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A Monstrous Metamorphosis Of Beowulf

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A Monstrous Metamorphosis “Monsters are real, and Ghosts are real too. They live inside us, and sometimes, they win.” (Stephen King). We, as human beings, are constantly inserting the ideas of the monstrous into our culture. If you would look across all the many people of the world you will find that much of their culture centers around monsters. Many books, movies, and television programs center around both the physical and mental state around monsters. For some of us, monsters are even in our dreams. Why have monsters become so inherent in our society? The answer must be that we are in truth, reflecting the monsters inside of ourselves. We look inside the depths of our hearts and we see all that is wrong and evil about us. Every day a human will have to face the constant struggle of overcoming their unique monsters. Poems such as “Beowulf” and “Bisclavret” have been written to address this struggle that we all must face. “Beowulf” is a poem which takes us through the tale of a hero named Beowulf as he fights for honor and glory for his hometown. During the poem, Beowulf chooses to face off with three entities; Grendel, his mother, and a dragon. On the surface of the tale, the monsters appear to be Grendel, his mother, and the dragon. The glaring issue of this text however, is that it looks as if it is merely a classical fairy tale. The cliché of the hero who comes in and saves the town. The text is simply begging its reader to ask the question as to what the

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