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Grendel's mother (s (along with Grendel and the Dragon ) in the Anglo-Saxon epic poem '' Beowulf '' (c. 700-1000 AD); she is never given a name in the text. STORY :See main article: '' Beowulf '' The poem, '' Beowulf ,'' is contained in the '' Nowell Codex ''. As noted in lines 106-114 and lines 1260-1267 of ''Beowulf,'' Grendel's mother and Grendel are descendants of Cain . After Grendel is wounded and Grendel's mother attacks Heorot in revenge, Beowulf ventures into her lake - based home. When Grendel's mother sensed he was nearby, she immediately attacked Beowulf and dragged him into her home. They then engage in fierce combat. Grendel's mother nearly defeats Beowulf until he sees a sword in the "mere." He uses the sword to kill Grendel's mother and to behead the corpse of Grendel. Beowulf then returns to the surface and to his men at the "ninth hour" (l. 1600, "nōn", about 3pm). Jack, George. ''Beowulf: A Student Edition,'' p. 123 PEACEWEAVER, HOSTESS, OR MONSTER as the Hostess of the banquet]] Scholars have noted that Grendel's mother functions in the poem as a Foil to female protagonists who fulfill the roles of ''hostess'' ( Wealhþeow and Hygd ) and ''peaceweaver'' ( Freawaru and Hildeburh ). Grendel's mother and Modþryð (before her marriage to Offa ) are also sometimes juxtaposed as representative of "monster-women." 1 In this context, Jane Chance (Professor of English, Rice University ) argued for similarities between the juxtaposition of Wealtheow and Grendel's mother to that of the Virgin Mary and Eve (1980, 1986). OVERVIEW OF DEBATE: ''IDES, AGLæCWIF'' Scholars have debated the nature of ''Grendles modor'' since the rise of Second-wave Feminism in the 1970s . Grendel's mother is something of a Conundrum to scholars due in large part to her descent from the biblical Cain , the first murderer. For some scholars, this justifies a monstrous appearance. For others, it implies that Grendel's mother is a marginal (rather than monstrous) figure due to the fact that she bears the Curse And Mark Of Cain . This lack of consensus has led to debate among scholars over the past few decades concerning the English translation of lines 1258b - 1259a: :1258b: ...Grendles modor :1259a: ides, aglæcwif... The theories below have been both fiercely supported (Alfano, 1992; Kiernan, 1984; Taylor, 1994) and contested (Chance, 1986/1990, Menzer, 1996, Temple, 1986) over the ensuing decades. Wretch, or monster of a woman (Klaeber) Up until the late or Grendel's mother. On the other hand, "aglaeca/aeglaeca" is translated by Klaeber as "warrior, hero" when referring to the character, Beowulf . Klaeber, Fr, and ed. ''Beowulf and the Fight at Finnsburg''. Third ed. Boston: Heath, 1950. Klaeber has influenced a number of translations of ''Beowulf.'' Notable interpretations of this line which follow Klaeber include, "Monster-woman," Chickering, Howell D. ''Beowulf''. Garden City, N.Y.: Anchor Books, 1989. "Woman, monster – wife," Donaldson, E. Talbot, and Nicholas Howe. ''Beowulf : A Prose Translation : Backgrounds and Contexts, Criticism''. A Norton Critical Edition;. 2nd ed. New York: Norton, 2002. "Ugly troll-lady," Trask, Richard M. ''Beowulf and Judith : Two Heroes''. Lanham, Md.: University Press of America, 1998. and "Monstrous hag." Kennedy, Charles W., and tr. Beowulf, the Oldest English Epic. New York: London Oxford University Press, 1940. Klaeber's definition further influenced Adrien Bonjour, who in his 1949 essay, "Grendel's Dam and the Composition of Beowulf,"Bonjour, Adrien. "Grendel's Dam and the Composition of Beowulf." Twelve Beowulf Papers, 1940-1960, with Additional Comments. Ed. Adrien Bonjour. Neuchâtel: Faculté des lettres, 1962: 29-42. popularized the use of "Dam" for "mother" (where the '', whose acclaimed 2001 edition of ''Beowulf'' translated ll.1258b - 1259a as "Grendel's mother, monstrous hell bride." Heaney, Seamus ''[http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0393320979&id=ynD9o-LfTDMC&pg=PP1&lpg=PP1&ots=4rtZ-a90PG&dq=Beowulf:+A+New+Verse+Translation&sig=TANJDD5siOW13PupnLi4qiw6SYk Beowulf: A New Verse Translation ''. New York: W.W. Norton, 2001. Three-part structure (Chance) Chance upheld Klaeber's translations in her 1980 article, "The Structural Unity of Beowulf: The Problem of Grendel's Mother." She also sought to redefine the thematic importance of Grendel's mother by arguing that there are two standard interpretations of the poem: one view suggests a two-part structure (i.e. the poem is divided between '' in ''Preceedings of the British Academy 22'' (1936)."Chance, Jane. "The Structural Unity of Beowulf: The Problem of Grendel's Mother." ''New Readings on Women in Old English Literature.'' Eds. Helen Damico and Alexandra Hennessey Olsen. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1990:258 In contrast, she argued that the three-part structure has become "increasingly popular." Chance, Jane. "The Structural Unity of Beowulf: The Problem of Grendel's Mother." ''New Readings on Women in Old English Literature.'' Eds. Helen Damico and Alexandra Hennessey Olsen. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1990:258 "The structural position" of Grendel's mother, Chance stated, is as important as that of the ''peaceweaver'' (cup-passer). Chance, Jane. "The Structural Unity of Beowulf: The Problem of Grendel's Mother." ''New Readings on Women in Old English Literature.'' Eds. Helen Damico and Alexandra Hennessey Olsen. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1990:258 Lady, warrior-woman (Kuhn, Stanley, & Alfano) preparing for the battle (Queen Antiope or Armed Venus) - Pierre-Eugène-Emile Hébert 1860 National Gallery Of Art ]] In a 1979 article, Sherman Kuhn (Emeritus Professor of English and former editor of the '' Middle English Dictionary ,'' University Of Michigan Middle English Dictionary Review ) questioned Klaeber's translations of both "aglaec-wif" and of "aglaeca/aeglaeca" when referring to Grendel and Grendel's mother. Rather, he argued that the term "aglaeca" should be defined as "a fighter, valiant warrior, dangerous opponent, one who struggles fiercely." Kuhn, S.: "Old English Aglaeca-Middle Irish Olach." Linguistic Method: ''Essays in Honor of Herbert Penzl'', pages 218. Mouton Publishers, 1979 Kuhn thus suggested that: E.G. Stanley (Emeritus Professor of Anglo-Saxon , Oxford University E.G. Stanley ) also added to the discussion in 1979 by focusing upon the word ''Ides'' (lady). He argued that: These arguments were notably supported by Christine Alfano (Lecturer in English, Stanford University ) who argued in her 1992 article, "The Issue of Feminine Monstrosity: A Reevaluation of Grendel's Mother" that: A number of scholars have continued Stanley's discussion of "Ides" as "lady" when discussing Grendel's mother most notably Temple ("Grendel's Lady-Mother," 1986) and Taylor (who argues in his 1994 essay that the term ''Ides'' indicates that "Grendel's mother is a woman of inherently noble status"Taylor, Keith. "Beowulf 1259a: The Inherent Nobility of Grendel's Mother." ''English Language Notes'' 31.3 (March 1994): 18). In addition, while Kevin Kiernan (Emeritus Professor of English, , in his loose 2001 translation, compared Grendel's mother to an " Amazon Warrior " in l.1283 (swá bið mægþa cræft). Heaney, Seamus '' Beowulf: A New Verse Translation ''. New York: W.W. Norton, 2001. Ides/Dis (Norse mythology) The , the '' Dísir '' ("ladies") are fate goddesses who can be both benevolent and antagonistic towards mortal