Beyond Abjection: The Problem with Grendel’s Mother AgainTrilling, Renée Rebecca. Parergon, Volume 24, Number 1, 2007, pp. 1-20 (Article) Published by Australian and New Zealand Association of Medieval and Early Modern Studies (Inc.) DOI: 10.1353/pgn.2007.0059 For additional information about this article http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/pgn/summary/v024/24.1trilling.html Access Provided by Oxford University Library Services at 02/08/12 9:42AM GMT Beyond Abjection: The Problem with Grendel’s Mother Again 1 Beyond Abjection: The Problem with Grendel’s Mother Again Renée R. Trilling Traditional critical paradigms have generally failed to come to grips with the character of Grendel’s mother in Beowulf. As a monster in the heroic order, and as a female in a masculine world, she confounds simple definitions and crosses the boundaries that define the limits of agency. Grendel’s mother functions as a nexus for the representation of the many dialectical tensions – male/female, human/ monster, hall/wilderness, feud/peace, symbolic/semiotic – that both underwrite and critique the poem’s symbolic order. As a result, the character offers insight into the symbolic process and the ways in which readers approach the distant world of the medieval text. Like the poem of Beowulf, Beowulf criticism seems to struggle with effective ways of understanding Grendel’s mother in all her complexity and liminality. Her alienation is clear enough; as both monster and woman, she occupies a subjective space that is doubly removed from the meaning-making structures of heroic poetry. Yet the poet deliberately places this ambiguous figure at the narrative and structural centre of the text, forbidding readers to overlook her impact and using her to provoke critical commentary on the heroic system that underwrites the poem on either side of her.1 The appearance of Grendel’s mother disrupts the strictly ordered heroic world of the text, and the narrative engages in a mad scramble to conceal the disruption behind a mask of masculine reassertion. This response is parallelled, in some ways, by the critical tradition, which finds it difficult to categorize Grendel’s mother. She is a critical aporia, as Gillian Overing has noted, ‘precisely because she 1 John D. Niles pointed out decades ago that the battle with Grendel’s mother is at the structural centre of the poem; see ‘Ring Composition and the Structure of Beowulf’, PMLA, 94 (1979), 924–35. The episode concerning Grendel’s mother, from her first approach to Heorot to Beowulf’s triumphant return from the mere with Grendel’s severed head, begins slightly more than one third of the way into the poem (line 1251 out of 3182) and takes up 400 lines, or approximately 13% of the epic poem’s total length – hardly an insignificant amount. This compares favourably to the 767 lines taken up by the Grendel story, much of which chronicles Beowulf’s journey to Heorot and his interaction with the court there. The actual battle, culminating in Grendel’s mother’s death, is described in no less than 72 lines (compared to 90 for the battle with Grendel). Parergon 24.1 (2007) Chance further examines women’s roles in heroic literature. rather. Paul Acker offers some provocative suggestions about the figure of Grendel’s mother as the embodiment of Anglo-Saxon cultural anxieties surrounding feud culture and heroic identity. pp. 22. and Gender in Beowulf (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press. ed. in A Beowulf Handbook.1 (2007) . 4 (1991). he argues. 311–24. Niles (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press. Sign. she has her own particular brand of otherness.7 Although it is a far cry from the dismissive treatments of Grendel’s mother common in earlier Beowulf scholarship.2 Renée R. 1997). Language. was put forth by Gwendolyn A. 23–42. Tolkien manages almost completely to overlook Grendel’s mother.3 (1980).6 and Acker’s claims that her abrogation of the acceptable maternal role reveals the insecurities of the Anglo-Saxon male psyche continue a tradition of feminist psychoanalytic scholarship on Anglo-Saxon culture. ‘The Structural Unity of Beowulf: The Problem of Grendel’s Mother’. even this article fails to grant centrality to the monstrous 2 3 4 Gillian Overing. 81. p. Paul Acker. ‘the text projects the anxieties it cannot otherwise adequately voice concerning the inherent weaknesses in the system of feuding and revenge. 1985). or. 121.8 however. Bjork and John D. 1989). For example.3 (2006). pp. capitalizes on the primordial fear of maternal power that underwrites patriarchal society. 702–16. Kevin Kiernan has also argued that a monster’s revenge-killing functions as a critique of the heroic society it mimics (Beowulf and the Beowulf Manuscript [New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press. “Horror and the Maternal’. her inhuman affiliation and propensities make it hard to distinguish between what is monstrous and what is female. J. The same argument. 287–303. 54–68. drawing on the analysis of archetypes. Maturation: Female Evil in Beowulf’. Texas Studies in Literature and Language. Helen Bennett first surveyed feminist work in the field in ‘From Peace Weaver to Text Weaver: Feminist Approaches to Old English Studies’. Morgan in ‘Mothers.3 The horror of an avenging mother.’2 In a recent PMLA article. Alexandra Hennessy Olsen offers an extensive overview of work on the women of Beowulf in ‘Gender Roles’. ‘Horror and the Maternal in Beowulf’. OEN Subsidia 15 (Binghamton: State University of New York Press. and especially Grendel’s mother’s. Robert E. in Twenty Years of the Year’s Work in Old English Studies. Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts. R. explicating the poem as a bipartite epic based around Beowulf’s encounters with Grendel and the dragon and considering Grendel’s mother only in a parenthetical comment in 5 7 8 Parergon 24. in Woman as Hero in Old English Literature (Syracuse: Syracuse University Press. 1990). 1981]). Katherine O’Brien O’Keeffe. see Jane Chance Nitzsche.4 Through Grendel’s mother.’5 Critics interested in Grendel’s mother have frequently noted the monstrosity of the female avenger. p. 705. R. The earliest feminist analyses of Grendel’s mother defined this paradigm. Monsters. ed. PMLA. Trilling is not quite human. Acker. the category of the abject opposes the maternal to the Law of the Father – the symbolic order that is the condition of possibility of social organization. 1982). and trans. Grendel’s mother. pp. Proceedings of the British Academy. but see especially ‘Repression’. Leon S. 62–69. 11 Sigmund Freud developed the idea of the return of the repressed throughout his work. ‘In this sense’. James Strachey.11 ‘Appendix A’. As Acker suggests. Kristeva writes. 24 vols (London: Hogarth Press. 10 Kristeva. 