The Inevitable Connection between Grendel and His Mother

                As I was reading Grendel, I became puzzled by the strange relationship between Grendel and his mother. Unlike normal mothers and sons, Grendel and his mother have a peculiar and maybe volatile relationship. Grendel describes his mother as a “life-bloated, baffled, long-suffering hag” which is extremely caustic and harsh (Gardener 11). Furthermore, he calls her “pitiful, foul, her smile a jagged white tear in the firelight: waste” which reveals the deepening hatred Grendel feels toward his mother (55). Grendel obviously disrespects his mother but on the contrary, his mother serves as his ultimate protector. Unbeknown to Grendel, Grendel is a cursed creature who is condemned by society. Therefore, Grendel’s mother attempts to protect Grendel by hiding him in a cave protected by fire snakes. She even loses her voice because of her guilt towards an “ancestral crime” (220). She laments over her son’s obvious curiosity about the world because she knows he will be rejected and ostracized by society. As a result, Grendel’s mother hopes to appease his curiosity and express her motherly love by “[smashing him] to her fat, limp breast as if to make [him] a part of her flesh again” (17).  By doing so, Grendel’s mother hopes to make Grendel codependent on her so he can never out in the harsh world. Like the time of her pregnancy, Grendel’s mother wishes to be united with him in body and heart. In my opinion, Grendel’s mother is a loving mother (though unconventional) who wishes to protect her son. She is like those mothers who protect their children so excessively that the children are not able to grasp reality. It also seems that her motherly love makes her humanistic which ultimately portrays her as a 3-dimensional character. For instance, she is constantly depicted as a violent monster by humans but she is actually a worried mom driven by guilt. In other words, she is an emotional being who becomes violent only to protect her son. Also, I noticed that Grendel’s mother might be a representation of Grendel and his future. We must recollect that Grendel’s mother is also cursed by society due to her connection with Cain. Therefore, she “dissects and ponders the dusty mechanical bits of her miserable life’s curse” to lament her fate (11). Grendel, too, later on laments his fate by asking the dark chasms/ cliff to seize him and take him to his death. Moreover, he engages in a 12 year battle with Hrothgar and his thanes because he accepts the fate people conceive of him. By readily accepting a fate that has great potential to be changed, we can see that Grendel has become tired and pessimistic towards life. Grendel, who was a curious and enthusiastic child, has now lost his tireless spirit and becomes a “long-suffering hag” like his mother (11). Grendel and his mother both end up as solemn and hopeless individuals who view life as meaningless.  Since Grendel falls into the fate of his mother, he will most likely unite with his mother since he now understands her.