ot know how to since she never spoke. The story says, The fire in my mother’s eyes brightens and she reaches out as if some current is tearing us apart. ‘The world is all pointless accident’ I say. Shouting now, my fists clenched. ‘I exist, nothing else.’ Her face works. She gets up on all fours, brushing dry bits of bone from her path, and, with a look of terror, rising as if by unnatural power she hurls herself across the void and buries me in her bristly fur and fat. I sicken with fear (Gardner, 28-29).This quote shows how bad Grendel’s relationship with his mother was. Throughout the story Grendel goes on to explain how much he did not like his mother and that they just simply did not speak or even know each other. The statement shows that Grendel was disgusted by his mother, and did not like to be near her. In “Beowulf” the relationship is not emphasized. The only part that is emphasized is when Beowulf kills Grendel; Grendel’s mother comes to revenge her son’s death, but also fails against Beowulf. Now just looking at this part you may get the impression that Grendel and his mother had a good relationship since she risked her life for revenge of her son’s death.The Shaper in “Grendel” was an important part to the story. The Shaper was one of the people that Beowulf actually related to. Grendel never killed the Shaper because he was interested and entertained by all of his stories. The Shaper was alone just as Grendel was alone. He realized this about the Shaper and felt for him, and never killed him. Grendel said, “He was the king of the Shapers, harpstring scratchers (oakmoss-bearded, inspired by winds). That was what had brought him over wilderness, down blindman’s alleys of time and space, to Hrothgar’s famous hall”(Gardner, 42). This simply explains the respect Grendel had for the Shaper. How he felt that ...
