<P> The poem, Beowulf, is contained in the Nowell Codex . As noted in lines 106 - 114 and lines 1260 - 1267 of Beowulf, monsters (which include Grendel's mother and Grendel) are descendants of Cain . After Grendel is killed, Grendel's mother attacks Heorot in revenge . Beowulf then ventures into her cave under a lake, and engages in fierce combat with Grendel's mother . She nearly kills him until he sees an antique sword and instead kills her and beheads the dead Grendel . Beowulf then returns to the surface and to his men at the "ninth hour" (l . 1600, "nōn", about 3pm). </P> <P> Some scholars have argued that the female characters in Beowulf fulfill certain established roles such as hostess (Wealhþeow and Hygd) and peace - weaver (Freawaru and Hildeburh). Grendel's mother and Modthryth (before her marriage to Offa), who challenge these roles, represent "monster - women ." </P> <P> Jane Chance argues in The Structural Unity of Beowulf: The Problem of Grendel's Mother that there are two standard interpretations of the poem: one view which suggests a two - part structure (i.e., the poem is divided between Beowulf's battles with Grendel and with the dragon) and the other, a three - part structure (this interpretation argues that Beowulf's battle with Grendel's mother is structurally separate from his battle with Grendel). Chance stated that, "this view of the structure as two - part has generally prevailed since its inception in J.R.R. Tolkien's Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics in Proceedings of the British Academy 22 (1936)." In contrast, she argued that the three - part structure has become "increasingly popular ." She later developed this argument in Woman as Hero in Old English Literature . </P> <P> There is ongoing debate among medieval scholars concerning the ambiguity of a few words in Old English (related to Grendel's mother) which appear in the original Beowulf manuscript . Because these terms are ambiguous, scholars disagree over aspects of her nature and appearance . Indeed, because her exact appearance is never directly described in Old English by the original Beowulf poet, part of the debate revolves around what is known, namely her descent from the biblical Cain (who was the first murderer, according to the Abrahamic religions). For some scholars, this descent links her and Grendel to the monsters and giants of the Cain tradition, while others such as Kevin Kiernan in Grendel's Heroic Mother argue that there is "plenty of evidence for defending Grendel's mother as a heroic figure" as she "accepted and adhered to the heroic ethic of the blood - feud, the main difference between Grendel's feckless feud with the noise at Heorot and his mother's purposeful one exacting retribution for the death of her son . In heroic terms, her vengeance for the death of her kinsman Grendel ." </P>

The structural unity of beowulf the problem of grendel's mother
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