Essay: Grendel and His Mother

Grendel by John Gardner and Beowulf translated by Seamus Heaney both rely on the relationship between the characters Grendel and his mother to further the main storyline and plot. Although, they use the same characters, both works of literature shine different lights on these characters and give insights as to why they live like they do. John Gardner’s Grendel and his mother have a distant relationship that pushes Grendel deeper and deeper into the human culture that is in the main world. The outlook on Grendel and his mother are very sympathetic and understanding in Grendel since the reader is told the struggles they go through, especially Grendel. On the other hand, the translation of Beowulf by Seamus Heaney depicts Grendel and his mother as nasty, beastly creatures who use their instincts to defend themselves and get revenge on those who have wronged them. Not once are they thought to have real feelings but rather just use their animalistic behaviors to fend for themselves. The role of “mama bear” is flung onto Grendel’s mother since, from an outsiders point of view, her motives are simply to defend her son. The characters Grendel and his mother are used throughout both Grendel by John Gardner and Beowulf translated by Seamus Heaney to give insight as to why the characters act the way they do, how they are viewed to the outside world, and why they so desperately seek revenge.
In Grendel, the whole story is from Grendel’s point of view which gives readers a glimpse into his life and how he longs to find his place in the world. Grendel and his mother were descendants of Cain which leads the reader to understand why they both act the way they do. Much like Cain, who was known to have magical powers, be a social outcast, and an overall outsider looking into the human world, Grendel struggled with figuring out the world around him. This fascination with the outside world and his powers began when he discovered that the lake of firesnakes did not affect him. Prior to this discovery, him and his mother spent their days lurking in the shadows at the place they called “home”, completely unbothered by outside forces. This led him to go deeper into the outside world to explore what lived beyond his underground cave. Grendel began to get more and more curious as to what was out there in the human world and began distancing himself further away from home with each adventure. All went well until he got himself stuck in the roots of a strong tree, trapping himself. He then finds himself being brutally attacked by a bull, but quickly figures out how to protect himself by twisting his body after the first initial jab. Eventually men come to see what is wrong with the tree, thinking it was fungus, but agreed it was “tree sprint”. Grendel attempts to talk to the men but they believe that he is angry and attempt to kill Grendel. He shrieks and his mother come to his aid to protect her precious son. Once they return to the cave, Grendel desperately tries to inform his mother about what he saw in the outside world. She blankly looks and her son and ignore what he is telling her. To the reader, this is a very strange family dynamic and shows the discrepancy between mother and son. Although she protects him, she is not interested in what he is telling her or even what he went through. This feeling of disconnect with his mother fuels Grendel and he begins to lash out until he is embraced warmly by his mother. Even when question where they come from and why they are different from others gets, Grendel gets a cold response. “Why are we here?” I used to ask her. “Why do we stand this putrid, stinking hole?” She trembles at my words. Her fat lips shake. “Don’t ask!” her wiggling claws implore. (She never speaks.) “Don’t ask!” It must be some terrible secret, I used to think (Gardner 11).” She just communicates with small twitches and wiggles rather than the verbal communication Grendel so desperately wants from his mother. The true emotional connection Grendel strives for from his mother is not met which throws him deeper into isolation and explains his fascination with the human way of life.
In Beowulf, Grendel and his mother were now seen through the eyes of the humans who play up their beastly nature. Grendel is introduced as the beast who has dominated Hrothgar for 12 long years in his mead-hall. His fuel to upset human life stems from his jealousy and envy he feels because he believes that humans are too joyful and happy while he is forced to live in a depressing cave with only his mother for company. He envy’s the humans, and mankind in general, because God seems to only bless the humans and not him. In harmony with Grendel, Beowulf follows the idea that Grendel is a descendant of Cain which is part of the reason he is not blessed and forced to live life as an “evil outcast”. “Till the monster stirred, that demon, that fiend/Grendel who haunted the moors, the wild/Marshes, and made his home in a hell./Not hell but hell on earth. He was spawned in that slime/Of Cain, murderous creatures banished/ By God, punished forever for the crime/ Of Abel’s death.” (Heaney 26). This furthers the idea that Grendel was an outcast and monster to society. He is known the be a ruthless beast since he is associated with Cain at all and the kingdoms truly believe he is a murderous creature. In a ugly battle, Beowulf, a man brought in from his home in the Geatlands to help Hrothgar save his lands from the mighty beast, defeated Grendel and tore his claw up to his shoulder, killing him. They then hung the claw in the hall for all to see and remember the victorious night. Distraught by the news, Grendel’s mother went out for revenge. His mother was known for not being nearly as strong as he was but in a heated tyrant, she demanded justice for her son. She attempted to murder one of the men from the mead-hall. While the fight seemed to be in her favor, Beowulf defended his man with a magical sword, found in the mother own cave, that ultimately killed her. Since the work was centered around a human victory and seen through the human point of view, Beowulf was a hero who stayed the beast. This paints both Grendel and his mother in a bad light because although she was sticking to her motherly instincts, she just wanted to see justice for her son who was killed and used as a victory trophy.
The different depiction of Grendel and his mother in both Grendel and Beowulf greatly affect the plot and how the story continues on. In Grendel, he is depicted as a soul who longs to be accepted and apart of a group. He lives his life in what feels like complete isolation and only communicates in one sided discussions. “When her strange eyes burned into me, it did not seem quite sure. I was intensely aware of where I sat, the volume of darkness I displaced, the shiny-smooth span of packed dirt between us, and the shocking separateness from me in my mama’s eyes. I would feel, all at once, alone and ugly, almost—as if I’d dirtied myself—obscene,” (Gardner 17). This emphasizes Grendel’s feeling that his mother isolates him and she is very cold towards him. This creates a longing feeling for love and acceptance from his mother that every son desires from his own mother. Without this longing feeling, Grendel would have never kept going further and further into the human world thus, would not have gotten himself into the mess he created for himself. His mother, on the other hand, could have stopped the pull of the human world from engulfing Grendel if she was more caring or communicated with her son more. She shut him out which pushed him further away everyday. They lacked the true bond a mother and son should have which ignited many push and pull factors for Grendel such as his mother pushing him away which pulled him more into the human world. These push and pull factors are critical to the continuation of the plot. In Beowulf, Grendel and his mother were seen as merely beasts which helps the plot of mankind being superior to the evil forces that surround them. Beowulf is supposed open the reader’s mind to the idea of an ideal “hero”, which in this case was Beowulf, and undermine the evils in the world. By playing up the part of the hero, it was very easy to dismiss the beasts as just simply beasts who do not stand a chance. This helped further the plot by showing the strength of mankind and how people can fend off from evils. The victory of Beowulf then brought together the two kingdoms in a permanent alliance and will eventually lead to Beowulf ruling his entire home kingdom. Without the battles between Grendel and his mother, Beowulf would have never looked so noble and got to be as high up in power as he did which keeps the story going long after Grendel’s mother was slain.
Both Grendel by John Gardner and Beowulf translated by Seamus Heaney give insight as to why the characters Grendel and his mother act the way they do, how they are viewed to the outside world, and why they so desperately seek revenge on mankind. Grendel treated Grendel and his mother as creatures who deserve sympathy, especially Grendel, not just heartless monsters. Grendel just wants to feel accepted and to come out of isolation to communicate with others. Beowulf treats Grendel and his mother are heartless beasts who only desire to harm the good world around them because they are descended of the wicked and ruthless Cain. These different views on Grendel and his mother greatly affect the plot of both stories and opens the reader to either why the creatures act they way the do or why mankind treats the creature as a monster while Beowulf is heroic for slaying the beast.
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