...Beowulf essay In Beowulf one if the main themes is revenge, this is shown many ways during the story. Beowulf is our main character in the story , also we have the king that he will help known as King Hrothgar. Beowulf will face many creatures in his journey during this story the important ones are Grendel followed by his mother then finally the dragon. One of the very first times we see the theme is when Grendel comes up for revenge on the King Hrothgar’s people. The next timers when Grendel's mother comes up from her swamp to seek revenge. Finally the last major time the theme comes up is when the dragons reign of terroir will be put to rest. Beowulf is called upon by King Hrothgar when Grendel kills many of his me (lines 35-39). The reason Grendel was so angry with them was because they were singing joyful songs about God. This made Grendel boil with hate so he took action seeking revenge on the king's people. Grendel was mad...
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...The Many Discoveries of Beowulf Although this poem isn’t of love or lust, it is filled with epic fights that lead to a great amount of bloodshed and celebrations for the hero. Beowulf’s writer created a great deal of complications when writing this poem. He used many themes and symbols the portray his tragic poem. The characters are very unclear but each have their reasoning for being in the poem, one being revenge on something or someone. Kathryn Hume stated, “ If a good man and the abstraction “ troublemaking” are given heroic shapes and matched in contest, we expect the good man to win, for troublemaking is not a sin likely to overcome him” (10). “ The early history of every nation is full of legend and myth. In literature, people try to record and describe the early history and to honor their heros in poems, epics, and folklores” (Wang 52). Beowulf is the main character throughout the poem, however the author tells us nothing about Beowulf’s past life other than his father was a great warrior as well as Beowulf himself. However, a young age Beowulf was considered cowardly. “ Were the poem centered on Beowulf himself, we would expect to learn something about him as a person” (Hume 2). The little we do know about Beowulf is still a great amount on his courage. He fights three battles and with each one he portrays a little bit of heroism. “Though he was little-known when coming to the Danes, he is full of courage and energy. Though he decreases in his strength in his old...
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...Jake Manly Dr. smith English Literature 122B, 5th November 13, 2009 Revenge in Beowulf According to Webster’s revenge is defined as the action of inflicting harm in return for an injury. Beowulf and people today encounter many situations of revenge in their lives. Everyone has been wronged by another at least once in their life, so who wouldn’t want to seek some type of revenge on their enemy? In the epic tale Beowulf, Grendel’s mother had many run-ins with the well-known hero Beowulf himself. She despises the protagonist and his fellow warriors for the loss of her son and seeks revenge. In Beowulf Eddie McPherson comments, “I will go to that dwelling outside the dark wood and bring pain to those who have brought pain to me.” This means that Beowulf and his warrior have done something causing all this hatred upon them. This is also important because it is showing how mad she is for whoever caused her this grief. Jane C. Nitzsche states, “Grendel’s mother enters the poem a mere hundred lines later when she attacks the Danish Hall, as the Frisan contingent attacked the hall lodging Hildenburh’s Danish brother in the Finnsburh Fragment. “This tells about her furious attack on the hall for removing her son’s arm and causing him to die in her arms. This is an important key of revenge because the act of her attacking the hall in the first place was caused by Beowulf killing her son. Jane C. Nitzsche also states, “She resembles a grieving human mother inside while outside she...
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...Beowulf is a tale of a man with the strength of 30 men. The tale follows him through his heroic journey. It tells of his epic battles where the odds stacked against him. Grendel attacks Heorot because of the noise and happiness coming from it. He is also just a mean creature. Beowulf wants to help the people of Heorot because he wants to test his own skill and bravery against the monster. He sails there with 14 soldiers. Beowulf battles Grendel unarmed proving his strength. Grendel ends up trying to escape and as this is happening Beowulf grabs his arm and rips it off. Grendel's mother is now angry at Beowulf and wants revenge. She kills one of Hrothgar's men and then goes back to her underwater lair. Beowulf swims down there and fights her....