245–95 (p. on the one hand. at the level of the collective.1 (2007) . and human/nonhuman – the same categories that Grendel’s mother persistently disrupts. on the individual as well as the collective level. Thus.Beyond Abjection: The Problem with Grendel’s Mother Again 3 figure herself. Roudiez (New York: Columbia University Press. as the embodiment of the maternal principle. emphasis in original. focusing instead on Old Norse analogues of female vengeance. ‘Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics’. chiefly because it introduces a key critical concept into the discussion: the abject. by way of abjection. in Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud. Neuphilologische Mitteilungen. or that which is expelled from within a society in order to define cultural boundaries. Julia Kristeva introduces abjection as a fundamental mechanism for charting the limits of culture: The abject confronts us.’10 From a psychoanalytic perspective. represents that most basic of fears: the return of the repressed. p. with those fragile states where man strays on the territories of animal. ‘abjection is coextensive with social and symbolic order. It is the key to establishing the boundaries between the categories of civilized/uncivilized. Parergon 24. 1953–74). trans. Most importantly for Acker. 22 (1936). the integrity of the speaking subject depends on the rejection of the maternal body and the entry into language. 9 Julia Kristeva. ed. XIV (1957). Powers of Horror. for Kristeva. 67. between culture and chaos.9 Societies use abjection to establish the boundary between sacred and profane. 280). see Tolkien. Paul Beekman Taylor likewise views the battle with Grendel’s mother as merely a reprise of the primary Grendel fight. primitive societies have marked out a precise area of their culture in order to remove it from the threatening world of animals or animalism. the individual subject’s rejection of the maternal. 86 (1985). see ‘Beowulf’s Second Grendel Fight’. masculine/feminine. then. the abject replicates. Acker’s article offers a convenient place to begin unpacking the paradox of Grendel’s mother. 12–13. Powers of Horror: An Essay on Abjection. which were imagined as representatives of sex and murder. 143–58. and Lees. trans. originates within the culture from which it is expunged. They argue that although women are excluded from the power structures of the society they live in. Margaret Waller (New York: Columbia University Press. Numerous critics. It is.12 Yet Grendel’s mother is. 13 Kristeva. but it re-inscribes a static binary structure that has confounded readings of Grendel’s mother from the beginning. in Medieval Masculinities: Regarding Men in the Middle Ages. Grendel’s mother is more than simply the abject. have succeeded in demonstrating that Beowulf is an essentially masculinist poem whose tightly proscribed agenda has little or no room for female agency. ‘Men and Beowulf’. as Acker does. however. pp. she is categorically different from the other women of the poem. especially as it relates to the structuring of the (inherently masculinist) symbolic order. after all.1 (2007) . in contrast to the clearly delimited agentic potentials of the equally maternal Wealhtheow. 311–24. members of that society. ed. is not enough to account for Grendel’s mother’s powers of horror. 1984). they remain active. Revolution in Poetic Language. even bound up as it is with the abject. The abject. and Gender. that sets Grendel’s mother apart from them. her uncontainability. esp. for a contrasting argument and an overview of scholarship. it might be more productive to think about Grendel’s mother in conjunction with Kristeva’s notion of the semiotic. ‘Gender Roles’. the feminine chora that precedes and exceeds representation. and the implications of this line of inquiry demand further consideration.4 Renée R. Beowulf works hard – perhaps overly hard – to establish the Grendelkin’s origins outside of heroic culture. In this sense. 1994). pp. and some who are not named. by both origin and gender. and the abject terrifies us because we recognize that it is really a part of us. Hildeburh. Sign. prominently Overing and Clare A. Lees. As such. however. rather. More important than her maternity or her abjection is the fact that Grendel’s mother operates outside of the linguistic economy that underwrites social organization within the poem. pp. and Modthryth. Clare A. 57–106. 129–48. its ‘powers of horror’ stem from precisely the originary unity that precedes abjection. though the clearly liminal relation between the Grendelkin and the society they invert and mimic is precisely what allows them to terrify. cut off from the social and linguistic communities that proscribe the agency of the poem’s other female characters. Lees (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. since all the named women in the poem. The role of women in Anglo-Saxon literature and society continues to be debated. is an inspired move. see Olsen. are also mothers.13 The dialectical relation between the semiotic and the symbolic conditions the possibility of the See Overing. if generally unsuccessful. Trilling Linking the figure of Grendel’s mother to Kristeva’s abject. 12 Parergon 24. Language. Maternity alone. All of the poem’s monsters both threaten and sustain social order. Spelling out the implications of that connection. This Sex Which is not One. to look closely at its portrayal of the monstrous feminine figure and to consider the significance of that portrayal for questions of literary artifice. 1–1 (p.1 (2007) . Christine Alfano has demonstrated that Grendel’s mother’s ‘monstrosity’ is often attributed by the lexical choices of modern translators rather than necessarily inherent in the Anglo-Saxon text: the semantic ranges of many words. 1979). Sherman M. demands careful and prolonged consideration. 15 ‘The Issue of Feminine Monstrosity: A Reevaluation of Grendel’s Mother’. pp. there can be no representation. trans. such as ides [lady] and aglæcwif [warrior-woman] take on shades of monstrosity when referring to Grendel’s mother that they do not necessarily bear in other contexts. Revolution in Poetic Language. pp. it demands a re-examination of the poem itself. social cohesion. Catharine Porter (Ithaca: Cornell University Press. 1985). she is the most difficult to pin down. and the function of language itself. Abject from human culture. as well as from the other monsters. and the difficulty critics have in distinguishing between what is monstrous about her and what is simply female. acting outside of human language. are due in part to the fact that much of her supposed monstrosity is the result of how the poem has been translated. 68–85. in Linguistic Method: Essays in Honor of Herbert Penzl. it is constantly in process. see ‘Old English aglæca – Middle Irish oclach’. Parergon 24. Of all the poem’s characters. ed.15 Such revelations about lexical bias offer strong evidence for traditional feminist arguments about the masculine bias in language itself.Beyond Abjection: The Problem with Grendel’s Mother Again 5 signifying process: without the unrepresentable. and that continuous movement may serve as a more useful model for understanding Grendel’s mother in her constantly shifting signification than Acker’s use of the abject as a static category. 