Afterward Beowulf kills Grendel’s mother. Finally Beowulf goes back to Geatland where he gets killed by a dragon. “.. [Beowulf] proclaiming that he’d go to that famous king, would sail across the sea to Hrothgar, now when help was needed.”(29,199-201). These series of events are connected to each other because they portray the same idea. These events show that the character changes for the good.
Beowulf travels to Hrothgar’s kingdom and explains his plans to kill Grendel. Although Beowulf has no refusal of the call during any of his battles with Grendel, his mother, or the dragon. Beowulf is brave and willing to lose his life for the people. Also there is a supernatural aid sometimes who helps the hero throughout the journey leading along a path. Beowulf does not have any prominent aid but he did have help in killing Grendel’s mother with the sword he found.
After the death of the foul beast another creature of the dark was awoken with a desire for revenge; Grendel’s mother was Beowulf's next challenge. When her son died in her home she went the the golden hall and murdered Hrothgar’s best friend, the king wept and asked for Beowulf’s one last time. Beowulf accepted but was not so certain that he would prevail, this did not stop him from facing the next monster. Beowulf went to the beast’s lair where he said his goodbyes and jumped into the action with no reply from his men. The hero was confronted immediately, the battle was hard of Beowulf but by divine intervention our hero was able to survive and triumph using a giant’s sword.
Grendel’s mother pulls him in the water and takes him to her cave. She then goes to the mead hall to recover Grendel’s arm, killing some men in the process. Beowulf and his men seek the cave and find an underwater tunnel, which Beowulf crosses alone. He finds Grendel and his mother’s treasure, is attacked by the mother and kills her. Soon after, he finds Grendel’s offspring defending his father’s corpse.
However he finds an ancient sword in the cave and uses it to kill her. He was setback by the loss of the sword but he prevailed and defeated the troll-dam. This fits with the Ordeal stage in the hero’s journey. Beowulf is faced with a life or death situation and overcomes it.
The first part of the hero quest was when Beowulf fought the demonic monster known as Grendel. Beowulf hears about Grendel and accepts the challenge to defeat him. He spends the evening in the mead hall awaiting the arrival of Grendel. When Grendel appears, he attempts to snatch Beowulf; he fails. Beowulf grabs Grendel by his arm with his bare hands and rips off the monster’s arm with ease.
Beowulf’s pride is so high he doesn’t realize that chasing a whole race from earth might be impressive, but not a thing to boast about. This is building towards Beowulf's spiral downwards if he cannot distinguish right from wrong in that situation then how will he distinguish it in an even more serious one? However, this isn’t the only instance Beowulf has done this. Beowulf does not only battle Grendel, but also his mother. Any person willing to fight two dangerous creatures must really want to protect their people, correct?
Later that night, once everyone is asleep, Grendel enters Herot Hall to kill some of the men, but is instead mortally wounded by Beowulf. Because of Beowulf’s success and bravery, King Hrothgar, ruler of the land, gives him gifts and a feast in his honor. The second main point in the story Beowulf is the death of Grendel’s mother. When Grendel’s mother hears about the death of her son, she becomes angry and vows to avenge her son: “His mother’s sad heart, And her greed, drove her from her den on the dangerous Pathway of revenge.” (Raffel 1276 – 1278). This quote shows that Grendel’s mother most likely cared enough about Grendel that she wants to get revenge on those who killed her son.
One of these monsters is Grendel, who is a demon attacking King Hrothgar’s land and killing his subjects. Beowulf kills Grendel with his bare hands, and then the monster’s wicked mother, in revenge, attacks our hero, but Beowulf kills her. Towards the end of the epic, he is king of his own land, and he must attack a dragon. He wounds it, but Beowulf is slain in the fight and a monument is raised in this name. Some interpreters have seen it as Christian story.
Grendel’s arm was hanging there to help the people remember to be thankful for Beowulf’s bravery. It was Beowulf’s fate to fight Grendel and win this battle. This battle will prepare him for the upcoming battles in his life. The next battle, Beowulf will face will be against Grendel’s mother.