6. In a brief essay, describe Grendel’s mother. Base your description on the details you find in the text, and add details of your own. Tell what she looked like, how her voice sounded, how she smelled, how she walked. Describe what she ate and how she passed her time. Use as many sensory details as you can: You want your readers to feel they are meeting the monster face to face. How do you want our readers to feel about the monster? Do you want horror, or are you interested in making her somewhat sympathetic? The words you choose will make the difference.
The thought of Grendel’s mother brings terror to the hearts of the Danes. However, she is gravely misunderstood. Cursed to live as an outcast as a result of her descendant’s sin, Grendel’s mother “lives in secret places, windy cliffs, wolf-dens where water pours from the rocks, then runs underground, where mist steams like black clouds, and the groves of trees growing out over their lake are all covered with frozen spray, and wind down snakelike roots that reach as far as the water and help keep it dark”. It is only in these places where she and her son are safe from men, seeking to hunt them down. Feared for her monstrous appearance, Grendel’s mother’s claws constantly drip blood as a result of protecting her lair from surrounding monsters. “The fight brought other monsters swimming to see her catch, a host of sea beasts.” She spends her days doting on her only son. Every day, she wakes up in the morning and prepares breakfast. Slithering on the floor like a snake, Grendel’s mother cleans the cave from top to bottom. Then she drives off the beasts constantly attacking her cave. Towards the end of the day, she prepares dinner. One day Grendel, sorely spoiled and envious of the sounds emitting from Herot, decides to seek his feast there. Though fearful of the wrath that may befall them but unable to deny her only son, Grendel’s mother allows him to leave. Every night, she waits patiently for her son, recalling the troubles that befell her ancestor, Cain, who decided to commit murder.
After learning of the attack on her only child, in grief, Grendel’s mother attacks Herot. Upon seeing her son’s arm hanging high from the rafters of Herot, Grendel’s mother attacks blindly with grief and carries off one of Hrothgar’s men and her son’s arm. Lying in wait for her son to die, she notices a stranger invading her lair. This stranger, the man who attacked her son, has come to kill her. She welcomes the opportunity for revenge. Unable to pierce the warrior’s stranger outer skin, Grendel’s mother drags him back to her lair. “And all at once the greedy she-wolf who’d ruled those waters for half a hundred years discovered him, saw that a creature from above had come to explore the bottom of her wet world. She welcomed him in her claws, clutched at him savagely but could not harm him.” There a fierce struggled ensued. Her voice, rugged with grief and rage, cried for revenge. Finally she had her chance. “And in an instant she had him down, held helpless. Squatting with her weight on his stomach, she drew a dagger, brown with dried blood and prepared to avenge her only son”. However, she was unable to pierce his chain mail. Then the warrior stole a sword from the walls, an ancient sword made by giant ancestors and passed through Grendel’s mother family. Using this sword, he slew Grendel’s mother. There, in her dark lair, she died unable to avenge her son and destined to return to the hell of her ancestors.
The thought of Grendel’s mother brings terror to the hearts of the Danes. However, she is gravely misunderstood. Cursed to live as an outcast as a result of her descendant’s sin, Grendel’s mother “lives in secret places, windy cliffs, wolf-dens where water pours from the rocks, then runs underground, where mist steams like black clouds, and the groves of trees growing out over their lake are all covered with frozen spray, and wind down snakelike roots that reach as far as the water and help keep it dark”. It is only in these places where she and her son are safe from men, seeking to hunt them down. Feared for her monstrous appearance, Grendel’s mother’s claws constantly drip blood as a result of protecting her lair from surrounding monsters. “The fight brought other monsters swimming to see her catch, a host of sea beasts.” She spends her days doting on her only son. Every day, she wakes up in the morning and prepares breakfast. Slithering on the floor like a snake, Grendel’s mother cleans the cave from top to bottom. Then she drives off the beasts constantly attacking her cave. Towards the end of the day, she prepares dinner. One day Grendel, sorely spoiled and envious of the sounds emitting from Herot, decides to seek his feast there. Though fearful of the wrath that may befall them but unable to deny her only son, Grendel’s mother allows him to leave. Every night, she waits patiently for her son, recalling the troubles that befell her ancestor, Cain, who decided to commit murder.
After learning of the attack on her only child, in grief, Grendel’s mother attacks Herot. Upon seeing her son’s arm hanging high from the rafters of Herot, Grendel’s mother attacks blindly with grief and carries off one of Hrothgar’s men and her son’s arm. Lying in wait for her son to die, she notices a stranger invading her lair. This stranger, the man who attacked her son, has come to kill her. She welcomes the opportunity for revenge. Unable to pierce the warrior’s stranger outer skin, Grendel’s mother drags him back to her lair. “And all at once the greedy she-wolf who’d ruled those waters for half a hundred years discovered him, saw that a creature from above had come to explore the bottom of her wet world. She welcomed him in her claws, clutched at him savagely but could not harm him.” There a fierce struggled ensued. Her voice, rugged with grief and rage, cried for revenge. Finally she had her chance. “And in an instant she had him down, held helpless. Squatting with her weight on his stomach, she drew a dagger, brown with dried blood and prepared to avenge her only son”. However, she was unable to pierce his chain mail. Then the warrior stole a sword from the walls, an ancient sword made by giant ancestors and passed through Grendel’s mother family. Using this sword, he slew Grendel’s mother. There, in her dark lair, she died unable to avenge her son and destined to return to the hell of her ancestors.
No comments:
Post a Comment