Grendel’s mother posed a greater threat to Beowulf than her son, Grendel. She fights Beowulf after her son does so the story naturally progresses in difficulty for the protagonist. Also, she clearly makes for a more physically demanding battle than her son. She is a mother defending her offspring, which makes for a determined opponent. Finally, she has the moral high ground in her battle against Beowulf.
First of all, the structure of the story supports the position that Grendel’s mom was more fierce than her child. Beowulf first fights Grendel managing to remove his arm with little problem. Logically the next creature he must face is more dangerous than the first. This structure makes the tension of the poem escalate to its eventual peak.
Grendel’s mother makes the fight more difficult by choosing to have the conflict in her own evil swamp. This causes a new set of challenges to the Geat warrior. First he can not fight the monster in his own environment, instead he has to travel to a cursed body of water that seems to emanate evil. This puts Beowulf at a significant disadvantage because he is forced to shed the protective armor he wore to fought Grendel. The location of the battle also reveals that Grendel’s mom is more intelligent than her son because she uses it to her advantage. Not only does she force Beowulf to remove his armor but, she also manages to inflict damage on him in luring him to her lair. As soon as Beowulf entered the water Grendel’s mother took him in her awful grip pulled him down past, “many a sea-beast [who] tore at his mail shirt with war-tusks” (1082). In this way Grendel’s mom proves to be more resourceful than her son. Thus making for a more dangerous opponent.
Grendel’s mom is made all the more deadly because she is motivated by revenge. After learning of the damage done to her child she goes straight to Heorot to claim the life of an important warrior in retribution. Her fury did not end there as she fought Beowulf to within inches of his life. In truth she lands a dagger blow which would have been the death of a lesser champion in her battle with the Geat warrior.
Also, Beowulf did not have the clear moral high ground against Grendel’s mother that he enjoyed in fighting Grendel. That creature clearly deserved his fate because he was terrorizing the inhabitants of Heorot. The mother on the other hand had not started any conflict with Hrothgar’s clan. Therefore she held a moral advantage in the fight with Beowulf because she was fighting in defense of her family.
Grendel’s mother was a more difficult opponent than Grendel himself because she was more intelligent and ultimately put up a better fight. She uses what is available to her better than her son and therefore is more difficult to defeat. This is the true measure of an opponent and she certainly delivers a better challenge to Beowulf than her son.

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