21–37. Aligning Grendel’s mother with the semiotic may help us to better understand her difference from potentially disruptive women like Wealhtheow or Modthryth. Irmengard Rauch and Gerald F. 16 Luce Irigaray. Grendel and the dragon. 23 (1992).14 Most importantly. Carr (The Hague: Mouton Publishers. linguistic bias can give rise to critical bias. Most urgently. Kuhn similarly finds linguistic bias in dictionary definitions of aglæca more generally. 2). and determining what Grendel’s mother offers to Beowulf and its readers. Comitatus. Grendel’s mother is the figure who grounds the possibility of the symbolic order itself. The ambiguity of Grendel’s mother. pp. and scholars approach Grendel’s mother through inherited critical paradigms that arise 14 Kristeva.16 As Alfano’s work shows. as well as the society that it helps to uphold. 213–30. but Grendel’s mother is different. 13–25. Friedrich Klaeber. 34. 63 (1982). for example. Commentary. the extent of her monstrosity is necessarily questionable.s. 31. The bibliography of criticism dealing with the monster/human dichotomy in Beowulf is enormous. Since both the men in the poem and the critics who read it are able to identify with her motives. Stanley B. like her titles. Keith P. 1983). Grendel’s role in the text is never in question. Baird. n. Raymond P. Grendel’s mother is a vague figure indeed. are similarly devoid of inherent monstrosity. In most cases.20 He meets his end not in battle. English Language Notes. 375–81. His appearance and genealogy might be uncertain.3 (1994). haunted by the joys of men. she is far more human than Grendel is. or Beowulf Re-Marvellized’. Parergon 24. ed. ‘A Touch of the Monstrous in the Hero. 17 The problem of monsters who seem strangely human has fascinated critics throughout the history of Beowulf studies. Doreen M. ‘The Use of the Term æglæca in Beowulf at Lines 813 and 2592’. Studia Germanica Gandensia. 18 Several critics. ‘Beowulf 1259a: The Inherent Nobility of Grendel’s Mother’. Beowulf waits to catch him in the act of committing his crime. The dramatic tension between fearing something as monster and understanding it as human has been explored in some detail in relation to Grendel himself. All translations are my own. Beowulf. and as even the Danes admit. More About the Fight with the Dragon: ‘Beowulf’ 2208b–3182. such as her desire for vengeance rather than random killing.6 Renée R. and Andy Orchard. she attacks Heorot only to perform the necessary act of vengeance for her kinsman’s death. ‘Grendel the Exile’. and Other Aglæcan’. 3 (1961). 1–6. Gilliam. Trilling from an oversimplified understanding of her character. but Grendel’s mother has yet to receive such extensive personal treatment. as a man should. Review of English Studies. Neuphilologische Mitteilungen. All quotations are taken from this edition and are denoted by line number.18 In comparison to her son. 9 (1958). but in retribution. 129–40. 1995). Pride and Prodigies: Studies in the Monsters of the Beowulf-Manuscript (Cambridge: D. her actions. a few of the more influential studies include Kenneth Sisam. (Boston: Heath.19 His behaviour sets him in opposition to humanity. and Melinda Menzer. Edition. a night-stepper who roams the wastelands. 154b–158. and he has no interest in or desire for any civilized means of feud settlement. Grendel’s Mother. Joseph L. see. have argued for a more ‘humanized’ reading of Grendel’s mother. but he is plainly monstrous. 3rd ed. as most of the critics acknowledge. like Alfano.1 (1996). E. 7 (19). ‘Beowulf’s Fight with the Dragon’. English Language Notes.1 (2007) . and Translation (Lanham. English Studies. Greenfield. he attacks the Danes for twelve years through jealousy and hatred. and Grendel’s death is clearly a punishment. Brewer. 294– 300. ‘Aglæcwif (Beowulf 1259a): Implications for -wif Compounds. 19 Beowulf.S.17 In many ways. 145–69. 20 Beowulf. MD: University Press of America. 1950). Tripp. Taylor. 86–90a. 23 So she proceeds to their hall. does not fit so easily into the role of monster/outsider. heroic society prefers feud to monetary settlements anyway. ed. pp. swift life-for-life vengeance. align her with human heroic values. to avenge the death of her son]. 1277b–1278. The true nature of the Grendelkin is never quite clear. 13–33 (pp. but rather motivated by sadness and anger at the murder of her son.1 (2007) . and not altogether bravely.24 If the poem is clear about what Grendel and his mother do. Her attack on the Danes is not monstrous in the same way that Grendel’s is. point out. / ge feor hafað fæhðe gestæled’ [wished to avenge her kinsman. and has by far avenged the feud]. and as a woman. repeated depredations suffered under Grendel’s reign of terror. it is considerably less so about how to describe or define them.21 Hrothgar himself is aware of this detail. and peace and order are restored to the realm (for the time being). Burlin. Jr. without a role to play – she signifies nothing. she is doubly outside. it is up to her alone to seek compensation for the loss of her kinsman. Unlike Hildeburh. Her actions. ‘Social Structure As Doom: The Limits of Heroism in Beowulf’. The text states explicitly that she ‘gegan wolde / sorhfulne sið. and there is no one else to avenge his death. she is no longer a mother. and her response. 24 Kevin Kiernan suggests that ‘Grendel’s mother accepted and adhered to the heroic ethic of the blood feud … . In Geardagum. 1339b–1340. Irving. 37–79. she has no men to do the job of vengeance for her. is (mutatis mutandis) at least as heroic as Beowulf’s’. Robert B. and Marie Borroff (Toronto: University of Toronto Press. and it is this very uncertainty that makes both Grendel and 21 Beowulf. 22 Beowulf. 25–27).22 Named by the text only as a modor. 23 As Harry Berger. and H. see Berger and Leicester. See ‘Grendel’s Heroic Mother’. without a son. for he too points out that she ‘wolde hyre mæg wrecan. Grendel’s mother. The attack is far from unmotivated and quite unlike the massive. to her home beneath the mere. Edward B. she is an outsider to the social group. Marshall Leicester. 1974). her identity is bound up in the existence of her child. unlike Grendel’s.Beyond Abjection: The Problem with Grendel’s Mother Again 7 The men in the hall rejoice in his death. sunu deoð wrecan’ [wished to accomplish the sorrowful undertaking. takes one of their number – a life for a life – and returns quickly. on the other hand. Her grief seems as real as Hrothgar’s. Parergon 24. Jr. Jr. in Old English Studies in Honour of John C. 6 (1984). Danes and readers alike understand that her purpose is vengeance: her only kinsman has been killed. and Grendel’s death leaves her without identity. Grendel’s mother has far more in common with the men of Heorot than she does with her son. Pope. To judge from actions alone.. There is no possibility of a settlement. ed. maga. 35 (1995). devil. Hill has also connected Grendel’s mother to a tradition of helrunan. New Orleans. when separately treated. rinc. 29 Tolkien. one of whom is known as Grendel (Beowulf. and rising to the inhuman: merewif. and spirit. ed.30 As Melinda Menzer points out. p. . that will be punished. ‘Beowulf’. p. Helrunan. 