We've Created a Monster: The Strange Case of Grendel's Mother
2008; Routledge; Volume: 89; Issue: 5 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1080/00138380802252966
ISSN1744-4217
Autores Tópico(s)Medieval Literature and History
ResumoClick to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Notes 1Olsen, “Gender Roles,” 319. 2Damico, 9. 3Hansen, 114. 4Puhvel, “Might,” 83–4; Puhvel, Celtic Tradition, 40 note. 5Haruta, 13; Lee, 81; Kiernan, 32; Orchard, Pride and Prodigies, 32. 6Schrader, 39; Damico, 9; G. A. Morgan, 61; Lee, 185. 7Chance, 97. 8Irving, 70. 9Alfano, 12. 10Butler, 179. 11Ibid., 175. 12Wilchins, 36, 53. 13Anne Fausto-Sterling's pioneering analysis of scientific studies of gender, Myths of Gender, shows that although science has often supported a biological basis for gender expectations and differences, these differences do not exist in scientific fact but in the misinterpretation of data to fit cultural and political assumptions (60). 14Wilchins, 53. 15Butler, 178. 16Klaeber, ed., 1259a, 1519a, 2120b. All references to Beowulf are from this edition. Translations are my own unless otherwise noted. 17Women warriors tend to cross gender lines in many areas, the first and obvious being warfare, but often also scholarship, government, and military leadership. See my dissertation, “Battle Brave Beyond Women-Kin: Women Warriors in Medieval English Literature” for further discussion and for discussion of how Grendel's mother fits into the tradition of women warriors. 18Chance, 95. 19Puhvel, Celtic Tradition, 15; Haruta, 11–12; Wilson, 22. 20Grendel's mother's eventual defeat and death must not exclude her success as a warrior, as many successful fictional warriors, such as Achilles and Beowulf himself, share the same fate. 21Puhvel, “Might,” 81–2; Hansen, 114; Irving, 71; Wilson, 22. 22This passage assumes that the audience can compare men and women as warriors, and thus argues for the knowledge, if not the existence, of women warriors among the Anglo-Saxons. The recent archaeological find of the Lincolnshire Amazon, an Anglo-Saxon woman buried with weapons, supports this conclusion (Viegas). 23Puhvel, Celtic Tradition, 15. 24This helmet may also be magical: it is constructed “þæt hine syÐþan no / brond ne beadomecas bitan ne meahton” (“so that afterwards, no sword nor battle-mace might bite it / him”) (1453b–4). If “hine”, the accusative masculine singular pronoun, refers to the wearer, the helm is merely fulfilling its normal function. If “hine” refers to the helmet, however, then it is created so that no weapon can penetrate it and clearly has some magical properties. 25Puhvel, “Might,” 81–2; Kiernan, 23; Irving, 72. 26Irving, 72. 27Olsen, “Women in Beowulf,” 153. 28Alfano, 3. 29The Bosworth-Toller dictionary glosses the kenning as “A wicked or harmful person” (670), but this kenning has many possible meanings, depending on whether the first component is “mān” (“crime”) or “man” (“person”). Given the elements of the compound, the kenning may in fact have the rather neutral meaning of “man-warrior”. My best guesses are “man-harmer” and “crime-warrior” since the word is also used for the dragon and Grendel. 30Alfano, 8. The other “wolf” warriors are Beowulf; his namesake, the son of Scyld; Wulfgar, Hrothgar's thane; and a Geat named Wulf. 31See Table 1 for sampling of modern translations of the word aglæcwif. 32Carlson, 360; Kuhn, 214. 33Menzer, 4–5. 34Carlson, 360; Kuhn, 215, 217–18; K. P. Taylor, 14–15; Orchard, Pride and Prodigies, 33; Menzer, 1. 35Dictionary of Old English, 603–4. 36Ibid. 37Magennis, 107. 38Schrader, 41; Olsen, “Women in Beowulf,” 153; Chance, 101; Haruta, 12. 39Robert A. Albano argues that Hildeburh was almost certainly involved in avenging her kin: “the Anglo-Saxon audience would have considered Hildeburh extraordinary or unrealistic if she had not participated in that vengeance” (7). 40Chance, 101. 41Olsen, “Women in Beowulf,” 153. 42Bosworth and Toller, 665. 43Paul Beekman Taylor asserts that Beowulf uses masculine pronouns here because he believes that the avenger is male, perhaps Grendel himself (65–6). But Hrothgar clearly tells Beowulf: “Heoþa fæhÐe wræc, / þe þu gystran niht Grendel cwealdest” (“She avenged the feud in which you killed Grendel yesternight”) (1333b–4, my emphasis). Later, Hrothgar tells Beowulf, He æt wige gecrang ealdres scyldig, ond nu oþer cwom, mihtig manscaÐa, wolde hyre mæg wrecan, ge feor hafaÐ fæhÐe gestæled … (1337b–40, my emphasis) [He (Grendel) fell in battle, forfeiting life, and now another has come, a mighty man-harmer wished to avenge her kinsman. From afar, she avenged the feud …] Granted, Hrothgar does not specify the identity of the avenger, but his short statement clearly indicates four things: 1) Grendel is dead, and consequently; 2) the avenger is not Grendel; 3) the avenger is kin to Grendel; and 4) the avenger is female. As the text gives us no indication that Beowulf does not understand Hrothgar's information, the use of the masculine pronouns in Beowulf's reply must either be a scribal error, a theory which I have not encountered, or a deliberate poetic choice. 