Beowulf: A Story Told In One Mothers Point-of-View Essay, Research Paper
Beowulf: A Story Told in One Mothers Point-of-View
She, Grendels mother, awakens to the faint sound and smell of the things known
as men.? She has been sleeping down in her dark and dingy cave below the world
that is known to men. She has been biding her time, and plotting her revenge
against the man that murdered her son. All that she had left in the cold and
unforgivable world was her only son. Her only child was the being men despised
and called Grendel. She lifts her head from the cold cavern floor, and her ears
prick up as she hears a sound in the water beyond the entrance to her lair. She
gingerly glides through the muck of a thousand centuries, as naturally as if she
had lived all one thousand of them, and all the while she is straining to pick
up the smell of that dreaded man. Then, all at once, he is floating beside her.
He reeks of manly confidence and heroism. She reaches a quick-as-death hand, on
which are a set of vulture-like talons, and snatches him to her. She is intent
on grinding his bones into powder. She grimaces when her talons fail to gain
access to the hated heros heart. She opens her mouth to shriek her rage, but is
only answered by the firesnakes who nip and tug at her flesh. Still she is not
deterred from her morbid course. She swims back to her cave with the man still
in her evil, cunning clutches. She gains solid ground again, and casts the
killer-of-children to the floor of her dingy home. As he is recovering from the
shock of the water, and his recent capture, she has time to note that this mans
seemingly invincible flesh is merely a protective covering. She is grimly
pleased to witness his surprise and disgust at his sordid surroundings. She
cracks a wicked smile full of razor-sharp teeth as she sees his head turn, and
sees his eyes widen in recognition. The man regains his senses and draws his
mighty sword. He gives a mighty cry that strikes momentary fear into her breast,
and heaves the huge blade at her head. She sees his surprise as his sword
inflicts no damage upon her scaly skin. She thinks that he was quite foolish to
think that her sons death would not be rightfully avenged. She? believes that
she will win this battle, and drain this arrogant mortals blood before the day
has faded from the sky above them. She is caught off guard when the man drops
his sword and seizes her by one mighty shoulder, and forces her to the ground.
Her shock at being temporarily bested is, however, short-lived. Shock is quickly
replaced with a hate so deep she can see the fear burning from his eyes for the
first time since she caught him unawares outside of her lair. She feels the
shift in his foothold as she leaps to her feet and wrestles him with both of her
mighty hands. He falls to the cold cavern beneath his feet, and she seizes this
opportunity to do justice to the memory of her scorned son. She draws an evil-
looking dagger, but in her haste has forgotten about his protective metal body
armor. She lets loose an earth-shaking shriek as her thrust? is deflected, and
he rolls away from under her blade. Her eyes widen, and fear pierces the very
core of her soul as she sees what magnificent blade the hated man now wields.
She falls back to the floor and sees the powerful sword swoop down over her head.
It is the grim reaper coming to steal her life away from her. She closes her
eyes for the final time as she feels her head being severed from her neck. All
that is left is darkness.