How Is Grendel's Mother Portrayed In Beowulf

Grendel and his mother do not have as many similarities as they do differences. Grendel’s mother seems to have the same level of wickedness as her son, but she is more responsible. For example, in the first half of Beowulf, it says that Grendel was killing people at Herot because he did like that they were happy. The sound of their laughter edged him on. He mercilessly killed many people out of spite.

This second battle is more complicated than the first. Although one can merely say “Beowulf is the hero, Grendel’s mother is the villain” and be done with it, further thought suggests it is not that simple. As a warrior and hero, Beowulf upholds himself to the heroic code, calling for courage, honor, and vengeance. If our standards for a hero rest on these three qualities, is not Grendel’s mother as heroic as the Hero? She is honorable in trying to avenge her son’s death, just as Beowulf was with Grendel and the Danes. She shows courage by attacking Heorot, full of warriors, and obviously wants vengeance for her son’s death. Although Grendel’s mother is ugly in appearance and a descendent of Cain, therefore cursed and evil, she is justified in retaliating, and possesses the three qualities of a hero.

Beowulf sees Grendel's mother in a cave. He tries to hit her with his sword, Unferth's Hrunting, but it fails to pierce her skin. So he throws the sword away and attacks the mother with his bare hands. He trusts "in his strength, his mighty hand-grip." Beowulf manages to throw Grendel's mother down; however, she quickly retaliates and is soon sitting on top of him. She tries to kill him with a dagger, but Beowulf's armor protects him this time. Beowulf managed to throw her off of himself and sees a sword of enormous size, which he immediately grabs.

The first battle in the poem occurs between Beowulf and Grendel who best embody the Anglo-Saxon value of courage. Beowulf is the perfect representation of this value due to his insistence on fighting Grendel without weapons; “No weapons, therefore,/ for either this night: unarmed he shall face me” (Heaney 683-84). Thus when Beowulf proclaims that he is not using weapons he displays both honor and courage since it takes guts to fight a monster without a pronounced advantage. Anglo-Saxons respected this quality and made their epic hero a perfect fit for this trait. Grendel however, is the complete opposite of Beowulf. He is an archetypal outcast; a, “grim demon/ haunting the marches, marauding round the heath… condemned as outcasts” (36-45). The purpose of using this archetype is to show the distinction between good and evil. The people in the mead hall are the supporters of good. They follow the Anglo-Saxon warrior codes and are on Beowulf’s side. Grendel is opposite of this ideal. He lives in solitude in a cave at the bottom of the lake and upon hearing of the partying in the mead hall feels enraged. To further emphasize the archetype, he raids Herot only during the nighttime. This shows the degree to which he is ostracised from society since appearing in daylight is off bounds to Grendel. When Beowulf rends his arm, Grendel runs away, showing his cowardice since he runs instead of finishing the fight on the spot. For the Anglo-Saxons, death in battle was the most glorious type of death, thus Grendel’s retreat reinforces the quality of courage and makes him a laughingstock in Anglo-Saxon society. When the battle itself begins, Beowulf’s comrades stay to help him fight. The author states that he is, “Beowulf’s warriors worked to defend/ their lord’s life” (794-95). This ties into the theme of loyalty to one’s kin because although the weapons do no damage, Beowulf’s brethren stay by his side to help. This emphasizes the Anglo-Saxon warrior culture as the battles serve to show the listener the deep cultural significance of the kinship of the warriors. They are one; not only because of their

In a rage, his mother being a descendant from Cain is not fond of what Beowulf did to her son, deciding to wreak havoc like her son did. Beowulf seeing himself as the great warrior as he was thinking it was all over once he killed off Grendel, he set out to do the same to his mother. Being trapped in the mother's home turf is very daunting, she has the advantage on Beowulf, yet Beowulf saw this as inspiring to not give up. "She'd brooded on her loss, misery had brewed in her heart, that female horror, Grendel's mother, living in the murky cold lake assigned her since Cain had killed his only brother, slain his father's son with an angry sword." (Roberts 63)

When Grendel's mother arrives to torment the Danes, seeking vengeance for her son’s death, Beowulf’s fight with Grendel's mother

