Ms. Peifer
10IB Hr. 04
13 December 2008
(Lines 1276-1293)
1276 made for his death-den. But now his mother
had sallied forth on a savage journey,
grief-racked and ravenous, desperate for revenge.
She came to Heorot. There, inside the hall,
1280 Danes lay asleep, earls who would soon endure
a great reversal, once Grendel's mother
attacked and entered. Her onslaught was less
only by as much as an amazon warrior's
strength is less than an armed man's
when the hefted sword, its hammered edge
and gleaming blade slathered in blood,
razes the sturdy boar-ridge off a helmet.
Then in the hall, hard honed swords
were grabbed from the bench, many a broad shield
1290 lifted and braced; there was little thought of helmets
or woven mail when they woke in terror.
The hell-dam was in panic, desperate to get out,
in mortal terror the moment she was found.
In the story Beowulf, it is obvious that the hero isn't Grendel or Grendel's mother but Beowulf. Grendel is injured by Beowulf and in the lines 1276-1293, you can see Grendel's mother's concern for him. She is "desperate for revenge" (Haney 1278) and has become an angry and mad woman. She is now on the hunt for Beowulf. In this passage of Beowulf, Haney uses many descriptive terms and imagery to describe Grendel's mother's pain. The tone that you get from the passage is fierceness and anger but at the same time fear and desperateness.
There are many descriptive terms used such as "hammered edge" (Haney 1285) and "grief-racked and ravenous" (Haney 1278). Haney is using the term "hammered edge" (Haney 1285) to describe the sword. The sword in the shape of a hammer and also has edges of a hammer. it gives us an image of how the sword looks like and how it would be able to kill or injure a person. Another descriptive term used is "grief-racked and ravenous" (Haney 1278). This describes Grendel's mother's feelings and her emothions she feels towards Beowulf. She is sad for her son but at the same time she has hunger for revenge.
An imagery used in this passage is "savage journey" (Haney 1277). This shows an image of the anger and cruelty she feels inside of her. The emotions she can not control that she has to get revenge to get even and end her part. She feels the need to get back at Beowulf and now all that is on her mind is revenge. Another imagery used is "gleaming blade slathered in blood" (Haney 1286). This imagery shows us an image of a shiny and glowing sword covered in rose red blood. This just goes to show that Grendel's mother is not going to stop her actions for anyone. She is determined to get back at Beowulf.
Like said before, the tone for this passage is fierceness and anger but also fear and desperateness. You can hear the fear coming from the warriors when it says "there was little thought of helmets/ or woven mail when they woke up in terror./ The hell-dam was in panic, desperate to get out" (Haney 1290-1293). They were definitely scared of Grendel's mother and were in a rush to get away as far as possible and as quick as they could. The fierceness and anger comes from Grendel's mother who is ready to hurt anyone and everyone that comes in her way. The tone of desperateness actually comes from both characters, Grendel's mother and the warriors, but one kind is out of anger and the other is out of fear. Like it says in the passage Grendel's mother is "desperate for revenge" (Haney 1278) which shows how bad she wants to kill Beowulf. For the warriors, they are desperate to get away from Grendel's mother, they were "desperate to get out" (Haney 1292).
Overall this whole passage shows mainly the character traits of fear, anger, revenge and desperation. They are either from one character or the other or coming from both characters. This passage is effective because it uses many descriptive terms and imagery. It also sets the tone for the reader and gives us an idea of the characters tone for the future readings. It is a very important passage for the story Beowulf because it gives us a sense of how other beings feel too. They have feelings just like people even if they are different and are not regular human beings like the normal. This passage showed not as much drama as other passages would but it gives us a different point of view of Grendel's mother and shows her love for her son, Grendel.
Beowulf. Trans. Seamus Haney. New York: W.W. Norton and company, 2008.
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