Beowulf- Grendel’s Mother
Mr. Brown
NJCCCS: 3.1.g; 3.2.a, b, c, d; 3.3.a, d;3.4.a.
Objectives:
• By the end of the class period, the student will gain an understanding into how writers are able to
manipulate our feelings with their choice of vocabulary, by examining different perspectives towards
Grendel’s Mother.
• Students will therefore gain an understanding of the importance of word choice in their own writing.
• Students will explore different readings of a seemingly straightforward literary figure.
Procedures:
• Teacher will introduce the lesson by asking how the class, having read up to the conclusion of
Beowulf’s second fight, feel about Grendel’s Mother at this point- anticipate negative responses, such
as ‘scary,’ ‘monstrous,’ ‘ugly,’ etc. These responses will be written on the board as they are called out.
• Teacher will then introduce the notion of loaded words, explaining that certain words, such as ‘great’
or ‘terrible’ carry with them certain connotations/ associations, and can be used to influence their
audience’s attitudes.
• Students will be organized into four groups; each will be given a different set of quotes from the
poem: one presenting a sympathetic view of Grendel’s Mother; one portraying her as unquestionably
monstrous; a third presenting both sympathetic and monstrous quotes; and a fourth sheet
presenting quotes about Beowulf that make him appear dreadful- students will be led to believe that
each group has the same sheet, and that the sheet refers solely to Grendel’s Mother.
• Groups will be given between 5-10 minutes to read the quotes, and give Grendel’s Mother a rating
out of 10 according to how monstrous the quotes make her appear, whilst the teacher circulates to
offer advice, and guide thinking with questions. After they give their ratings, the (hopefully wide)
range will be commented upon by the teacher, and students will be asked to speculate why this
might be.
• Groups will swap sheets, and discover why. The groups will then be asked to share which words or
phrases in particular made them give the score they did (the loaded words).
• Teacher will remind class of the impact that judicious word choice can have on the reader’s
perceptions.
• Students will listen to the song, ‘Grendel’s Mother’ by the Mountain Goats, and be asked to consider
whether the song is sympathetic towards Grendel’s Mother or not- paying particular attention to the
words or phrases that led them to that conclusion. Lyrics will be placed on the smartboard or on
handouts to assist students as they listen.
• Students will spend the remainder of the period on the attached writing task.
Assessment:
Attached writing task, participation in group work.
Modifications:
Groups will be pre-assigned by teacher to ensure IEP students and ELLs are placed with helpful
mainstream class members. The use of a song will aid with differentiating instruction. Teacher will work
closely with these students on their writing task. The lesson objective is a ready-made language goal for
ELL students.
Grendel’s Mother Writing Task
Now that we have explored how even the most superficially horrible monster can be presented in a
sympathetic light, your task is to take a character from literature that you have previously studied,
and in your own words, re-imagine them.
This means that if you choose a character who most people would consider to be dreadful, you must
convince me that they have been misunderstood (just as Grendel’s Mother can be seen
sympathetically as a grieving mother.)
By contast, if you choose a universally admired character, your task will be to demonstrate their
wickedness (for example, Beowulf can be viewed in some ways as just as monstrous as his victims.)
Mr Brown’s Sample Task
Though many revile Little Red Riding Hood’s BIG BAD WOLF, I believe that his untold story has the
potential to become one of the great tragedies of our time. Unfortunately, until this point, it has
been swept under the rug by a callous woodland community who criminally care more about their
idyllic reputation than the fair presentation of the facts.
What the Brothers Grimm (inhabitants of said woodland community) neglect to mention in their
horribly biased retelling of the story is that the parents of the BIG SAD WOLF had been cruelly slain
by a middle-aged huntswoman when he was just a cub. The huntswoman was killing for amusement
and decoration, rather than out of necessity, and subsequently performed D.I.Y. taxidermy on the
wolves and posed them ominously by her front door.
Now, this huntswoman- being heedless of subtlety- would always hunt whilst dressed in a bright red
cloak; and it was the memory of this cloak that would haunt the poor, orphaned wolf for the next
ten years. Often in his lonely, sad sleep, the wolf would toss and turn, waking in a cold sweat after
harrowing nightmares of a crimson-cloaked woman stalked his slumber. If only I could gain some
revenge, he would think to himself, I could finally be at peace.
By this time, the huntswoman had retired and, seeing no use for her cloak, handed it on to her
grand-daughter, who carried on the family tradition of the senseless slaughter of woodland
creatures. One day, having bagged herself a rather impressive doe, who had heartbreakingly trusting
eyes, she decided to go and share the success story over a bottle of wine (she was an underage
drinker, and probably smoked too) with her grandmother.
It was this day that the wolf- having spent 10 years hiding, cowed by fear and plagued by memories
of the devastating death of both of his parents at the hands of a woman in red- decided to venture
further afield, and this day in which he came across Little Red Riding Hood. Overcoming the initial
paralyzing fear that her cloak evoked within his very marrow, the BIG SAD WOLF realized that today
could be his only chance to avenge the senseless, brutal death of both of his parents (like Batman).
The subsequent events are related, in somewhat skewed fashion, in the fairy tale. What the fairy
tale does not, however, mentioned, was the great big party Little Red Riding Hood and her
Grandmother had afterwards, where they toasted the death of yet another relatively innocent
creature, high-fiving the woodsman, who had himself only recently deforested the Amazon basin.