44Orchard, Pride and Prodigies, 30. 45Damico, 122; Kiernan, 28–9; G. A. Morgan, 60. 46Although “Grendles broÐor” might also work, the themes of the poem and Grendel's connection to Cain would make the vengeance of Grendel's brother rather ironic. 47Clark, 93; Orchard, Critical Companion, 193. 48Chadwick, 173. 49Orchard, Pride and Prodigies, 39. 50The poem never tells us specifically that Grendel's mother breathes water, or is fish-like, or has gills. Moreover, her mere-hall, where she lives, is not underwater but underneath water, for we are told that the water does not come inside and does not harm Beowulf in any way (1512b–16a). 51The terms “grundhyrde” (2136b) and “grundwyrgenne” (1518b) could conceivably convey hellish connotations, as “grund” can mean “hell” as well as “ground”, “depth, sea” (Bosworth and Toller, 491). But since Grendel's mother is literally a “sea guardian” and a “sea outlaw”, assigning demonic connotations to these words may be reading too much into the text. 52Clark, 92. 53Irving, 71; Clark, 92. 54Puhvel claims that the giant-forged sword melts because of the mother's blood, not Grendel's: “this is, after all, an episode dealing centrally with the ogress and her fearsome qualities. Moreover, the blood of the male monster ought to be thought of as being cold by this time” (Celtic Tradition, 40 note). But the poem does not tell us that anything strange happens to the sword upon the death of Grendel's mother, but it specifically states that the sword melts after Beowulf beheads Grendel (1605b–11), and either immediately or soon after (“Sona” in line 1591a) Beowulf beheads Grendel's corpse, the mere becomes unsettled and bloody (1591–4a), as it had when Grendel returns to the mere in lines 847–9. Clearly, Grendel's blood has unusual and frightening powers, but neither diction, narration, or event assign such powers to the blood of Grendel's mother. 55Kiernan, 17. 56P. B. Taylor, 69. 57The accusations of cannibalism rest chiefly on two phrases used by Hrothgar: “æse wlanc” and “fylle gefægnod” (1332a, 1333a). Most translators and commentators interpret these phrases as pertaining to eating: “glorying in the food” and “rejoicing in the feast”. But “fylle” is used later to mean “fall” when Grendel's mother throws Beowulf in line 1544b; Grendel's mother could very likely be rejoicing in the Æschere's fall. And “æs” does not only mean “food, meat” but also “a dead carcass” (Bosworth and Toller, 19). Since the Danes glory in the carcass of Grendel by displaying it, not by eating it, cannibalism is not necessarily implied here, either. Nor does the discovery of Æschere's head in lines 1420–3a indicate that Grendel's mother has eaten the rest of Hrothgar's thane, especially since the head is found next to a bloody mere into which the rest of the body could conveniently be dumped. 58Kiernan, 14; Olsen, “Women in Beowulf,” 152. 59Bosworth and Toller, 1218. 60Menzer, 3–4. 61Bosworth and Toller, 586. 62Carlson, 361; Meaney, 24; Temple, 14; Bellanoff, 258; K. P. Taylor, 18. An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary adds this note to the definition of ides: “it is a word little used except in poetry, and it is supposed by Grimm to have been applied, in the earliest times, …to superhuman beings, occupying a position between goddesses and mere women” (Bosworth and Toller, 586). 63Meaney, 24. 64Better for everyone but Æschere, that is. 65Damico, 122; Kiernan, 27–9. 66Liggins, 201; Kiernan, 26; Olsen, “Women in Beowulf,” 152; Irving, 70; Clark, 92; K. P. Taylor, 21–2; Orchard, Pride and Prodigies, 30; Magennis, 75; Wilson, 22. 67Alfano, 4. 68Carlson, 361. 69Bosworth and Toller, 30, 29. 70Ibid., 680; Klaeber 374. 71The Anglo-Saxon Dictionary's entries on “wif” does not include “witch” among its definitions (Bosworth and Toller, 1217–18; Toller, 745). 72Swanton, trans., 99; Hieatt, trans., 36. 73Bosworth and Toller, 1151. 74E. Morgan, 1518–19; Greenfield, 1518–19; Kennedy, 49; Heaney, 1518–19. 75Kennedy, 42; Crossley-Holland, trans., 43; Heaney, 1292. 76Olsen, “Women in Beowulf,” 153; Albano, 8. Additional informationNotes on contributorsM. Wendy Hennequin M. Wendy Hennequin is a member of the Department of Languages, Literature, and Philosophy, Tennessee State University, USA.
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