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Grendel's Mother (BEOWULF) Notes (ENGL 210)
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Grendel's Mother (BEOWULF) Notes (ENGL 210)
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Introduction to Beowulf (ENGL 210)
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ENGL 210-0012022W1
Lecture 2: Grendel’s Mother
September 14th, 2022
Grendel’s Mother
An interesting character – captures a lot of the ambivalences that the poem manifests.
● Avenging her son is totally consistent with the Warrior Code.
● Her aqueous lair – what a setting! Medieval literature captivates us in these moments.
Beowulf battles the sea creatures, he then enters Grendel’s mother’s lair.
● She is harder to kill – Grendel, despite being fearsome and terrifying, was easy to kill.
● With the mother, we get the sense that this is a more dubious endeavour.
● Maybe what he’s doing in itself and its moral ambiguity is represented in difficulty.
● We are told the convenient magical sword is ancient and Pagan.
Up until the battle with Grendel’s mother, this society is very masculine-dominant.
● Her maternal presence commands some sort of authority.
● Interesting – why did she bring him to the lair to fight him on equal ground when she
could have probably killed him in the water?
○ Think about her lastness – after she and Grendel die, the age of monsters ends.
○ Beowulf is a poem about endings.
Grendel’s mother has a better reason to kill Beowulf than her son did (she’s avenging herself).
But why is Beowulf choosing to use a weapon against Grendel’s mother when he killed Grendel
with his bare hands?
● In this society, men are viewed to be stronger. Why does he need a weapon to kill a
female? Aren’t they weaker?
● Gender hierarchy – being played with or undermined by the greater degree of difficulty
and the fact that he also needs help.
○ Beowulf’s revenge on killing Grendel’s mother is seen as heroic.
○ Grendel’s mother killing someone in vengeance for her son causes an uproar.
■ Very in accordance with the historical beliefs of this society
■ Being reminded to think in terms of these parallel situations (why are
they being adjudicated and evaluated differently?)
○ A lot more personal and justifiable when Grendel’s mother kills a random person
to avenge her son versus Beowulf making the species extinct for fame and glory.
● If we can’t sum it up as a battle of good and evil (moral ambiguity), then what is it?
Structure of Beowulf
Often understood to revolve around the three battles (Grendel, Grendel’s mother, the dragon)
● Grendel – Beowulf has no armour and needs no help (on land)
○ Good and evil are pretty well defined here.
● Grendel’s mother – Beowulf needs armour and a magical sword (underwater)
○ Beowulf is figured as an intruder as much as he is a righteous avenger
○ Is good and evil as clear here? Not really (a bit murkier).
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