Grendel’s Mother
Mr. Brown
Using only the following quotes as a basis for your discussion, your group will decide how monstrous
Grendel’s Mother is, on a scale of 1-10 (1 being cute kitten monstrous, 10 being Paris Hilton monstrous).
“Hrothgar's people lived in joy,
happy until that wanderer of the wasteland,
Grendel the demon, possessor of the moors,
began his crimes.
He was of a race of monsters
exiled from mankind by God-He was of the race of Cain,
that man punished for
murdering his brother.
From that family comes
all evil beings-monsters, elves, zombies.”
(Refers to Grendel, but presumably also Mum.)
“It was soon learned
and widely known among men
that an avenger yet lived
after that war-trouble:
Grendel's mother, a monster
woman, she who lived in
the terrible water”
“Thus Beowulf overcame that enemy,
subdued that hellish demon….
… his mother, greedy
and gloomy as the gallows”
“The fortunes of the noble ones
changed when Grendel's mother
got inside: the terror was less
by just so much as
is the strength of a woman,
the war-horror of a woman,
is less than the horror of
a sword forged with hammer
and stained in blood
shearing the strong edges
of the boar on a helmet.”
“he has been slain
in Herot by the hands
of a restless, murderous spirit.
I do not know where
his carcass has gone
to be gladly feasted on.”
“now another has come,
a mighty man-eater”
“Over it hangs a frost-covered
grove, woods rooted deepshadowing the water…
That is not a good place!
There water surges up,
black, to the clouds,
and the wind stirs up
hateful weather so that
the sky turns gloomy and weeps. . .”
“She who had fiercely guarded,
grim and greedy, that water…
quickly saw... [Beowulf]
…Then
the enemy seized the warrior
in her horrid clutches…
The sea wolf bore
the armored warrior
down…
She paid him back quickly
with angry claws”
Grendel’s Mother
Mr. Brown
Using only the following quotes as a basis for your discussion, your group will decide how monstrous
Grendel’s Mother is, on a scale of 1-10 (1 being cute kitten monstrous, 10 being Paris Hilton monstrous).
“Grendel's mother…
she who lived in
the terrible water,
the cold streams,
thought of her misery”
“So his mother…
gloomy as the gallows,
went on a sorrowful journey
to avenge her son's death.”
“After they had seen her,
she was in haste
to get out of there
and save her life…
She took her son's famous
blood-covered hand.”
“Grendel fell in battle,
forfeited his life, and
now another has come…
to avenge her kin”
“I have heard tell
among my people
and councilors that
they had seen two mighty
wanderers in the waste land
moors keeping guard,
alien spirits. One was,
as far as they could see,
the likeness of a woman.
The other miserable thing
in the stature of a man,
though he was larger
than any other man,
as they trod the paths of exiles.”
“She sat
on her hall guest
and drew a dagger,
wide and brown-edged-she would avenge her son,
her only offspring.”
“The blade entered
the fated body.
She fell to the ground.”
Grendel’s Mother
Mr. Brown
Using only the following quotes as a basis for your discussion, your group will decide how monstrous
Grendel’s Mother is, on a scale of 1-10 (1 being cute kitten monstrous, 10 being Paris Hilton monstrous).
“Hrothgar's people lived in joy,
happy until that wanderer of the wasteland,
Grendel the demon, possessor of the moors,
began his crimes.
He was of a race of monsters
exiled from mankind by God-He was of the race of Cain,
that man punished for
murdering his brother.
From that family comes
all evil beings-monsters, elves, zombies.”
(Refers to Grendel, but presumably also Mum.)
“now another has come
A mighty man-eater.”
“Thus Beowulf overcame that enemy,
subdued that hellish demon….
… his mother, greedy
and gloomy as the gallows”
“The fortunes of the noble ones
changed when Grendel's mother
got inside: the terror was less
by just so much as
is the strength of a woman,
the war-horror of a woman,
is less than the horror of
a sword forged with hammer
and stained in blood
shearing the strong edges
of the boar on a helmet.”
“he has been slain
in Herot by the hands
of a restless, murderous spirit.
I do not know where
his carcass has gone
to be gladly feasted on.”
“I have heard tell
among my people
and councilors that
they had seen two mighty
wanderers in the waste land
moors keeping guard,
alien spirits. One was,
as far as they could see,
the likeness of a woman.
The other miserable thing
in the stature of a man,
though he was larger
than any other man,
as they trod the paths of exiles.”
“Grendel's mother…
she who lived in
the terrible water,
the cold streams,
thought of her misery”
“So his mother…
gloomy as the gallows,
went on a sorrowful journey
to avenge her son's death.”
Grendel’s Mother
Mr. Brown
Using only the following quotes as a basis for your discussion, your group will decide how monstrous
Grendel’s Mother is, on a scale of 1-10 (1 being cute kitten monstrous, 10 being Paris Hilton monstrous).
“stood
upright, firmly grasping…
until
the fingers broke.”
“She would not
for any reason
allow her visitor
to escape alive,
to keep the days of his life.”
“She did not grieve at the battle
but seized him
by the shoulder.
Now she was enraged
and flung her deadly foe
to the ground.”
“fierce and sword grim,
despairing of life…
angrily struck”
(of a victim:)
“The corpse
split when it suffered
that blow after death”
(of her strength:)
“A breach in the giant
flesh-frame showed then,
shoulder-muscles sprang apart,
there was a snapping of tendons”