Redeeming Grendel’s Mother Through Decapitation in Beowulf
Chew Tzi Ling
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Abstract
In Losing Our Heads, Regina Janes writes that “decapitation..., [is] motivated by the irresistibility of symbolism, grounded in the body and coded by culture” (Janes 9). The head, as a signifier, denotes countless signified meanings in different contexts of age, nationality, and gender. In Beowulf, decapitation is a constant feature for one particular character: Not only does Grendel’s mother avenge her son’s death through the decollation of Hrothgar’s best warrior, Æschere; she also dies from decapitation. In short, Grendel’s mother is the only character who both performs and is subjected to decollation. Despite the variety of interpretations given to decapitation in Beowulf scholarship, these attempts fail to take into account the gender differences of these Anglo-Saxon practices. As Janes points out, women that decapitate men are monstrous and men who decapitate women are heroic (Janes 30). In this light, Grendle’s mother's participation in decapitation as a gendered Anglo-Saxon activity signals her dissent from mainstream gender norms and further perpetuates her identity as an Other, while her demise can be read as reinstatement of such norms by Beowulf. As such, this paper seeks to defend Grendel’s mother as simply participating in organic Anglo-Saxon traditions, and explain how she is wrongfully demonized by the “monstrosity” signified by decapitation.
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