I appreciate a good villain backstory in every movie, book, show, etc.; so, I can’t help but compare Hrothgar to Grendel’s mother in this situation. I picture Grendel’s mother just going about her evil life in her swamp home. She is under the impression that everything is fine, as she admires her walls- decorated with the weapons of evil creatures of the past. Up until this point, her darling son, Grendel, had been coming home happy. He was full of the carcasses of the fallen warriors of Heorot. Life was pretty good for a she-demon and her evil son. Out of nowhere, her baby boy just crashes into the cave, without an arm and on his death bed.
Hrothgar went to sleep with the belief that there was nothing else to fear, and his people were safe. Grendel was bested by Beowulf, and Grendel had been their only problem. Hrothgar is heartbroken when he wakes to find that his dearest counselor and friend has been killed, after they thought their enemies had been vanquished (1325-1326).
Beowulf comes to defend Hrothgar again, and the king replies with a sorrowful speech. He wants to mourn because he believes there is no hope. Beowulf’s response to Hrothgar in lines 1384-1396 (after Aeschere’s death) sparked my interest. “’Wise sir, do not grieve. It is always better / to avenge dear ones than to indulge in mourning.” Beowulf is, basically, telling Hrothgar to postpone his pity-party because vengeance feels better than crying. How would this speech not also apply to Grendel's mother? Just as Hrothgar lost someone dear to him, Grendel's mother lost her only son. Just a final thought, the fact that she came to avenge her child makes me think there may be some ounce of good in her. A mother's love is strong, and she clearly cared about her baby.
P.S. I commented on Lily Caswell's and Addison Zanda's posts.
I agree! I think Grendel's mother may have been misrepresented a little bit. I'm not saying she wasn't evil at all, but she may not have been so in the wrong here. It's not so out of pocket to assume that she was just as hurt as Hrothgar was and it's definitely understandable that she would take the prize to try to curb her son's humiliation past death.
ReplyDeleteA mothers love for her child I do believe is one of the strongest loves second only to God's agape love for us. It seems to me the mothers will seek to do some very irrational things in regards to their love for their children. I think this is where the fathers role comes in in marriage. Fathers while they do not seem too show it as much keep handle over the emotional tension in order to act in a way that is most beneficial for the family unit. I think another reason mothers feel more strongly in relation to their children is the immense amount of time and energy they have invested in the nurturing process. From conception to early feeding to early teaching the mother has a higher input in many aspects of the child early development. It would be very interesting to study the possessiveness of a mother relative to their child and factors such as breastfeeding, whether or not they used day care, and how much pre education the mother provided.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I agree with you. Grendel's mother did exactly what any mother would do, so why should she be punished for that? I get it, she is a monster, but she didn't really do anything to Beowulf. I do think she overreacted a bit by snatching Hrothgar's advisor (I forget the name), but aside from that, she didn't really do anything wrong.
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