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.