Beowulf is an iconic littercher piece that has found its ways to many of teen’s school all around the world. Beowulf is a story told by the Anglo-Saxons for they believed strongly in courage, strength, loyalty, and many other beliefs.In the book beowulf displays some monster qualities. Which could be used to say that since Beowulf has monster qualities. He himself is a monster.
The epic Beowulf is written in Old English by an unknown author, and it is considered to be the oldest surviving long poem in Old English. Beowulf is about a hero, named Beowulf, who comes to the rescue of the Danes when their mead-hall is being attacked by a monster. He then enters a series of three great battles that change his life. The last battle is the most significant battle that Beowulf faces because it shows how much he has grown as a man from his first battle. Without Beowulf’s final battle, the epic Beowulf would not have the valuable lesson that it is able to teach us today.
Allegory is a depiction or symbol of an abstract or spiritual meaning through tangible or material forms. Relatively a story, poem, or portrayal that could be elucidated to divulge an unknown and clandestine meaning. In the following tales of the erratically depicted heroes such as the gallant yet reluctant figure known as Sir Gaiwan to the courageous yet audacious individual known as Beowulf, these men are known for their honor, unrighteousness, and integrity. Also within comparison to these divine, fierce, and distinctive individuals are a character in which Chaucer calls the perfect knight in The Canterbury Tales. These parables exonerate examples and illustrates three atypical barrages of character of profound Middle Age literature. In
Comparisons and contrasts play a huge role in literary works, especially between characters. Not only do they show similarities and differences between various characters, but they also bring out specific qualities that make a character unique and help guide the readers towards a common conclusion. In the popular Anglo-Saxon epic poem Beowulf, the protagonist and hero, Beowulf, is emphasized for his extraordinary greatness. Throughout his story, he, as an advocate of good, encounters many opposing forces in the form of other characters. In a society where heroism and bravery are honored as essential aspects of culture, the contrasting values of these characters, or foils, help define Beowulf as the model hero. He becomes often associated with the image of a perfect, almighty warrior, able to prove his fame in any situation. However, the foil characters can do more than purely illuminate his positive values. With the contrast they provide, Beowulf’s faults are revealed and criticized as well. Although foil characters often point out the greatness of Beowulf, they also serve to highlight Beowulf’s flaws, teach him lessons, and allow him to change, as seen in his interactions with Unferth, Hrothgar, and the dragon.
ver time, humans have always created stories and conjured up personifications of evil to explain the unknown - whether it was the myth of the vampire, spurred on by Bram Stoker’s Dracula and the receding of skin that causes a corpse’s nails to appear longer, or the myth of Wendigos, a create of evil in Native American culture. Many cultures and civilizations, new and old, have their fairytales and monsters in the dark, to explain the unknown. We see this in Beowulf, where Grendel is a representation of Satanic evil in the Bible due to the heavy influence of faith in Germanic warrior society, as opposed to monsters in modern society such as the zombie, which is a reflection of evolving political fears.
The balance of good and evil in Beowulf by Seamus Heaney is apparent in the characters Grendel, Grendel’s mother, Beowulf and Wiglaf. Grendel is a slayer and kills the Danes in Heorot Hall. Grendel’s mother comes for revenge of her son and in the process kills Hrothgar’s friend and adviser, Aeschere. Beowulf does countless acts of selfless deeds, even for those who are not of the Geat clan. Wiglaf comes to Beowulf’s aid when nobody else does while battling the dragon.
Grendel who is the monster, hated to see the men celebrate their joy after winning victories. In Return, it made Grendel Upset in the movie and textbook when he discovered the men celebrating he goes into the hall once they all were asleep and attacked him. It upsets the Danes that he had killed their men. Beowulf then heard the news and gathered his strongest men to attack Grendel. They plotted on how Beowulf could destroy Grendel for what he did to the men. No one actually wanted to go against Grendel because, he was so dangerous. However, Beowulf was not afraid he did not care how dangerous he was. Beowulf considered, he may even die. Beowulf Challenged Grendel for attacking and killing the
In the town Beowulf lived was a monster. The monster was a big man and was very strong. He was tall and very mighty. He could beat anyone in a fight. No one dared try to fight him. No one even wanted to get close to him. The monster stole from the town’s people. He was constantly destroying their land and was always causing trouble. Everyone in town was afraid of him.