171–203 27 Beowulf. R. that Grendel’s mother would be equally indistinct. and the two occupy a liminal space between the human and the demonic. like Grendel. grundwyrgen.. Jr. and his hostility to men makes him something other than human. 1959). ‘he is called not only by all names applicable to ordinary men. 39–69. annual meeting of the Modern Language Association. R. 25 Grendel’s indistinct nature is precisely what makes him a terrifying figure. 1347b–1355a).8 Renée R. Parergon 24. 28 Tolkien.27 and as J. 280. Tolkien points out. or giantesses (‘Haliurunnas. which the pseudo-Christian Beowulf defeats. see Michael Lapidge. brimwylf. she is a woman’ (‘Aglæcwif’. 30 Frank Battaglia suggests that Grendel’s mother stands in for the Germanic Earth Goddess. 1352a. as wer. Helen Damico and John Leyerle (Kalamazoo: Medieval Institute Publications. aglæc wif . other than his body. pp.25 The poem may refer to them at times as ‘wer’ or ‘wif’ respectively. see ‘The Germanic Earth Goddess in Beowulf?’ The Mankind Quarterly. pp. in precisely similar terms: she is wif.’28 Yet he also receives the epithets of demon. Perhaps most importantly.26 Grendel is described as being ‘on weres wæstmum’ [in the form of a man]. on the other hand. in The Anglo-Saxons: Studies in Some Aspects of their History and Culture Presented to Bruce Dickins. Bessinger. but it displays considerable confusion about whether the Grendelkin are actually human. Thomas D. and indeed Tolkien finds that ‘Grendel’s mother is naturally described. ‘Beowulf’. p. 373–402. us and them – the very boundaries that abjection works to create and sustain.. 1993). ides. and the poem’s shadowy descriptions of the Grendelkin are fundamental to the reader’s perception of fear. then. in Heroic Poetry in the AngloSaxon Period: Studies in Honor of Jess B. the many –wif compounds used to describe Grendel’s mother clearly denote a woman. not just a female creature. she also has a soul. ‘Beowulf and the Psychology of Terror’. 279. It seems reasonable to infer.’29 Her humanity seems similarly unclear. 29 December 2001]). and the History of Grendel’s Mother’ [paper. Trilling his mother frightening figures to begin with.31 The poem’s imprecision about Grendel’s mother blurs the clearly drawn boundaries between humans and monsters. but he is conceived as having a spirit. 31 Menzer concludes that ‘whatever else she may be. Peter Clemoes (London: Bowes and Bowes. 5).1 (2007) . 26 Hrothgar can refer only to vague reports about mysterious figures prowling the moors. Nora Chadwick surveyed the question ‘What is the nature of the monsters?’ with reference to the Norse tradition in ‘The Monsters and Beowulf’.. guma. As Helen Bennett notes. Exemplaria. material. 14–16. at the same time.Beyond Abjection: The Problem with Grendel’s Mother Again 9 however.32 The language of the poem is thus uncertain about how to contain Grendel’s mother. the poem assumes the same kind of affective bond between Grendel and his mother as that between a human mother and child. there is something about her that exceeds representation. then. emphasis in original). to be a mother is to fulfil the functional destiny of the female body. 35–50 (p. is she not an avenging brother or uncle? Her primary title. however. but not in the abstract. maternity is nothing if not a physical. 33 See below. 42).33 If the titles applied to Grendel’s mother render her humanity questionable. Additionally. reminds us that Grendel’s mother operates in the realm of physical agency.1 (2007) . for example. they leave little doubt as to her gender. bodily representation. the poem makes her his mother. making her the dialectical obverse of the clearly defined social hierarchies that structure the heroic world. she is a concrete. bodily state. nor negating the thetic in the fantasy of a pulverizing irrationalism … . 82. naming as it does the uniquely female capacity to give birth. yet. p. 4 (1992). ‘Absent from the field of action [in Beowulf]. ‘The Female Mourner at Beowulf’s Funeral’. and it does so for a variety of reasons. Grendel’s mother is a woman of action. the process of signification leaves something behind when it grapples with her. and the repeated use of these epithets would seem to indicate that the relation holds some meaning within the poem. such a dialectic lets us view signifying practices as asymmetrically divided – neither absolutizing the thetic into a possible theological prohibition. and this bond provides the motivation for Grendel’s mother’s attack on Heorot. women surround the action with their words: urging before and officially mourning after. pp. genders her beyond question. This emphasis on bodily materiality. and the breakdown in linguistic designation becomes increasingly more pronounced as her agency manifests in action.’34 The words of women – Wealhtheow’s attempt to protect her sons with well-spoken 32 Kristeva writes: ‘Ultimately. 34 Helen Bennett. why. and her actions respond forcefully to a maternal problem – the loss of a child – that Wealhtheow can only forestall with words. not just any avenging relative. Parergon 24. Instead we see the condition of the subject of significance as a heterogeneous contradiction between two irreconcilable elements – separate but inseparable from the process in which they assume asymmetrical functions’ (Revolution in Poetic Language. The horror of the maternal and its relation to the abject is certainly chief among them. and to which Hildeburh cannot even give voice in mourning. Her role as mother forces us to focus on her femininity. She is named specifically and repeatedly as modor [mother] and mæg [kinswoman]. embodies the catastrophic destiny of the women of Beowulf. pp. and the keening of a woman beside a funeral pyre – stir pathos with their brave futility.35 and Hildeburh’s complete silence. her attack is less fearsome than Grendel’s was. In contrast to Wealhtheow.5 (1981). ‘The Finn Episode and the Tragedy of Revenge in Beowulf’. swa bið mægþa cræft. the very indeterminacy of Grendel’s mother. whose linguistic propriety dooms her attempts at agency to failure. 88–101. lacking even the capacity to mourn her son and brother. Trilling words. but also as that which is outside the boundaries of language – the semiotic chora that both sustains and threatens the symbolic order itself. 78. that makes her so threatening to the Danes. sharpen the typical heroic dichotomy of words and deeds. woman or warrior – add up to a proportionally more dangerous creature. without access to the symbolic order.10 Renée R. but they are unable to turn the course of events away from tragedy. from her own limitations. 37 Beowulf. 