Transcription
I want to just cover a few of the minor details that I think are important details in the battle that Beowulf wages with Grendel's Mother. The first detail that I kind of missed, uh, the first couple of times that I read this was that Beowulf is not present at Heorot Hall when Grendel's Mother comes to attack. Uh, I'd assume before that he was just sleeping there and slept through the attack, but it's explained here that Beowulf, because of his victory, is actually celebrating somewhere kind of fancier, uh, because he killed Grendel the night before. But Beowulf's not there to witness the attack of Grendel's Mother, and so the next morning, uh, Hrothgar, when he learns of the attack, he requests that Beowulf come and once again come to the aid of, uh, the Danes and the plight they face.
Now, something interesting though, when you think of Beowulf's villains and the monsters that Beowulf faces, Grendel is known much more for his brute strength. Uh, Grendel has the ability to carry 30 men away to their deaths. Grendel's Mother is seen as the more cunning, the more calculating, and I, I'd say the more dangerous of the two villains. Uh, we see here that she doesn't just kill for the sake of killing, like Grendel. She actually has a target in her night raid. She's only able to kill one individual in her attack, but if you notice the, the individual that she attacks, who's Aeschere, Aeschere was Hrothgar's dearest companion. And so it's interesting that, uh, Grendel's Mother was able to kill, uh, the person that would most hurt Hrothgar in his death. So this, we see kind of the vindictiveness of that attack, that it's not one of blind fury, but there, there's a target that she's able to surgically strike.
We also see the mother's continued, um, awareness that she's getting revenge for her son Grendel's death. When Beowulf and his men and Hrothgar, uh, arrive at, kind of the lake, the, the pool that they know as the den of Grendel's Mother, they find a trophy that the, Grendel's Mother has left. Uh, Grendel's Mother steals Grendel's arm down from Heorot Hall, she takes it away, because, I guess, we can think she understands that her son's severed arm should not be used as a trophy. So she steals this away and just kind of to get back, she leaves a trophy. Aeschere's head, uh, is awaiting the band when they arrive on her lair. So I think this shows some intelligence that Grendel, we didn't really see much intelligence with Grendel, but with his mother, we definitely do. Um, I enjoy he that instead of it being Grendel's father who's the focus, which we don't really know anything about his father, it's Grendel's Mother. And I do think here that the, uh, the narrator of the story definitely portrays the, the danger that Grendel's Mother possesses. This is another strong, just in a different way, a strong female character. We talked about in other videos that Wealhtheow shows some strength as a woman character, but here Grendel's Mother also comes across as a strong female presence, although evil.
Um, before Beowulf goes to confront Grendel's Mother, he seems to know that he may not be coming back from this. In fact, he, I think, he's indifferent to death. He, he knows that he will die eventually, so he's not really looking for his death, but he's also not going to shy away from it. He does, though, uh, something that he didn't do before his confrontation with Grendel. And I wonder if he knows that because he, he does this, he understands that his chance of coming back is less. He leaves a will, uh, and in the will, he actually shows the qualities of a good king. He makes sure that his men, uh, who followed him here to gain glory, will be taken care of by Hrothgar, and also that his king will be, uh, taken care of. That, uh, this shows Beowulf, even before he's king, he understands that a good king is a ring-giver, not a ring-hoarder. And later on in the story, Hrothgar warns Beowulf, uh, that the temptation to be a, a bad king, that a good king can turn into a bad king through greed. And this becomes kind of an important parallel when we get to the battle with the dragon, but we'll talk about that later. But we do see though that Hrothgar warns Beowulf to beware of greed, to always be the generous king. And Beowulf shows that generosity, uh, even before he's king.
I think it's interesting here, Beowulf and weapons do not go well. We'll see this continue. In fact, the narrator even points this out in the, uh, the confrontation with the dragon. But Beowulf is someone who's so strong that, uh, his use of weapons, he's, he's too hard on them. We see here, uh, Beowulf, uh, is lent the sword Hrunting from Unferth, who is kind of, uh, not the nicest guy in the world, we find out in the, uh, first part of the story. But, uh, it seems here that Unferth is trying to make amends. So he says here, take this sword, and it's a sword with a very good reputation, it's a, you know, it's a sword that's well-tested in battle. But Hrunting completely fails him. It's completely ineffective against Grendel's Mother. It just glances right off. So it's interesting that with the battle of Grendel, Beowulf goes in unarmed, wanting to be equals with, uh, Grendel, and he wins just fine. He, he rips Grendel's arm off barehanded. But he goes to confront, uh, the mother and he decides to go armed, and the battle does not go as smoothly.
Um, before we get to the battle, I think it's interesting that the men, uh, that Beowulf brought, his 15, now one, companions follow and they wait for Beowulf's return. Where everyone else, all of Hrothgar's men and Hrothgar himself, kind of give up on Beowulf. They think, well, he's not coming back. There's that blood surge once, uh, Beowulf kills Grendel's Mother, and they all assume that that's Beowulf's blood, he's not coming back. But Beowulf's men, they wait. And I think this shows an important parallel with Christ, that Beowulf's departure, uh, we should be faithful for his return, that he will return again, and we have to wait for that. So, you know, we talked about in the first part that there's lots of references to Christianity, and this would be the narrator's way to subtly, and sometimes not so subtly, uh, influence the audience to this new Christian idea of the time period.
Now, the actual fight with Grendel's Mother is pretty savage, and Beowulf loses the upper hand. In fact, Grendel's Mother gets the best of Beowulf at one point, and had Beowulf not been wearing armor, he would have been dead. Um, he is saved by the armor that he's wearing, that mail shirt, uh, stops the knife that she plunges, uh, at him, and it glances off instead. So, you know, Beowulf always had control in the fight with Grendel. He had the upper hand, pardon the pun. But, um, with the battle with Grendel's Mother, he does not. He, uh, it's just luck that he happens to see, or divine intervention, he happens to see this sword that's the giant sword that's actually going to work, uh, against Grendel's Mother and kill her.
Um, I, I think the last detail I want to point out is at the very end, after Beowulf returns to his king, there seems to be an indication that Beowulf in his younger days may not have been as promising of a figure as he is now. There seems to be an indication that, uh, Beowulf is a little bit of a, a Cinderella figure, that, uh, no one thought he could do well. And now, when he returns from his fight, his victory over Grendel and Grendel's Mother, um, he's completely changed the perspective of everyone, uh, who basically thought he would be kind of a weak, ineffective leader. He's actually gone off somewhere else, some other land, to make a name for himself, and he brings that name back. And it definitely takes hold, as we see in the confrontation with the dragon. He is king during that. And so the next video, we'll talk about how he does with the dragon.