Santanu Ganguly article is titled “How Many Heroes are there in Beowulf: Rethinking of Grendel’s Mother as ‘aglæcwif’.” By studying Grendel’s mother’s encounter with Beowulf, Ganguly sets out to remove that universal label of monster from. By examining her reasoning to seek vengeance in the first place will put into perspective for the readers how human her reactions were to the death of her child. Ganguly goes on to identify that battle with Beowulf as predictable; “…she goes on to display a wonderful motherly instinct”, just as a mother would instinctively respond to a child in need. All of which bends the reader’s arm to scream mercy. Mercy for Grendel’s mother who was probed to unleash her viciousness in an attempt to even the score with…show more content… Both Yang’s and Ganguly’s came to their conclusion about Beowulf through similar methods: they examined the behavioral patterns of both Beowulf and Grendel’s mother separately and reasoned their positions with evidence from the epic which concludes Grendel’s mother displayed more human-like tendencies over Beowulf, whereas his inhumane actions and un-human strength earned him an untraditional label of monster. Yang asserts that Beowulf is transformed into a monster’s epic which reverses the roles of human and monstrosity. Ganguly contends how Grendel’s mother’s reaction to her child’s murder shows the audience a paternalistic and instinctive response. Grendel’s mother reacted in a way which only a human-mother could have for their child. Though it is traditional for the protagonist, the great chivalrous warrior to have the audience rooting for his triumph--Beowulf is not the traditional epic and we as an audience are not rooting for him. Yang, Ganguly and myself all believe Beowulf to be a self-loathing man with villainous tendencies, helping to direct our applause and roots for Grendel’s mothers who attempted, but failed, to avenge her child’s