1282b–1287. sweord swate fah swin ofer helme ecgum dyhtig andweard scireð. transgressing boundaries of the social. paradoxically. is a question to which we shall return in due course. hamere geþruen. she could not be as strong as her son: Wæs se gryre læssa efne swa micle. Grendel’s mother manifests not only as the abject. As perennial outsiders. they also stem. finally. 36 Martin Camargo.37 As Overing argues in Language. the text’s language goes to great lengths to reassure us that because she is female. 35 Parergon 24. and Gender. as a very material female avenger. Hildeburh.1 (2007) . such as Wealhtheow. þonne heoru bunden. however. because of her gender.36 The contrast between the active agency of Grendel’s mother and the passive agentic capacities of other women. wiggryre wifes be wæpnedmen. To compensate. While the actions of Grendel’s mother underscore the limitations of women interpellated by the symbolic order. The poem asserts that. and the female mourner at Beowulf’s funeral. the Grendelkin seek solace because the cultural rituals of friðe [peace] are denied to them. however. and the varying layers of ambiguity – monster or human. But see also Helen Damico. 120–34. Sign. It is. 1984). who ascribes significant agency to Wealhtheow’s social role as queen in Beowulf’s Wealhtheow and the Valkyrie Tradition (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press. Whether or not her agency can be counted as successful. Studies in Philology. Folklore. the foot-troop of shield-bearers marched.39 Beowulf does not wait in the dark for her to attack the following night. Rather. when the ornamented sword. … Aris.40 [‘Do not worry.. ga þær he wille!’ … Þa wæs Hroðgare hors gebæted. nor to the bottom of the ocean. uton hraþe feran. I promise you this: he will not escape to his refuge. Yet the narrative action of the poem belies this assertion. splendid prince advanced. see ‘The Might of Grendel’s Mother’. snotor guma! Selre bið æghwæm.Beyond Abjection: The Problem with Grendel’s Mother Again [The terror was less by just as much as the strength of a female. and her attack. 1310–1311a. cuts through the boar-image adorning the helmet opposite. þæt he his freond wrece. Parergon 24.. king of the realm. nor to the mountain wood. ne on foldan fæþm. ne on gyfenes grund. It is better for a man to avenge his friend than to mourn much . Grendles magan gang sceawigan. Ic hit þe gehate: no he on helm losaþ. Then Hrothgar’s horse. he replies to Hrothgar’s summons at first light. the doughty edge. ne on fyrgenholt. nor to the protection of the field. in this case they call for immediate action: ‘Hraþe wæs to bure Beowulf fetod. is less than that of a weaponed man’s. 40 Beowulf. 1399–1402a..1 (2007) . Arise.] 38 Martin Puhvel suggests that Grendel’s mother’s strength and fearsomeness place her in the tradition of the demonic hag of early Irish legend. 1390–94. the sword shining with blood. wicg wundenfeax.. let us go quickly to follow the track of Grendel’s kinswoman. . the war-terror of a woman. and encourages the old king: ‘Ne sorga. go where he will!’ . though of less magnitude. Wisa fengel geatolic gende. 80 (1969).38 While their response to Grendel’s attack was twelve years of passive suffering. / sigoreadig secg’ [Beowulf was quickly fetched to the chamber. 81–88. forged by the hammer.] 11 We now face an enemy whose weaknesses are repeatedly underscored in the text and whose ferocity is always subordinated to that of her son. 39 Beowulf. rices weard. The wise. is far more disturbing to the Danes. wise man. the victorious man]. gumfeþa stop lindhæbbendra. 1384–85. the mount with braided mane. was bridled. þonne he fela murne. Trilling There is no mistaking the sense of urgency in this passage. presumably less fearsome and therefore less dangerous. The brave warrior who faced Grendel alone and without armour or weapons sets out accompanied not only by Hrothgar on his noble horse. but by an entire troop of armed men. ðær gelyfan sceal Dryhtnes dome se þe hine deað nimeð. 42 Beowulf. stirs the Danes to immediate retaliation. While the attacks of the supposedly more terrifying Grendel were borne for twelve years. foe against foe. 435–41. In order to contend with the merewif. there he whom death takes must trust in the judgment of the Lord. and she is only a female. min mondrihten modes bliðe.’] The situation now is quite different. But he takes an entirely different approach. his brothers-in-arms rally to support him. Though Beowulf will face the enemy alone. a yellow shield boss to battle. geolorand to guþe. Not only that. Beowulf might be expected to boast once again that he can dispatch this monster with his bare hands. þæt ic sweord bere oþðe sidne scyld. A whole army pursues this single female attacker in a martial display that underscores both the masculinity and the propriety of their response. he boasted ‘[I]c þæt þonne forhicge. her attack was far less devastating than Grendel’s. Grendel’s mother. Parergon 24. 14–16. both his retainers and Hrothgar’s.41 There is no time for Beowulf’s usual heroics. ac ic mid grape sceal fon wið feonde ond ymb feorh sacan. lað wið laþum. but with my grip I must grasp the enemy and struggle for life. Grendel’s mother is a threat which must be eradicated immediately.12 Renée R. When he was making ready for his battle with Grendel. and the text itself begins this eradication through the use of masculine pronouns to describe the threat.1 (2007) . swa me Higelac sie. but it is a battle to which Beowulf will not march alone. The urgency of the Danes’ response becomes all the more evident as Beowulf prepares for the fight at the mere. Beowulf straps on the full protection of the battle-hardened warrior in an amazingly detailed descriptive passage that is worth quoting in its entirety: 41 See below. after all.’42 [‘I shall then disdain – so that my liege lord Hygelac may be pleased with me in spirit – that I should carry a sword or a broad shield. pp. and this display of force works to reassert masculine symbolic control over the business of feud and revenge. the helmet. befongen freawrasnum. se ðe gryresiðas gegan dorste. broad and stained with battle. atertanum fah. secan sundgebland since geweorðad. thus did the smith of weapons fashion it long ago. þæt him hildegrap hreþre ne mihte. that corselet which knew how to protect the bone chamber so that the battle-grip.43 [Beowulf prepared himself in a warrior’s trappings.Beyond Abjection: The Problem with Grendel’s Mother Again Gyrede hine Beowulf eorlgewædum. had to try the waters. þæt hine syðþan no brond ne beadomecas bitan ne meahton. þæt hit ellenweorc æfnan scolde. ac se hwita helm hafelan werede. the malicious grasp of the angry one. That was not then the least of powerful aids that the court spokesman of Hrothgar gave to him in his need. surrounded by a mail net. hardened with battle-blood. næfre hit æt hilde ne swac manna ængum þara þe hit mid mundum bewand. the battle-sword was called Hrunting. he was not at all worried about his life. made worthy with treasure. ecg wæs iren. seo ðe bancofan beorgan cuþe. the edge was iron. folcstede fara. which had to stir up the mere-bottom. þæt wæs an foran ealdgestreona.1 (2007) . and the shining helmet protected his head. ahyrded heaþoswate. sid ond searofah sund cunnian.] 