Afternoon of Alterity - Nazareth College

dismemberment after Beowulf grips his arm so tightly that “a gapingwound opened / in his shoulder-joint, his sinews sprang apart, /his joints burst asunder” (Beowulf 816-818). Grendel flees, bleedingprofusely and howling in pain, until his lethal wound causes him tocollapse and die.In addition, Grendel’s mother leaves behind Aeschere’s head as ataunt to the warriors who pursue her. It causes the men great distress:…To all the Danes,The men of the Scyldings, many a thane,It was a sore pain to every earl, when on the seacliffThey came upon the head of Aeschere. (Beowulf 1417-1421)They had just seen Aeschere alive and well, speaking with the headthat is now dismembered, and is gazing at them lifelessly. The headis now an object, not a part of a person who was once whole. Cohenelaborates that, “The head is the seat of the soul, the biologicaland allegorical ruler of the lower limbs. In its absence, the body(social or personal) is acephalic, undifferentiated” (Cohen, “Body inPieces” 85). Without a head, a body is nothing, and vice versa. Uponhis decapitation, Aeschere was transformed from a person into acorporeal segment of a previous concrete entity. Although Grendelhimself does not perform this act, his mother does so in an attemptto avenge her son. She extends his reign of terror through her ownmurderous means.When Beowulf decapitates the corpse of Grendel in the sea-cave,he is banishing the fear that the monster imposes upon the Danes.It is possible for Grendel, through magic or some other device, toreturn to life and continue to plague Heorot. But without a head,Grendel can do nothing. He cannot devour or function, andtherefore by decapitation his death becomes permanent. Likewise,Beowulf’s victory becomes indelibly imprinted onto Danish history.98 afternoons of alterity