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Comitatus In Beowulf

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Beowulf by Burton Raffel, an epic poem. What happens in Beowulf is there is a hero, Beowulf, who has to fight the bad guy, Grendel< who kills everyone. Beowulf use these three values: lof, comitatus, and wyrd. Beowulf uses lof by telling everyone that he is going to kill Grendel. Then that is where wyrd comes into place, all the warriors joined Beowulf and started to have fate in him. After Grendel was killed, Beowulf took Grendel’s head back to Herot to show everyone and Beowulf got comitatus from there.
For instance, when Beowulf heard that the community needed Grendel dead due to his actions. Beowulf joined in with his warriors and made a plan to kill him. Beowulf showed lof by listening to the people. “In his far-off home Beowulf, Higlac’s follower and the strongest of the Geats- greater and stronger than anyone anywhere in this world- heard how Grendel filled nights with …show more content…

While Beowulf was fighting to get Grendel dead, King Hrothgar and the people started to have wyrd in him. “But to table, Beowulf, a banquet in your honor: Let us toast your victories, and talk of the future (Raffel, pg. 8).” Hrothgar had a talk with Beowulf before he went to kill Grendel. “You’re Beowulf, are you- the same boastful fool who fought a swimming match with Brecca, both of you daring and young and proud, exploring the deepest seas, risking your lives for no reason but the danger? (Raffel, pg, 8).” Unferth had a talk with Beowulf about why he should not go and kill Grendel. Afterall, Beowulf did not listen to Unferth and went to kill Grendel with King Hrothgar’s advice.
In conclusion, lof, comitatus, and wyrd is important to Beowulf’s culture by having King Hrothgar’s advice and hearing from the people why they wanted Beowulf dead. Lof, comitatus, and wyrd are important due to the fact you can gain popularity from a simple act. They relate to our world today by making them well known by changing people’s

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