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Mothers of Soldiers and Monsters /////// Isabelle Ferguson

The women in Beowulf are written leaning heavily on the nurturing aspect of a woman. Both Hildebuhr and Wealhtheow are written pouring mead into glasses (page 83). They are displaying a mothering spirit towards the soldiers. In the poem, Hildebuhr is written in grieving heavily for her son and his uncle (page 73). Grendel's mom is even included in this nurturing character, as she is written to be evil. Despite this, she still grieves her son. This displays that the culture in which Beowulf came to be valued mothers, as they put them in poems about fighting and soldiers. 

It's interesting that Wealhtheow shows up to the mead hall after everyone has already arrived and taken a seat. She is described as being adorned in gold. This must be a note to her position as the leading lady. This may be a simple coincidence, but I couldn't help noticing the similarity in Grendel's mother's entrance and Wealhtheow's entrance. They are described as looking and acting completely different. Grendel's mother is a demon, and Wealhtheow is a queen, after all. However, like the queen being the final person to enter the room, Grendel's mother is the final monster he meets in the swamp. They show as polar opposites in that Grendel's mother is at the bottom of the lake, while Wealhtheow is at the front of the room. 

There is almost a parallel between the queen Hildebuhr from the poem and Grendel's mother. Both lose a son, and one loses a two important men. They each grieved their children, yet they decided on different paths. Hildebuhr gave her son an honorable burial to be remembered by poets. Grendel's mother did not waste time, and she immediately sought vengeance. To me, it seems like Grendel's mother has more similarities to the other women in the story than differences. What do you think?

P.S. I commented on Jamie Peter's and Lily Caswell's posts.





Comments

  1. Madalyn DillardMarch 1, 2021 at 9:55 PM

    I totally see the similarities! It is amazing how you connected the entrances of the two mothers, and I wouldn’t have noticed how much contrast (but similarities) they have.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Braylan StringfellowMarch 2, 2021 at 9:08 AM

    I like how you compared Grendal's mother with the queen. It's amazing to see how to people can come across the same obstacle and react in two completely different ways. I would say that the quee chose the proper way to react and she turned out fine; while Grendal's mother was destroyed.

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