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...temptation on a daily bases. In the epic poem, Beowulf, the actions of many of the main characters reflect how revenge seduces us to make decisions that have negative impact not only on us but the people around us. Because seeking revenge more and more destroys us, the nature of evil is revenge. After spending most of his life in the dark doing nothing with his time, Grendel strives to deprive the people of Herot of their happiness. The grandfather of Grendel, Cain was banished so along with Grendel and his parents were banished as well, as a result it made him feel alone and isolated. Being alone made him a monster in only on the outside but the inside as well. “…A powerful monster, living down in the darkness, growled in pain, impatient as day the music rang…” This quote shows the impact on how being lonely change someone. It lead Grendel to snatch up thirty men, smashed them, and take them way. Grendel’s choice to focus on his pain and become self-absorbed leads directly to his violent actions. Instead of cowering in grief, the mother seeks revenge upon Beowulf for what he did to her son Grendel. She takes the king’s right hand man and Beowulf’s trophy. Something that he believes that is rightfully his. When his mother visit Herot, she carries off Grendel’s arm, which Beowulf hung high from the rafters. This indicates that Grendel’s mother, as part of her grieving, gets back at Beowulf for the killing of her son. Her personal revenge leads to an unavoidable death. Although...
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...Something worth fighting for: (Motivations of Beowulf in the epic poem, Beowulf) Heroes fight for something. From classic literature to new releases in the cinema, conflict is explained, and the protagonist fights for something. It can be for personal honor, a duty, or even to protect a girl or his family. Sometimes the motivation of the hero aren’t so honorable. Pride, revenge, and other things can drive a character to fight. Regardless, motivation exists for a conflict in any story. From a psychological aspect, one could argue that there isn’t a single motivation for any action. The beauty of literature and art, however, is the clarification of elements such as motive, where they are often boiled down to one or two prime influences on action....
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...Beowulf was known as serving people and very giving. Yet at the same time Beowulf, and the Anglo Saxon never showed any love or compassion towards women. On the contrary Achilles affliction is all generated from women. Also Achilles is very selfish, and he also accepts his own fate. Two similar traits between Beowulf and Achilles would be cunning in battle and getting revenge. An example of Beowulf be cunning in battle was when he sacrificed men this is what happened “Eyes were watching to see his swift hard claws. Grendel snatched at the first geat he came to, ripped him apart, cut his body to bit with powerful jaws” (260-263). This creates a scene of what happened that night. Another example of Achilles be cunning and battle is when throws his spear and misses and then hector taunts him. Yet he does reveal that fact that Achilles now knew that the gods were on his side. So he threw the spear again and the brought...
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...Beowulf is a world-renowned literary work and is commonly cited as one of the most important works of Old English literature. The early English epic Beowulf consists of a marvelous hero, three ghastly villains, and deeds of great honor and valor. The main hero Beowulf has three main battles throughout the story. Each villain symbolizes a specific evil that all people have to face. The first monster Grendel represents rage, Grendel’s mother represents desire for revenge, and the dragon represents greed. The vicious monster Grendel represents the topic of rage throughout the epic. Grendel’s thirst for blood grows due to many different reasons. One reason Grendel was full of rage is because he was separated from God’s love. In the epic it...
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...Trails of heroic fate of Beowulf Introduction The narrative of epic poem Beowulf consists of three episodes in which the hero is engaged in the peculiar mission of fighting with three fabulous monsters (Fisher 1958, p.173). The first monster Grendel is quickly defeated; the second, Grendel’s dam is depicted with greater elaboration but also ends in demise at the hands of Beowulf; and the eventual dragon, distanced from the previous two in a span of fifty years, brings the heroic career of aging Beowulf to an end. The unity of Beowulf’s three fights from ease to death, perceived by some researchers like Klaeber (1950), holds the epic together. Others see the epic poem more than a collection of three different fights in a hero’s life, but it is united and intertwined by two parts—the fights with Grendel and his dam and the final dragon fight—signaling “the opposition of hero and king, youth and age, the beginning and ending of a life achievement” (Tolkien 1936). On the basis of this premise, Fisher (1958) conceives the theme of the epic as the “doom of Beowulf”, the integration of “redemption and judgment treated in a way which skillfully blends the Germanic hero with the Christian saint” (p.171). Wrenn (1958) states the similar notion, arguing Beowulf, a Germanic hero, shows his greatest splendor “ not alone in winning glory by victory, but rather by finding his supremely noble qualities especially in the moment of death in battle”. The essay aims to analyze the three fights...
