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- Grendel’s mother was on a mission to avenge her son’s death in Heorot, and she escaped with her son’s arm, which was on display at the mead house. Hrothgar asked Beowulf to battle Grendel’s mother because the king believed he was the only man capable of dealing with such monsters.
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Though Grendel is dead, Grendel's mother still lives, and wants revenge for the death of her son. She enters Heorot and seizes a man, waking the other warriors. Frightened, she takes Grendel's arm from its place under the roof, and flees.
- A Second Fight (Lines 1408–1639)
Grendel's mother stabs Beowulf with a knife, but his mail...
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Beowulf vs. Grendel (Lines 702–836) Celebration (Lines...
- A Second Fight (Lines 1408–1639)
Instead of cowering in grief, the mother seeks revenge. Although the Danes have heard that the swamp may harbor two ogres, they seem to believe that the problem is solved when Beowulf defeats Grendel. On the night after that victory, the Scyldings celebrate with a great deal of food and drink.
She enters the poem as an “avenger” (l.1258), seeking redress for the death of her son at Beowulf’s hands. For this reason, some readers have seen Grendel’s mother as an embodiment of ancient Northern European society’s tendency toward unending blood-feuds.
Hrothgar asked Beowulf to battle Grendel’s mother because the king believed he was the only man capable of dealing with such monsters. This was because Beowulf had...
As noted in lines 106–114 and lines 1260–1267 of Beowulf, monsters (which include Grendel's mother and Grendel) are descendants of Cain. After Grendel is killed, Grendel's mother attacks Heorot in revenge. Beowulf then ventures into her cave under a lake, and engages in fierce combat with Grendel's mother.
Analysis. The intensity of the epic increases in these lines, as its second part begins with the arrival of Grendel’s mother at the hall. The idea of the blood feud, which has been brought up earlier in the scop’s stories and in Hrothgar’s memory of the Wulfings’ grudge against Ecgtheow, now enters the main plot.
Beowulf's reason for fighting Grendel heavily involves societal expectations, whereas his fight against Grendel's mother appears to stem primarily from a sense of responsibility to...
