Grendel's Mother
Grendel's Mother represents the depth of the ocean. (Fulk, 250.) Throughout the epic
story of Beowulf , Grendel's mother, rather oddly, is described in
human and social terms, with words like wif which is
normally reserved for human women. She has the form of a woman and is
weaker than a man and is more cowardly, for she flees for her life before
she is discovered in Heorot. She is specifically
called a wifunhyre, a "monstrous woman" (Fulk, 251.)
and is also called an ides aglaecwif, a "lady monster-woman."
(Fulk, 251.) Grendel's mother takes on herself the masculine role of
a warrior or a lord when she literally revenges the death of her son, Grendel.