Afternoon of Alterity - Nazareth College

Cain had/killed his father’s son” resides on the outskirts of society(Beowulf 1260-62). Her lineage, her ties to the biblical Cain, exilesher from society and therefore declares her to be ‘other’, yet, she doesnothing to interact with society until Grendel is killed at the handsof Beowulf, and cannot therefore be deemed truly monstrous tillthen. Paul Acker, in his essay “Horror and the Maternal in Beowulf”,claims “the appearance of Grendel’s mother is the more marked forthe fact that she is introduced in the narrative action only after shealready intruded upon it” (Acker 705). The fact that she has notbeen introduced into the text until after her violent action againstHeorot can be interpreted as the cultures ignorance to the power ofwomen. Grendel’s mother is not considered a threat till she acts outin violence against the people of Heorot. This illustrates how thepower of culture lies in its ability to construct a national identity andmore importantly upon this national identity’s ability to establishcultural anxieties and phobias (Clark 169). In this case, nationalidentity’s established anxiety is a woman capable of straddling theborder between the genders.Grendel’s Mother is, of course, female. Dorothy Yamamotosuggests that “her years in the wilderness have not unsexed her: sheis still, unmistakably, a women” (Yamamoto 198). Her femininity,although warped by her bodily difference from humanity, isgrounded in her ability to produce a child. Traditionally, Females arerelegated to certain roles that consist of being either a peacemaker ora hostess. Jane Chance claims, in her essay “The Structural Unity ofBeowulf: The Problem of Grendel’s Mother”, that:the role of woman in Beowulf primarily depends upon“peace-making,” either biologically through her maritalties with foreign kings, as a peace-pledge or mother of sons,or socially and psychologically as a cup-passing and peaceweavingqueen within a hall. (Chance 249)anna iuppa 107