Volume 1 │ Issue 2 │ 2016 Grendel’s Mother: The Deviant Other in Beowulf Cheri D. Molter Methodist University North Carolina Mu Chapter Vol. 1(2), 2016 Article Title: Grendel’s Mother: The Deviant Other in Beowulf DOI: 10.21081/ax0051 ISSN: 2381-800X Key Words: Beowulf, Grendel’s Mother, patriarchy, Hrunting, Othering, deviance This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Author contact information is available from the Editor at [email protected]. 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Molter Methodist University North Carolina Mu Chapter Abstract In Beowulf, Grendel’s mother defies Anglo-Saxon cultural norms, particularly in regard to gender, and lives outside societal boundaries until her death. According to de Beauvoir’s The Second Sex, the women mentioned in Beowulf are categorized as the “Other” simply because of their common femininity. However, Grendel’s mother defies the Anglo-Saxons’ idea of proper feminine behavior through her association with Cain’s kin, her active pursuit of revenge for Grendel’s death, and her ownership of a battle hall. Thus, she is the “Other” who refuses to assume the role of a passive peace-weaver; she is the unnamed deviant who in- verts the status quo of the warrior code as a masculine domain. Beowulf is unable to defeat Grendel’s mother as he planned—with Hrunting, the named heirloom sword that had won many heroic victories without a defeat prior to this battle. Perhaps Hrunting fails to kill Grendel’s Mother because Beowulf cannot “gain glory” from killing her; or, possibly, she is impervious to Hrunting because of her deviant, unnamed “Other- ness.” Additionally, a comparison of the stories of Queen Modthryth and Grendel’s mother reveals society’s attempt to reemphasize patriarchal ideology once the threat to man’s definition of femininity is vanquished. Grendel’s mother’s lack of a name emphasizes her status as an outsider who defies categorization. Only an unnamed sword that preserves the story of the giants—other outcasts from the world of men—can kill her. Grendel’s Mother is the “Other” and too deviant; her existence is too threatening even to be recognized by name. Key words: Beowulf, Grendel’s Mother, patriarchy, Hrunting, Othering, deviance In Seamus Heaney’s translation of Beowulf, sev- ing as an outcast in the wilderness. Such is the case eral codes of conduct determine the proper behavior of one of Beowulf’s adversaries, Grendel’s Mother; for people based on their gender. A hospitality code she is an unnamed woman who does not adhere to determines the correct actions and responsibilities society’s domestic code for women. Instead, Gren- of hosts and guests; a warrior code designates the del’s Mother exemplifies characteristics of a capa- proper way in which men may pursue glory through ble warrior and is free of many of the restrictions treasure-seeking adventures and warfare; and a do- imposed on the other women in the poem. Gren- mestic code determines the appropriate behavior del’s Mother is the deviant “Other” who inverts pre- for women as passive peace-weavers who remain scribed gender codes, fights Beowulf courageously, in the home. These codes construct boundaries in and dies only from the blow of an unnamed blade which to live and assign gender roles. Once a per- that is as alien to Beowulf’s society as she is. son dismisses these boundaries and roles, the indi- According to The Second Sex by Simone de vidual could be perceived as a threat to the society Beauvoir, women are categorized as the “Other” as a whole, whether residing in civilization or liv- simply as a result of their common femininity. De 2016 Aletheia—The Alpha Chi Journal of Undergraduate Research 3 Beauvoir notes that throughout history men have as the Other is willed in heaven and advantageous defined humanity as “mankind” and oppressed on earth” (xxviii). Even the highly esteemed phi- feminine autonomy to maintain patriarchal domi- losopher Aristotle declares that “[t]he female is fe- nance: “[Woman] is defined and differentiated with male by virtue of a certain lack of qualities [and] reference to man and not he in reference to her; we should regard the female nature as afflicted with she is the incidental. He is the Subject, he is a natural defectiveness” (qtd. in de Beauvoir xxii, the Absolute—she is the Other. Thus human- emphasis in the original). His statement affirms to ity is male and man defines woman not in herself a male audience the patriarchal ideology of femi- but as relative to him; she is not regarded as an au- nine inferiority, cementing the boundaries around tonomous being” (xxii). In Beowulf, Hrothgar calls all women as the “Other” long before Anglo-Saxon Grendel’s Mother a marauder “from some other culture thrived. world . [who], as far as anyone ever can discern, Many years after Aristotle’s death, the Christian looks like a woman,” so her appearance of human- church sanctioned and institutionalized patriarchal ity and femininity are acknowledged, although it is ideology, as did other religions, and women con- clear that Hrothgar is apprehensive to recognize her tinued to be “Othered” throughout many regions of as either human or feminine (1349-51). Hrothgar’s the world. In Beowulf, the biblical story of Cain is declaration that she is a foreigner and his hesitance discussed in several sections; Hrothgar, Beowulf, to declare her human reveals the multiple ways in and their men categorize Cain as the evil “Other,” which he, as king, publicly names Grendel’s Moth- someone they believe God does not want men to er “Other.” According to him, Grendel’s Mother is emulate: “Branded an outlaw, marked by having the “Other” because she “looks like” a woman, and murdered, [Cain] moved into the wilds, shunned she is demonized as a threat because she does not company and joy” (1263-65). Unlike Grendel, who conform to the societal gender norms; she is alien is said to be an evil descendent of Cain, Grendel’s in origin and nature (1349-51). Mother is described as pagan because of an unclear Historically, men of Western cultures processed association with Cain after God banished him from the world around them through binary opposi- His land (Beowulf 1259-67). While Wealhtheow, tions—good versus evil, civilized versus wild, and Hrothgar’s wife and queen, is the “Other” merely man versus woman. In general, they considered because she is a woman, Grendel’s Mother poses a themselves active, strong, adventurous, brave, and multi-faceted threat as the “Other” because she is intelligent, and they applied the opposite charac- foreign, mysterious, and a woman. teristics to women; they decided women were pas- Not only is Grendel’s Mother the “Other,” but sive, weak, domestic, meek, and simple-minded (de she also deviates from what is expected of the “Oth- Beauvoir xxviii-xxxi). That perspective supported er.” In her essay “The Structural Unity of Beowulf: the framework for the male-dominant ideology that The Problem of Grendel’s Mother,” Jane Chance valued and celebrated only that which was famil- writes, “The role of woman . primarily depends iar and understood by men. Thus, whatever was upon ‘peace-making,’ either biologically through foreign, mysterious, or physically different was to marital ties with foreign kings as a peace-pledge or . be destroyed, banished, or oppressed in an attempt . socially and psychologically as a cup-passing and to maintain control. De Beauvoir explains, “Being peace-weaving queen within a hall” (156). This is men, those who have made and compiled the laws evident at the feast after Grendel’s death; Wealhthe- have favored their own sex, and jurists have elevat- ow passes a cup from man to man, in the order ac- ed these laws into principles. Legislators, priests, knowledged by his rank, and speaks publicly of her philosophers, writers, and scientists have striven expectations of her kin to protect her sons’ claim to to show that the subordinate position of woman Heorot and its throne (Beowulf 612-28, 1168-89).