The Shaper's Woman

A woman that is vaguely mentioned at certain times through-out the novel is the Shaper’s secret love. Grendel describes the relationship between her and the Shaper by observing that, “the Shaper would tip his whitened head, blind eyes staring at the floor whenever the lady spoke, and from time to time, when he sang of heroes, of ship-backs broken, there was no mistaking that he sang the song for her, nothing came of it, she would leave the hall on her husbands arm: the Shaper would bow politely as she passed” (Gardner 144). This mysterious woman is the wife of one of Hrothgar’s thanes who has hair, “slightly less red than the queen’s (she has close-together eyes and eyebrows plucked neat as the lines of a knife wound)” (Gardner 144). Grendel observes the transactions between the woman and the Shaper with curiosity. Though the woman remains loyal to her husband it is apparent that she does have a love for the Shaper and he loves her in return. This is Grendel’s first experience with true love. He briefly thinks of killing her but decides against it because of his respect for the Shaper and their forbidden attraction.