The epic poem, Beowulf is about a hero who comes to the aid of King Hrothgar. Hrothgar’s Mead Hall was being destroyed by a demon that lurked the boundaries of the small town. Beowulf hears the news and comes to try to defeat the demon. He performs this admirable deed because he wanted to achieve immortality by being a hero. He fought the monsters with his bare hands. He had the true characteristics of a hero, strength, bravery, and courage. Nobody would dare do the things Beowulf attempted in his lifetime. I envisage during all his battles he possesses all the traits of an epic hero. So, Beowulf, travels from Geatland to save Herot from the demons that lurk about.
There are an ample amount of qualities that one could stigmatize with an epic hero. Four of which are the most predominate; strong, ethical, and quest and glorified. The main protagonist within the story Beowulf is faced with three relentless foes of which no other human dares to go against. His battle versus Grendel, who was known as “mankind’s enemy” (L.79), he demonstrates his strength in a number of ways. “That shepherd of evil, guardian of crime, knew at once that nowhere on earth had he met a man whose hands were harder;” (L.273-275) The monster Grendel was mortified at the fact a human could be so strong as to seized his claws.
Monsters are born in literature through their words, origins, thoughts, and actions. Into Thin Air, by Jon Krakauer, as well as Burton Raffel’s Beowulf, contain such monsters that are large impediments to the hero’s quest. Also the expeditions or quests are affected in terms of intimidation by the monsters who are always overwhelming at first to the pessimistic eye such as how the Israelites viewed Goliath, the Philistine, when David went to fight him.
When Grendel last words “Poor Grendel’s had an accident . . . So may you all” . These words are used as a curse because just like Grendel suffered from an accident everyone else will suffer to . For example , “It was an accident,” I bellow back. I will cling to what is true. “Blind, mindless, mechanical. Mere logic of chance.”(Grendel 173) . As Grendel dying he sees that all the animals that hated him gather around him to see him die and he is with anger . They just sit there and watch his mindless , indifferent eyes , and midnight black that chasm below him . When Grendel is battling Beowulf he thinks that he can escape and that he is no match for Beowulf . For instance , “ His syllables lick at me, chilly fire.” (Grendel 170) . Grendel
Monsters are described as big, ugly, no-feelings creatures. They are also described as creatures of hell or creatures that are not acceptable in the society. This is disagreeable, not all monsters are ugly, and some monsters do have some feelings. The monster Grendel, in the book Grendel by the author John Gardner, shows that he is sensitive and has human's feeling traits even though he is a monster. Different events in the book, prove that the monster is impressionable and afraid.
This reinforces the idea that Grendel’s mother is also a monster, since put in the same position as the prior one. The two monsters, Grendel and his mother are also associated with the night as a time for action. This reinforces their animal-like behavior, and the monstrosity of their actions because they are not giving fair warning to the humans. The monstrosity of Grendel is also seen through his savagery when killing the men. He is carnivorous and feeds on human flesh. He does not seem to have a limit when killing “(…) greedy and grim, he grabbed thirty men from their resting places and rushed to his lair, flushed up and inflamed from the raid, blundering back the butchered corpses” (ll.120-125). Finally, Grendel does not seem to have emotions about those he kills, he is "insensible to pain and human sorrow” (ll.119-120) and he never showed remorse”(l.137). By his beast-like physical appearance, as well as his gruesome actions and his lack of emotions, the monstrosity of Grendel becomes evident throughout the
A genuine definition of a monster is an "imaginary creature that is typically large, ugly, and frightening," but in the poem Beowulf a monster has much more meaning than just an imaginary creature. Monsters were commonly used in stories written during the pagan times. Throughout the plot of ‘Beowulf,' the protagonist Beowulf faces many obstacles that include fighting monsters: Grendel, Grendel's mother, and a Dragon. The monsters in Beowulf are present for a substantial reason to contribute towards the story, and they are symbolic of many qualities in the Anglo-Saxon culture.