unprovoked aggressor, his mother, once again, acts in accordance with the standard Germanic code of blood feud; furthermore, his own domain is invaded; for these reasons she is owed a certain sympathy by the author and therefore Beowulf's revenge on revenge is presented as a difficult and risky undertaking (Puhvel 83). Although Puhvel continues to accredit a more mythological interpretation instead, it seems reasonable to consider these points in more detail. Evidence and Quotations: The poet oscillates between describing Grendel's mother in feminine terms and describing her in aggressive masculine terms. The audience is already very confused about how they should feel about the woman-monster. Beowulf is now tracking her down to avenge her dubious crime and, in doing so, invades her home, her sacred hall. Topic sentence: The social importance of the hall and the house cannot be underestimated at this point. Evidence and Quotations: It is a focal point of life, where the lord and the servant reside, where the lord distributes gifts and treasures in exchange for the loyalty of his thanes, and where women act as peace weavers, holding alliances together. The room is not a place of war, but a place of peace. Comment: In this case Beowulf becomes the perpetrator, committing a crime that washad previously been committed by Grendel himself; bringing blood and violence into the sacred space. Topic sentence: Chance believes that the second meeting with Grendel's mother will make her acquire another facet. Evidence and quotes: She is no longer a grieving mother or a vengeful servant. Instead she became the young lady of her own room; The merewif as queen or guardian protects her "battle hall", the cave-like lair, from the visiting hero as the royal dragon guards his ring hall, and as King Beowulf his kingdom, in the last section of the poem...As queen or lady without tribe, she rudely receives her "hall guest" Beowulf by "embracing him" and then "repaying" him for his valor not with treasures but with "grim grips." "...Indeed, the parody of the ceremony in the treasure-giving hall is complete with a "scop" (Beowulf's sword, acting as bard) singing a fierce "war song" from the side of his head ( Chance 253). Comment : The poet has now masculinized the monster, she is the master of the hall, Beowulf is the intruder. In this position, although his space has been invaded, the reader can expect Grendel's mother to assume herself responsibility for her violent action and has less sympathy for her. Evidence and quotations: she becomes extremely active, a lord who protects her dominion' (Beowulf 1506: 07). He holds power over Beowulf and it is almost as if the two have become equals. Evidence and quotes: the poet then makes them fight for dominance. At this point the poet undermines the monster's masculinity, introducing a disturbing element into the battle sexual. The case states that this is not actually a common element in Anglo-Saxon literature. Indeed, the poet's inclusion of erotic imagery can serve to discomfit his audience by posing the threat of the feminine, pagan power found in the depths of a woman's sexuality. (Chance 254:55) We might also consider the female monster's battleroom as a watery womb, representing the mystery of women's sexuality and regenerative power. This is the place where Beowulf can be reborn in heroic glory or die. Comment: This is not a simple case of good and evil, but a very complex question that calls into question the morality of the Anglo-Saxons' ancestors and forces them to consider their Christianity and the ways in which their faith might be attacked by the same forces of nature. Evidence and citations: the case writes it; after his (Beowulf's) sword fails him... he "grabbed her by the shoulder", throwing her to the ground... Then, as a "reward" for his valor, this lady "repaid" him with the treasure of her "ferocious grips" on grimman grapum, causing him to stumble and fall, whereupon she climbs, rather ridiculously, on top of her "hall guest", intending to stab him and thus (again) avenge the his only offspring (Chance 253:4). Topic Sentence: Beowulf's triumph over Grendel's mother establishes Germanic moral and social ideals. Evidence and Citations: She was stripped of her masculine façade after being penetrated by the phallic sword. Thus, as feminine, passive and defeated, an element of sympathy for the woman-monster re-enters the poem to remain in the reader's mind until Beowulf's death at the hands of the last monster he fights; the dragon, a creature whose lair, like Grendel's mother, has been invaded. Commentary: While it has thus far been easy to see how the poet baffles his audience through the character of Grendel's mother, it is also possible to see the sea dog as the embodiment of evil just like his monstrous son. She has been linked by critics to the figure of Eve, temptress and antithesis of the Virgin (quote). Yet Eve isredeemable through Christ and can therefore gain Christian sympathy. Perhaps the woman-monster of Beowulf could be better connected to the figure of Lillith, a tempting irredeemable demon of biblical tradition. Topic Sentence: Her succubus-like fight with Beowulf and the sexual imagery in the scene might paint her as unforgivable. Furthermore, Herbert G. Wright points out in 'Good and Evil; Light and darkness; Joy and sorrow in Beowulf' that; Grendel's mother also belongs to the race of giants and who, as a consequence of this origin, also bears the curse imposed on the offspring of Cain; indeed, in the genealogical table she is one step closer to Cain. (Wright 1). Comment: Although Wright goes on to say that she is not as doomed as Grendel, we must consider the significance of her death, the means by which Beowulf manages to kill her. He first attacks her with Hrunting the sword, and this proves futile: he attempts to overpower her by force alone, as he defeated his son. Even without succeeding, he notices a sword among the treasures in the cave, and he is alone with this one. sword that manages to kill his enemy. In his essay "The Necessity of Evil in Beowulf" James W. Earl discusses the significance of the mysterious sword; On the sword itself is depicted the image of God's judgment on the race of giants. These, of course, are the giants of Genesis 6:4, the “giants in the earth in those days,” who made God so angry that he flooded the earth. They are commonly considered the descendants of Cain, and therefore the not-too-distant cousins ​​of Grendel and his mother. Commentary: The engraved sword actually announces itself, then, as a sword of divine judgment upon Cain's race, and thus announces its role in the poem, after its purpose has been achieved in the death of Grendel and his mother (Earl 84 ). This suggests that Grendel's mother is no different from her son, and that the poet, by having Grendel's mother killed by the sword of divine judgment, presents her as yet another incarnation of evil. However, one might also consider the fact that Grendel's mother could represent here another "geomuru Ides", a female victim of male machinations. Please note: this is just an example. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay We are told of no other crimes committed by the female monster prior to her attempt at revenge, and as such she was simply born cursed through no fault of her own, only that her male ancestor Cain was a murderer and that the male God placed taking place a form of blood revenge for his crime by cursing and banishing Cain. Therefore, the poet draws comparisons between Grendel's mother and the suffering Hildeburh of the Finnsburh fragment, managing to complicate the readers' view of Grendel's mother. Concluding paragraph: In conclusion it seems reasonable to agree with the opinion that the Beowulf poet's treatment of Grendel's mother serves to disconcerte the audience rather than present them with an embodiment of evil. He is a character with many contradictory faces, ready to disturb and unbalance Beowulf himself as well as readers of the Anglo-Saxon and even the modern era. She is a wronged and grieving mother, a terrifying sea dog, a cursed descendant of the first assassin, lord of a dark battlehall, and a powerful sexual creature. She cannot be easily classified, or neatly framed under the title of evil, rather she is perhaps the most complicated and realistic depiction of woman in the poem, although she is a hideous, mythological monster. References:'ðá se gist onfand/ þæt se beadoléoma bítan nolde/ aldre sceþðan ac séo ecg geswác / ðéodne æt þearfe' (Beowulf 1522:1525).'strenge getrúwode/ mundgripe mægenes' (Beowulf 1533:34).In troductionIt should follow a format triangular.