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...transition in character while reading and comparing the books of Beowulf and King Arthur. Although the story archetypes remain the same for the most part, different ideals reflect themselves in a variety of ways. Things like companions and quest are still important to the people, but their ideals change. The ideals of the Germanic peoples of Northern Europe drastically change as Christianity moves across the region, and their archetypes reflect this change of character in the culture. In Beowulf, Beowulf and his companions express the heritage based Germanic Ideal of Comitatus or "loyalty to king and companions". Before fighting...
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...What is Beowulf doing? (An analysis of the motivations for Beowulf’s actions in the poem) Beowulf is a hero figure that fights many monsters and for many reasons. Beowulf has been translated from an oral tale to a written tale in old English, to a written tale in modern English. It is unclear who the original author of the tale is, although many think that monks are partially responsible for it. Beowulf has three main battles throughout the tale and there is a motivation behind each one. The three motivations for Beowulf’s actions are that it is his duty, he wants to be a hero, and he wants to leave something behind for his people. In the Anglo Saxon time period, something being someone’s duty is something that is really important and Beowulf...
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...Your son just violated the law, and you would still forgive him? This all comes down to love and loyalty. In Beowulf, loyalty played a major role in the relationship between Grendel and Grendel’s mother. Grendel’s mother knew her son was atrocious, but the love between her and her son never changed. Grendel’s mother was loyal to her son when defeat played a part in his death, and adds to my belief that a mother’s loyalty will never changed no matter how gruesome their child is. Every child or adolescent gets into trouble, hoping that their parents will still love them the same. For instance, Grendel’s attacks on Hrothgar’s people. He standed “hoping to kill” the innocent people of their country. Even though Grendel terrorizes Hrothgar’s halls and made everyone miserable, he was still loved by his mother. Now look at a similar scenario from a modern eye, think about a young boy causing a destruction. The d mother of the young boy would be disappointed by her son’s behavior, but the love for him will not change; furthermore,...
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...distorted. As the most valued, strongest, ablest warrior around Beowulf is looked up upon. He is a Geatish warrior who fights not only the monster Grendel, but also Grendel’s mom and a fire breathing dragon. Achilles was an important hero in The Iliad. As a regnant warrior, he leads soldiers from his hometown to seek revenge towards Agamemnon. Beowulf and Achilles were both superior warriors in similar and different ways. Beowulf and Achilles are two well-known heroes who fought agelong and hard. Beowulf...
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...Beowulf, “The Wife of Bath’s prologue and Tale”, and Macbeth reveal the role of women in a similar way. In these three texts, women are typically seen as vulnerable, wicked, or inferior under the male dominance. In regards to the time period of Beowulf, we must keep in mind that societal outlooks for both female and male were different compared to today. The presence of women in Beowulf is limited and played a minor role. The women in Beowulf either are shown submissive or wicked. This is evident in the character role— both the queens, Wealhtheow and Hygd serve the role of a servant, and Grendel’s mother and Thyrth play the wicked role. To clarify the role of a queen during Beowulf time, they were hostesses who receive people in the hall...
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...Lynn Wells Dr. Brandy Lowery ENGL2322 16 September 2015 Title “Beowulf” is the universal story of life’s journey from adolescence to adulthood and to old age. The hero grows in wisdom about himself and about the world through the pain and triumph of personal experience. In the mythical poem “Beuowulf” the audience is able to see how he grows in wisdom about himself and about the world with each monster he faces. Beowulf is a hero who battles three different monsters, Grendel, Grendel’s mother and the Dragon. Each monster he faces represents different meanings to him. In times of battle, Beowulf experience many hardships and victories. Grendel is a strong evil water-monster who went to Herot Hall and slaughtered many of Hrothgar’s men. When Beowulf is called to fight Grendel he depicts himself as a man with no fear. Beowulf knows that he is a young strong warrior and is the only one who has the strength to defeat this evil monster. He accepts the challenge and announces that he will fight barehanded which concludes that he is fully confident in himself. He announces, “I have also heard the thrust of a weapon no threat to his threws. Thus I foreswear my sword and strong shield. Instead I shall grab and grapple with Grendel, fighting for life with that fearsome foe” (Gardner 40-41). Beowulf proves his expertise to defeat Grendel by keeping Grendel’s arm. As described, “ As a token of triumph, the troop leader hung the shorn-off shoulder and arm by its hand: the grip of Grendel...
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