Dichotomy Of Grendel's Mother In Beowulf

The Dichotomy of Grendel’s Mother in Beowulf In his chapter “The Might of Grendel’s Mother” from the book Beowulf and Celtic Tradition, author Puhvel argues that the character of Grendel’s mother is dichotomously written insofar that she is at once a fighter and defender, but is simultaneously inferior to her son. At the same time, women are portrayed as creatures to be feared throughout the land, yet they are written as being primarily peacemakers. As taken from an Anglo-Saxon text by Curtin the Puhvel uses the passage of Curtain’s Myths and Folklore of Ireland to substantiate his claim. The passage reads (via translation) “The fear was less by just so much as women’s strength, a woman’s war-terror, is, as compared with that caused by a man, …show more content…
Grendel, as a de facto “star” of the poem, must be written as the superior being inasmuch as all heroes are portrayed as being one of the biggest and the baddest of any work of literature. Grendel’s mother, as other characters, must be portrayed as being less-than any hero; it simply is this way or else heroes would not be heroes, or even anti-heroes. As still occurs in many modern tales, the women in Beowulf are depicted as being mentally more astute and peaceable than men, but their physicality is inferior to those of the male characters, much as it is with real-life physiology. As Puhvel writes “(W)hereas Grendel had terrorized and slaughtered the assembled Danish… and carried off thirty at a time, the ogress contents herself with seizing one and beats a hasty retreat when she is discovered. Thus the notion of female physical inferiority is here unmistakably woven into the fabric of the poem” (15). He also states that it is the women’s characters’ proper roles to be peacemakers rather than fighters, and Grendel’s mother’s quick retreat is proof of this. There may also be a cultural explanation as