people. Consequently, many have pointed out that ''dís'' is probably the original term for the Valkyrie s (lit. "choosers of the slain"), which in turn would be a Kenning for ''dís''.Including: Ström, Folke (1954) ''Diser, nornor, valkyrjor: Fruktberhetskult och sakralt kungadöme i Norden''; Näsström, Britt-Mari (1995) ''Freyja: The Great Goddess of the North''; and Hall, Alaric (2004) '' The Meanings of ''Elf'', and Elves, in Medieval England ''. on a horse (1908)]] Valkyries (Chadwick and Damico) Following the connection between Ides and Dis, first Chadwick (1959) and later Damico (Professor of English, University Of New Mexico ) in two works (1980)/(1984) argue that Grendel's mother may have been a Mother Goddess from Norse Mythology , possibly the myth of the Valkyrie s. In her 1980 essay, "The Valkyrie Reflex in Old English Literature," Damico argues that: Damico later argues in ''Beowulf's Wealhtheow and the Valkyrie Tradition'' that Wealtheow and Grendel's mother represent different aspects of the valkyrie. Gefion (Battaglia) In his 1991 article, "The Germanic Earth Goddess in Beowulf", Frank Battaglia (Professor of English, CUNY ) developed the correlation between Ides and Dis (p. 433) by linking Grendel's mother with Gefion , one of the Asynjur in Norse Mythology . He asks: Battaglia offers five passages (and their translations) which he argues reference Gefion: l.49 (''géafon on gársecg'' - "Gefion on the waves"), l.362 (''ofer geofenes begang'' - "over Gefion's realm"), l.515 (''geofon ýþum''- "Gefion welled up in waves"), l.1394 (''né on gyfenes grund'' - "Ground of Gefion"), and l.1690 (''gifen géotende'' - "Gefion gushing"). Battaglia links these terms to Grendel's mother (the ''merewif'' or Kuhn's 'water-woman', woman of the mere') through their reference to water (Klaeber offers a number of spellings for this word in his glossary: ''geofon'' as "sea, ocean" and offers the alternate spellings, "gifen, 1690", "geofenes, 362" and "gyfenes, 1394"). Indeed, Battaglia notes that "in Old English poetry, geofon is a word for ocean which has been seen since Jakob Grimm (1968, 198) as related to the name Gefion of the Danish Earth Goddess...power to divide land and sea is shown by representations of Gefion in Norse literature." Battaglia, Frank. "The Germanic Earth Goddess in Beowulf" in ''The Mankind Quarterly'', page 416. Summer 1991 Author ''. Dictionary of Old English ]] The '' Dictionary Of Old English '', University Of Toronto , made the following updates in 1994 :
The 1994 DOE translations were supported by George Jack (Former Lecturer in English, (Emeritus Fellow at St Edmund Hall, University Of Oxford ) in his 1998 glossary of ''Beowulf.'' Melinda Menzer (Associate Professor of English, Furman University ) critiqued both the new DOE translations, as well as those influenced by Klaeber, in a 1996 article which argued that the actual meaning of ''aglaeca'' is problematic. Thus, Menzer states, "from the semantic norms governing compounds with -wif, that the word does not merely refer to the female equivalent of a male or genderless ''aglaeca'' ('female warrior,' 'female monster'); ''aglaecwif'' denotes a woman, a human female, who is also ''aglaeca'' {Link without Title} Indeed ''wif'' alone always refers to a woman, rather than a female being." Menzer, Melinda J. "Aglaecwif (Beowulf 1259a): Implications for -Wif Compounds, Grendel's Mother, and Other Aglaecan." English language notes 34.1 (September 1996):2 REPRESENTATIONS OF GRENDEL'S MOTHER IN LITERATURE, VISUAL MEDIA, AND POPULAR CULTURE Cinema
in his illustrated 1932 edition of ''Beowulf'']]
Comics
Literature and illustrated editions
SEE ALSO REFERENCES Dictionaries:
English translations and dual text:
Scholarship:
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