“And struck with all the strength he had left caught her in the neck and cut it through, broke bones and all. Her body fell to the floor, lifeless, the sword was wet with her blood, and Beowulf rejoiced at the sight”(lines 521-525). Beowulf has slain Grendel’s vengeful Mother with his sword. This quote supports the theme of good vs evil in the story because it describes Beowulf fighting against evil and defeating

The battle between Beowulf and Grendel's mother has its similarities and differences as well. Throughout the movie, clues are given about Grendel’s mother when encountering mysterious hands breaching the water while

Even though Grendel relies on his mother he does have a little bit of self reliability. The reason for this is that when his mother does not show up to save him, he has to try and save himself, and he has many times. “It was the height of summer, harvest season in the first year of what I have come to call my war with Hrothgar”(Gardner 76). He attacks meadhalls many times and yet he never invites his mother along. Now this maybe because she can’t talk like he can but that does not justify why he can’t try and drag her out. Beowulf did fight Grendel by himself, unarmed, but this is one of the first times he did not have help from his viking friends.

Unwelcome to join in with the people of Heorot in their merriment, Grendel haunts them in the night, taking all joy out of the pleasures he can't enjoy. As the men lounge “insensible to pain / and human sorrow” (119-20), Grendel creeps amongst them, creating havoc and leaving “butchered corpses” (125) in his wake.

This equation, compounded with the great monster 's desire to avenge her son 's death, made for an interestingly even fight. Adding to the advantages of Grendel 's mother was the fact that she too was invulnerable to any sword of human creation. The immunity of Grendel 's mother again depicts the failure of Beowulf 's weapons. The sword that was used to defeat the monster, however, was forged by the giants. Following his return, Beowulf is again rewarded handsomely by the leader of the Danes in gratitude for his courageous dealings with the demon.

Beowulf sets his sights towards Grendel 's mother shortly after the second attack on Heorot. Grendel 's mother is similarly linked to Cain just as her son was. According to the selection, it is said that after Cain was cast away by God, his mark of murder followed him. Everywhere Cain walked, monsters and shadows arose from the ground in which Grendel 's mother is a result of. It is interesting to note that the story of Beowulf effortlessly contorted the Christian story of Cain by adding Pagan influences such as monsters. Nonetheless, like previous battles, the fight against Grendel 's mother was a result of vengeance. Grendel 's mother lived miserably in dark, monster infested waters, but caused no harm until the death of her son whom she was obligated to avenge.

In the poem Beowulf, the most evident theme is the importance of the Germanic heroic code. The heroic code was what made Beowulf so famous and god-like during his renowned life. The code is displayed in the opening lines of the poem and continued to show up throughout the duration of the poem. Heroism is often painted with a protagonist, which causes some acts of heroism to be overlooked when an antagonist follows the heroic code. Throughout the poem, there are many acts of heroism displayed, but many people overlook the way that Grendel’s mother followed the Germanic heroic code. Grendel’s mother follows the Germanic heroic code by showing courage, strength, and honor as Beowulf does throughout the poem, something that is frowned upon in the Anglo-Saxon culture.

To begin, a cultural truth admired by the Anglo-Saxon is courage in battle because it is a trait of a good warrior in the eyes of Anglo-Saxon people. Courage in battle is the ability to not be afraid of the enemy, be strong, and brave. Beowulf shows his above average strength and courage in battle when he is going to battle Grendel: “When it comes to battle, I count myself/ as dangerous any day as Grendel,/ … No weapons, therefore,/ for either this night: unarmed he shall face me/ if face me he dares” (Beowulf 677-685). In this quote Beowulf states and declares his abandonment of weapons, as well as his belief that he is as strong as Grendel, so he will fight him without a weapon. This shows Beowulf’s courage in battle because it displays his tremendous strength and boldness by going to fight a monster with no weapons, which demonstrates that he is not

As Grendel’s mother os able to pull Beowulf to the bottom of her lake, she proves that she is as strong as Beowulf- a man who is described as possessing the strength of thirty men in his arm. Even a sword can not harm her as Beowulf brings Hrunting