43 Beowulf. eorres inwitfeng aldre gesceþðan. it had never failed at battle any man of those who grasped it with his hands. to seek the surging water. adorned it with boar-images so that afterwards no edge or battlesword would be able to cut it. furnished it with wonders. nalles for ealdre mearn. Næs þæt þonne mætost mægenfultuma. besette swinlicum. that was the foremost of ancient treasures. næs þæt forma sið. he who dared to undertake the tide of battle at the meeting place of the hostile ones. wæs þæm hæftmece Hrunting nama. the battle corselet woven by hand. se þe meregrundas mengan scolde. swa hine fyrndagum worhte wæpna smið. 1441b–1464. 13 Parergon 24. wundrum teode. shining with twisted lines. that was not the first time that it had to perform courageous deeds. scolde herebyrne hondum gebroden. could not harm his life. þæt him on ðearfe lah ðyle Hroðgares. . it masculinizes her. 1260. Moreover. and therefore most reliable of warrior’s equipment.14 Renée R. These are the specifically masculine symbolic trappings of warrior culture.. go where he will!’] Finally. Beowulf is surprisingly well outfitted. functioning even more powerfully as signs of heroic ideology than they do as protection in battle. as Beowulf promises to follow her.. Parergon 24. 46 Beowulf. 1392b–1394b. æt hilde ne swac. He certainly isn’t taking any chances. emphasis mine. Trilling We already know that Grendel’s mother is supposed to be less terrifying than Grendel. nor to the mountain wood. Hrothgar himself refers to her as the ‘sinnigne secg’ [sinful man] who 44 Beowulf. The conscious and deliberate display of masculinity counteracts and works to overpower the feminine nature of the threat – as do the masculine pronouns used to refer to Grendel’s mother as ravager of Heorot. not a lesser one. similarly. The extent to which the language of the poem itself works to cover up the agency of her character is perhaps the most compelling evidence that Grendel’s mother presents a greater threat even than Grendel. 1258b. he turns her into a him: ‘… no he on helm losaþ. he will not escape to his refuge. she is described first as the distinctly feminine ‘Grendles modor’44 and then is masculinized two lines later as ‘se þe wæteregesan wunian scolde’ [he who had to dwell in the terrible waters]. When the entity about to attack Heorot is introduced. emphasis mine. ne on foldan fæþm.’ but all of these factors work rhetorically to indicate that Beowulf is rather more nervous about this encounter than he was about his fight with Grendel. His sudden need for armour and weapons indicates that he is about to face a greater enemy than Grendel. ne on fyrgenholt. and a threat that strikes at the most basic levels of social/linguistic organization from its semiotic outside. ne on gyfenes grund. nor to the protection of the field. for a man about to demean himself by fighting a female rather than a male. 45 Beowulf. his gear is described as the oldest. Grendel’s mother provokes a massive mobilization of the symbolic system that upholds heroic values and social structure.1 (2007) .. As female attacker and semiotic chora.45 As the poem prepares us for Grendel’s mother as an attacking monster. nor to the bottom of the ocean. ga þær he wille!’46 [‘ . Perhaps we are simply meant to be reassured by the statement that Hrunting ‘næfre . most battle-worn. because an active body in this cultural economy is. by definition.51 If we agree with Mitchell’s logic. Euphrosyne: Holy Transvestite’. pp. a vexed relationship to notions of gender. become male. and Paul E. on the literal level. ‘Ælfric’s Women Saints: Eugenia’. 51 See Bruce Mitchell. Old English Syntax. and 285) confirm suspicions that the poem has. According to the text.’50 Mitchell sees the substitution of a masculine pronoun for a grammatically feminine hand as ‘the triumph of sex over gender’. in New Readings on Women in Old English Literature. note to line 1260. privileging grammatical gender over natural gender 47 Beowulf. the creature who attacks Heorot. see. 1996). regardless of her biological gender or even her primary identity as a mother. 1985). 48 Studies of females who become male are frequent in hagiographic literature.Beyond Abjection: The Problem with Grendel’s Mother Again 15 lives in the terrifying mere. Leeds Studies in English. 2 vols (Oxford: Clarendon Press.’49 If anything. The other examples deal solely with shifts from grammatically feminine nouns to masculine pronouns. both powerful forces which Bruce Mitchell and Fred Robinson suggest ‘probably shifted in the poet’s mind to a masculine figure. §2178 and §2358. Bruce Mitchell and Fred C.48 This is a radical moment for the poem. 1887. Paul E. the four other instances of gender-switching pronouns in Beowulf (lines 1344. ‘There are similar examples in other OE texts. 2421. ed. the active and powerful figure is identified by the masculine pronoun. Szarmach (Albany: State University of New York Press. then.47 In all three cases. n. note to line 1887. 353–65. and power. 146–57.s. 1–27. and whom Beowulf tracks to the mere. 1379a. ed. the grammatically feminine hand (seo hand) of a male character is replaced by a masculine pronoun (Æschere at line 1344 and Beowulf at line 2685). Neither the narrator nor the characters can comfortably attach a feminine pronoun to the perpetrator of an attack on Heorot. Helen Damico and Alexandra Hennessey Olsen (Bloomington: University of Indiana Press. ‘A Virgin Acts Manfully: Ælfric’s Life of St Eugenia and the Latin Versions’. Szarmach. is not a female after all – it has. 23 (1992). in Holy Men and Holy Women: Old English Prose Saints’ Lives and their Contexts. 1998). Gopa Roy. Parergon 24. a masculine one. where the actions performed by a female body reveal the existence of a male mind or soul. Robinson (Oxford: Blackwell. agency. 49 Beowulf: An Edition. 50 Mitchell and Robinson. and it is reductive to dismiss these markings as scribal errors or to say simply. 1990). Masculine pronouns likewise replace the grammatically feminine ‘old age’ and ‘fate’ (lines 1887 and 2421). at best. pp. thus arguing implicitly that the natural gender of a man trumps the grammatical gender of his hand in the poet’s mind. In two cases.1 (2007) . and ‘St. Beowulf. then replacing Grendel’s mother with a masculine pronoun – that is. for example. ed. and quickly countered.55 Yet Modthryth’s retaliations. Numerous texts. such contradictions only underscore the unassailable complexity of gender and its relation to the social and linguistic in Beowulf. Sign. then Grendel’s mother is breaking a linguistic boundary as well as a social boundary with her action. both by Beowulf and by the language of the poem. Elene. 