Man kan kolla om det finns några familjära eller positiva drag i storyn. Hur beskriver t ex Hrothgar Grendels mor?
http://www.uky.edu/~kiernan/iconic/Gren ... Mother.htm
“Moreover, despite our natural tendency to translate modor in this seemingly bestial context as “dam” or “bitch,” Hrothgar carefully tells Beowulf (and us) that she appeared to be a woman:”
“(“About that I heard land-dwellers, my people, hall-counselors tell, that they had seen two such ones, mighty mark-steppers holding the moors, alien spirits. Of those the second one was, as far as they might most certainly ascertain, the likeness of a woman” 1347-53.)”
Grendel kan möjligen tillskrivas något åt det positiva hållet:
http://www.uky.edu/~kiernan/iconic/Gren ... Mother.htm
“Grendel, to be sure, was a boy only a mother could love. Even if, as Paul Taylor unnervingly suggests, he had an appreciation for barbaric art and perhaps knew how to read and write, no one would ever suggest that his virtues outweighed his vices.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grendel%27s_mother
“Grendel's mother (Old English: Grendles mōðor) is one of three antagonists in the anonymous Old English poem Beowulf (c. 700–1000 AD). The other antagonists are Grendel and the dragon, all aligned in opposition to the hero Beowulf. She is introduced in lines 1258b to 1259a as: "Grendles modor/ides, aglæcwif."
Grendel's mother, who is never given a name in the text, is the subject of ongoing controversy among medieval scholars. This is due to the ambiguity of a few words in Old English which appear in the original Beowulf manuscript. While there is consensus over the word "modor" (mother), the phrase "ides, aglæcwif" is the subject of scholarly debate.”
“The Old English ides, Old High German itis and Old Norse dís are cognates that all mean "lady,"
“We must never forget that she is called there ides aglæcwif (1259) and ides, 'lady,' is not a term of abuse”
“āglæca (adj.) is translated as formidable, awe-inspiring”
Hrothgar beskriver således Grendels mor, med viss omsorg, som att hon liknade en kvinna. Vidare får man lära sig att ”dis” betyder ”lady”, som väl har positiva förtecken? Om man skall försöka hitta ngt positivt med "aglæcwif”, så kan man kanske översätta det med formidabel fru?