Beowulf, Bewulf 2000, and the 13th Warrior
Monster theory rests on the implicit assumption that the monster is never part of the victim's social group; it is always some other. A proper framework to test this thesis out is through Beowulf and its modern day adaptations, The 13th Warrior and Beowulf 2000. When comparing how different Grendel's Mother is to the victims' society, one can find insights into her characterization within the various adaptations. In Beowulf, Grendel's Mother is faintly described, but described enough to make her an outsider and an other. Grendel's mother is described as an aquatic witch-monster with claws; essentially, something alien to human knowledge except for a slight resemblance to a woman. This void of human similarities adds to its horror and how she is portrayed, for it is easier to hate an alien than a neighbor. Even when she exhibits human characteristics, such as revenge for her son, she is o
This characterization of Wendel's mother as a woman with a bear fetish represents "an anterior culture as monstrous justifies its displacement or extermination by rendering the act heroic" (Cohen 8). She even lives in the same place that the helpless victims do, thus society cannot rely on geography to classify her as an other. Only at that point does she becomes a powerful monster; she was never a monster in her own right because she was so similar. Beowulf 2000, not to be mistaken for soft-core pornography, is an even more blatant example of how diminished monstrosity is related to the lack of difference between Grendel's mother and society. This humanizing depiction drastically diminishes her monstrosity and thus her effectiveness as a monster. Her description, however, is so weak and lacking that it makes it easy for others to anthropomorphize her and thus make her harder to hate and easier to identify with. Her diminished monstrosity gave rise to a diminished evil and fight, thus taking away from her power as a monster. It is only after Grendel, easily classified as an other, seeps into her body that she takes the monstrous form with wings and a freakish body. Thus, society defines difference as monstrous, a frightening normative assumption that society has been lulled into. When the level of difference is called into question, it becomes obvious that the characterization of the monster is contingent on the level of difference. Her characterization as a terrible and fearsome demon is therefore diminished with the lack of gore in her physicality. When someone similar does something bad, it is not so bad; but when an alien does the same bad action, it's heinous. Wendel's mother, however, is not depicted as the blatant other. stracized from humanity due to her basic characteristics.
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Acceptance Essays