101–07 56 Stacy S. 48. which take the lives of innocent men. in fact. suggest that Anglo-Saxon conceptions of gender might have more to do with action than with biology. Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity (New York: Routledge.16 Renée R. explore this theme at great length. This is the possibility extended. indeed. 55 Overing. be the poet’s subtle indication that not all masculine behaviours should necessarily be imitated. and Gender. As a result. as the switching of pronouns seems to indicate. Trilling – is a particularly telling reversal of this logic. 1931–1957a. gender can be defined by action rather than (or in spite of) biology. n. the only other woman in the text to act forcefully as her own avenger. Eugenia and Euphrosyne.1 (2007) . and Juliana. are motivated by her pride and vanity. Even more disturbing than the thought that a female could become aggressively active is the possibility that she could. Modthryth is an antitype of fitting queenly behaviour. 105–06. pp. her action and its signification provoke immediate attempts. that the substitution of a masculine pronoun for a physically feminine body can be understood as the triumph of gender over sex. Grendel’s mother has disrupted the poem at the level of language as well as plot.54 and her improper agency is hastily quelled by marriage and motherhood. I would argue. as semiotic chora. calling all the traditional definitions of masculinity into question. 53 Beowulf. see Judith Butler. see Ruling Women: Queenship and Gender in Anglo-Saxon Parergon 24. 1990). and that when grammar replaces or attempts to alter nature.56 52 For the theory of the performativity of gender. Language. not the loss of a child that motivates (and to some extent humanizes) Grendel’s mother.52 If. analogously.53 Like Grendel’s mother. 54 Chance. such as Judith. she threatens the existence of the symbolic structures that uphold representation. in the brief narrative of Modthryth. pp. ‘become’ a man. pp. Her position outside the cultural and even linguistic constraints of Danish society gives her more scope for agency than any other female in the poem has and allows her body to signify in ways for which the poem is not necessarily prepared. If it strikes readers as contradictory to have one woman’s agency contained by the same condition – maternity – that gives rise to the horror of the avenging female. to reabsorb her agency into the masculine signifying economy. esp. See above. Klein points out that the containment of retributive violence in Grendel’s mother and Modthryth may. 1–34. something very significant is taking place. Woman as Hero. and the Lives of the transvestite saints. see Kiernan. and she represents the continual presence of that alterity. 139–60. Grendel’s mother signifies the threat of alterity to a closed system. hall/wilderness. With this act and the heroic and linguistic responses it occasions. and Earl. Psychiatry. at its most fundamental levels. can become like us. Parergon 24. If women can sometimes be men. She exposes the inability of language. and the foundational oppositions that ground heroic identity break down in consequence of one being’s action. and Thinking About Beowulf (Stanford: Stanford University Press. The warriors respond with a conspicuous performance of masculinity – the mustering of troops. she introduces a revolutionary possibility: that the categories of identity which uphold the structures of heroic culture are not. feud/peace.Beyond Abjection: The Problem with Grendel’s Mother Again 17 Grendel’s mother eventually reverts to femininity. despite its abjection. 57 That the poem itself is at best ambivalent about heroic virtue was established by John Leyerle in ‘Beowulf the Hero and the King’. in the hopes that this demonstration will patch over the tear in the social/linguistic fabric caused by a woman’s manly vengeance and prevent it from unravelling any further. and she becomes a nexus for the representation of the many dialectical tensions – male/female. symbolic/ semiotic – that underwrite the system.57 She has exacted the right of the kinsman of the slain. iron-clad. who is not offered compensation in the form of wergild. what allows us to perceive her humanity more easily than we perceive Grendel’s. pp. 1994). The danger he faces is not just from the fangs and claws of a monster. Kiernan and James W. With Grendel’s mother’s forceful assertion of an identity that is indeterminate by conventional standards.1 (2007) . 46 (1983). in fact. then others. 34 (1965). and monsters can sometimes be human. This is why Beowulf does need the armour: as the hero. to avenge that loss with a death of her own. human/monster. outsiders. 108–11. 89–102. 2006). the manly boasting that precedes heroic deeds – which allows patriarchy to reassert itself with an overwhelming and completely unnecessary display of force. he is responsible for repairing that breach. the donning of armour and weapons. however. Medium Ævum. Earl both view Grendel’s mother as a particularly feminine critique of heroic society. he must also uphold the unity and stability of society as a whole. ‘The Role of the Men’s Hall in the Development of the Anglo-Saxon Superego’. She reminds society of the parts of itself that it attempts to expunge through abjection. and he England (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press. after all. to proscribe the limits of gender and agency. in an explicitly gendered way. but not without effecting a critique of the social structures that underwrite the poem and its heroic action. but are socially constructed and therefore subject to change. heroic society itself comes under attack. and this action is. ‘Grendel’s Heroic Mother’. not Beowulf’s victory. threatens the very structures of meaning on which Hrothgar’s kingdom. and its centrality underscores the extent to which Grendel’s mother has threatened social order. ‘The Role of Grendel’s Arm in Feud. of agency beyond masculinity. but the terrifying agency of the semiotic. social instability follows. this act functions to cover up Grendel’s mother’s activity and forestall representation of 58 Seth Lerer introduces the notion that the hero’s body can symbolize society as a whole. Like the conspicuous display of arms and armour and the masculine pronouns. he boldly chops the head off of the dead body of her son. His masculinity was not in doubt when he fought Grendel. Trilling will accomplish this by maintaining his own physical integrity. The event is quite literally at the centre of the poem (line 1590 out of 3182 lines). I. 2 vols (Toronto: University of Toronto Press.58 Unlike Grendel’s mother. rather. 742).18 Renée R.1 (2007) . and the Narrative Strategy of Beowulf’. the Danes would face a daily reminder of her disruptive power. Given the importance of trophies and booty throughout the poem. War trophies and booty play a vital role in the memorialization of heroic deeds. it functions as a representation of the victorious hero by metonymically evoking the strength and terror of his defeated adversary. Law. Katherine O’Brien O’Keeffe and Andy Orchard. ELH. the horrible Other of social cohesion. And yet. The hero’s responsibility. He needs the weapons as well. 61 (1994). he does not bring that head back as a trophy for the Danes. 