Thursday, October 11, 2012

The Bereft Butterfly



(If you're not interested in the poem, you might want to skip this part.)

The epic of Beowulf is teeming with men, ruling majestic halls, going through fatal battles and causing bloodshed in the name of vengeance. Within this aggressive male-dominated society, women play few, yet central roles. Women fill in three roles in the Anglo-Saxon culture: they are the peacemakers, the hostesses and the monsters. The monster role fascinated me the most. Grendel’s mother is the embodiment of the monster of the Anglo-Saxon culture. However, her nature is fluid, for at the same time she is portrayed as a vicious, hostile monster, she is also given human characteristics and feelings.

Grendel’s mother is introduced to the reader as a threat to humans, ready to slaughter and kill them in order to avenge Grendel’s death.  Also, the poem reveals that she attacks anyone who dares come near her lair. In a Danish male-dominated society, it was not acceptable for women to engage in combat or to avenge their deceased loved ones; these were the duties of the men. Grendel’s mother, however, defies these norms and resorts to violence to resolve the matter. Such actions reveal masculine power and energy that should only be associated with men. It is because Grendel’s mother doesn’t abide by the female role she’s expected to fulfill that she becomes an outcast and a monster in their society. She is excluded not just because she’s a descendant of Cain, but also because she rebelled against the cultural standards.

However, once we inspect her closely, we can detect her human side. It is believed that she and her son roamed the moors together, so this shows that he’s the only family she has. As a mother, she is stricken with grief and full of wrath upon Grendel’s death. Consequently, she wants to give herself a closure, a consolation to her loss, and she can achieve that by killing the man who killed her son. Up until her son’s death, she’s never actually attacked any humans. Furthermore, she doesn’t approach Heorot Hall for the sheer enjoyment of killing – she has a specific task at hand. Beowulf himself explains in the poem that it is better seek vengeance than to sit passively in mourning. Consequently, she attacks the hall, lures Beowulf into her lair, but instead of killing him, she ends up being murdered by him.

My portrait of Grendel’s mother is a reflection of the society’s misconception of who she is. Excluded, misunderstood, and overwhelmed with grief, her insides turn black. The red pulsating from her chest symbolizes her anger and her need for retribution. Within her eyes is the tormented scream of a mother who’s lost her dearest love. Her arms are hidden behind her back because even though she tries to avenge her son, she fails to do so. The butterflies are a personification of her soul. They are a mixture of blue, purple and red, which in a row, represent sadness, mourning, wrath and vengeance. Finally, her son’s cut off arm is the only thing she is able to salvage.

*Will take better picture once my teacher hands it back. 
 Reference picture: link
Work In Progress: WIP II  WIP I