721–51 (p. 59 See Leslie Lockett. in what is perhaps the most telling erasure in the poem. denying her status as adversary and replacing the memory of her attack with the more acceptable reminder of Grendel’s. See ‘Grendel’s Glove’. 368–88. when Grendel’s arm is displayed on the wall of Heorot. and the poem itself depend. He cannot afford to take any chances with Grendel’s mother – he must make sure that she is dead. in Latin Learning and English Lore: Studies in Anglo-Saxon Literature for Michael Lapidge. 2005). severing her head as proof positive that she cannot return to further disrupt the group’s stability. Parergon 24. The possibility of signification outside the symbolic order. pp. the trophy would signify. but his new adversary’s very existence qua adversary brings categories of identity into question. then. Beowulf’s fame.59 Were the head of Grendel’s mother to adorn the walls of Heorot. he needs to create a martial. is to keep his body intact as a sign of the unified community. however. when that body is dismembered. which has lain at the bottom of the mere for over a day. and the masculine performance of donning armour reassures us as much as it does Beowulf and the Danes. Leaving Grendel’s mother’s head behind consigns her to infamy rather than legend. masculine body to take on a feminine adversary. ed. Beowulf’s seemingly inconsistent act becomes not only understandable but extremely significant. in the first instance. Abjecting Grendel’s mother once more through his refusal to acknowledge her actions by traditional forms of representation. she stands as evidence of the many. then. and it challenges those who would seek easy answers and solid structures 60 Gayle Rubin discusses how women function according to a logic of exchange in establishing social networks in the now-classic essay ‘The Traffic in Women’. but of Anglo-Saxon society more generally. Just as masculine pronouns obscure female agency. Grendel himself is a fearsome threat to the life and well-being of Heorot’s inhabitants. the characters’ performance of denial buries the troubling implications of her actions. the character of Grendel’s mother functions as a critique. In this. re-inscribing Beowulf’s victory over a more appropriate foe and refusing to commemorate his female adversary. of a feud-oriented and exchange-based culture that excludes certain people (namely women and outsiders) from meaningful action. in Toward an Anthropology of Women. The threats of war. at the centre of the narrative. But the poem also offers. accept as its own. In this character.Beyond Abjection: The Problem with Grendel’s Mother Again 19 an outside agency. the hero does not regale the hall with his own account of the fearsome battle. and her attack threatens not the life and well-being of the Danes and Geats – she only kills one of them before she makes her exit – but the very structure of the society Heorot is founded on: she calls into question the legitimacy of the heroic order. tangible proof that the heroic world has a hidden inverse. a threat that cannot be classified according to the terms of heroic understanding. ed. not only of the world of Beowulf. The men return home with Grendel’s head as a trophy. and Irigaray explores the implications of exchangeability for women’s signifying potential in This Sex Which is Not One. Grendel’s mother is intended to be something even more terrifying. pp. His mother. is ambiguity incarnate. perhaps. Rayna R. through the recognition and subsequent abjection of those parts of itself which it cannot. 1975).60 In this way. Parergon 24. and internecine struggle so common to early medieval political life are stock tropes of the heroic world. or will not. many subjects whose positions outside social power structures both maintain and menace the foundations of culture.1 (2007) . She is visible. and Beowulf abounds with them. Grendel’s mother displays her greatest power: the power to uphold the boundary that separates civilization from its terrifying outside – a boundary that is established. Reiter (New York: Monthly Review Press. pp. at least. Beowulf re-establishes the boundary between culture and chaos. but his mother represents something far worse. on the other hand. her indeterminate nature wreaks havoc with representation. 157–210. that instead of being simply a reprise of the horrifying Grendel. Beowulf recognizes the inherent complexity of social and political life. In like manner. It is possible. Grendel. feud. 170–91). is a clear adversary. Unferth. Parergon 24. Hrothgar.20 Renée R. Grendel’s mother stands in for that which exceeds representation – and hence exceeds the totalizing grasp of criticism as well. Yet Grendel’s mother is unique in that the poem embodies so many of these tensions in one character. and with Beowulf’s refusal to commemorate her demise. Grendel’s mother is far from the only ambiguous figure in Beowulf. Rebecca L. effecting a critique of culture that bridges the historical divide between the Anglo-Saxon text and its modern audiences. Maura Nolan. Katherine O’Brien O’Keeffe. Charles D. ultimately manages to repress her – it cloaks her in masculine pronouns and finally kills her off.1 (2007) . In the minds of readers and in her critical afterlife. and she is defined by her ability to transgress the boundaries that ultimately limit the agency of other characters. Trilling by which to understand the world. coherent identity. of course. She has the power to horrify modern readers because she reminds us that there is no such thing as a unified. and they leave us to grapple with the complexity of the character and her role in constructing meaning in the poem. The poem. and alterity that the poem explores. Grendel’s mother functions to reaffirm the boundaries between monsters and men. As maternal abject or as semiotic chora. Wright. gender. or many others to reveal the tensions and anxieties about heroism. The strict categories we have created for understanding Anglo-Saxon literature result from criticism’s tendency to privilege coherence and unity. Stephenson. queenship. Grendel’s mother returns. Wealhtheow. again and again. feminine and masculine. kingship. Hildeburh. words and deeds. feud. but they fail to account fully for Grendel’s mother. Grendel. one need only scratch the surface of Beowulf. But the 400-odd lines detailing her actions are not similarly repressed. and the anonymous Parergon readers for their helpful and insightful comments on this article at various stages in its development. With her destruction.61 Department of English University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 61 I would like to thank Jim Hansen. and in this way she threatens readers as well as the Danes by exposing the ideologically conditioned bases of literary evaluation.