Unferth seems to be mad and jealous of Beowulf’s arrival. He even tries to undermine Beowulf unjustly. On Beowulf’s arrival, instead of showing some hospitality, he insults Beowulf at a banquet saying, “Are you the Beowulf who took on Breca/ in a swimming-match on the open sea/ risking the water just to prove that you could win?” (506-508). However, Beowulf refutes those claims. He defends himself suggesting Unferth that he don’t want to abandon the weaker boy, while he was swimming with Breca for five nights. At the same moment, Beowulf claim to the Unferth as an “admired by all for his mind and courage/ although under a cloud for killing his brothers, /reclined near the king” (1165-1167). Also, Beowulf questioned Unferth about his courage which lead him unable to defeat Grendel. …show more content…
Thinking Beowulf as a folk hero, he seems to be a real- warrior who is brave enough to defeat Grendel and has no -fear in himself. Besides that, Beowulf depicts himself as a hero when he replied Unferth saying, “the truth is this: /when the going was heavy in those high waves/ I was the strongest swimmer of all" (529-534). When it comes to dying Beowulf wants to make a barrow on his name. So that, after his death, “it will loom on the horizon at Hronesness / and be a reminder among” his people
He had defeated the monstrous Grendel which would typically be not so easy to do, but it was for him. Grendel was out to destroy the Danes. Beowulf had put together a well thought-out plan and waited for him to step into Heorot before he attacked him. He was also going in without any weapons in order to make the fight fair since Grendel would not have any. As Grendel first stepped into the Heorot he had tore a man to shreds.
Grendel thinks at first that Unferth is not an honorable man but when he says he really doesn’t care what happens to him only he knows what happens there that is the only thing that matter. “But Unferth didn 't. "Or lies here," he said. "A hero is not afraid to face cruel truth." That reminded him, apparently, of what he 'd meant to say before. "You talk of heroism as noble language, dignity.
Before each battle, Beowulf meets major obstacles. When traveling the seas to fight Grendel he reports that there were several sea creatures. When Beowulf arrives, he meets his shadow; an evil figure who mirrors those things the hero most fears or dislikes about himself. Beowulf’s shadow is Unferth. Unferth was intoxicated and tried to accuse Beowulf of not being as magnificent as he claimed.
(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.
During the banquet with King Hrothgar, Unferth criticizes Beowulf’s defeat in a seven-day swim, but Beowulf easily shuts this down. He recounts his story during the swim and then goes on to talk confidently about how he would destroy the dragon, Grendel. It is the way that
Unferth was jealous of Herot’s interest in Beowulf. With envy beginning on line 499 and ending on line 528 Unferth tries to publicly humiliate and discredit Beowulf. With a condescending tone the audience (I) began to
He outright rejects feminine traits ergo, his character propagates ideals to the audience. In addition, the ability to sacrifice one’s life is tied directly to masculinity. When Grendel’s mother is seeking revenge for her son and needs to be killed, Unferth does not portray manly will. Thus, he is described as “not man enough/ to face the turmoil of a fight… and to risk his life”(1468-70). Through contrasting Beowulf’s readiness to kill Grendel’s mom and Unferth’s lack thereof, manliness is even more yearned for.
Yes, Beowulf is brave, but not because he wants to do the right thing, he wants gold and glory. Beowulf is known as a great hero and on the surface he is. He seems to be brave and just but underneath that, Beowulf is extremely arrogant and egotistical. Beowulf does not just do things for they are the right thing to do, he does them seeing that great deeds will bring him honor and boost his reputation. He fights Grendel for bragging rights like the swimming contest Unferth brought up and he refuses to use a sword when fighting Grendel because it will just add to his bravery.
The continued honor shown in Beowulf’s character shines through when Beowulf never mentions that Unferth’s trusted sword was no match for Grendel’s mother. Beowulf could have simply boasted how the sword was useless and ineffective against the female beast, yet he was silent out of respect for Unferth. Finally, during Beowulf’s time as ruler (fifty winters), another beast arrives: a dragon. This time, Beowulf is much older and is in a much weaker state than when he first defeated Grendel and his mother. However, that does not deter Beowulf from going out and defending his kingdom.
In Beowulf, Unferth tries to rile up Beowulf, viewing him as not as glorious as the stories claim, but once he kills Grendel and begins his hunt for Grendel’s mother, he realizes his words were wrong. He tries to apologize by lending Beowulf his own sword, Hrunting. Beowulf gladly accepts the sword and even states “‘to that far-famed man I bequeath my own / sharp-honed, wave-sheened wonder-blade. / With Hrunting I shall gain glory or die’” (1489-1491).
Beowulf makes known that “no man but [himself] could hope to defeat this monster, [and] no one could try.” Beowulf wants to have this fight all to himself, so he can take all of the glory. He is too selfish to conclude that only he could defeat the monster alone. Beowulf cannot be thought of as a hero because “Beowulf only longed for fame.” Beowulf does not perform heroic deeds just to save the citizens, but to receive more admiration from the citizens.
The themes of the story are both the same being betrayal and anger. They are however expressed in a different way. Unferth and Beowulf show anger toward each other in different ways for example unferth is shown as someone who is jealous of beowulf and will use any flaws that he sees in him to make him look bad. “unlocked his thoughts with these unfriendly words for the journey of beowulf” The author has a style where it keeps you up to see whats next and what would be beowulf’s response to what unferth said to him.
In the book Beowulf, Unferth speaks of Beowulf and begins to speak bad of his name. He does this due to his unlike toward Beowulf. He brings back an event that involves Beowulf’s failure in a bet he had made. This makes BEowulf weary of unferth. Unferth accuses Beowulf of fraud and unheroic.
Despite Unferth’s challenge and jealousy towards Beowulf, his actions help Beowulf admit his flaws amidst his greatness. Beowulf first encounters Unferth, one of Hrothgar’s courtiers, when he goes to the Danes to help King Hrothgar fight Grendel.
He says such things because he is madly jealous that Beowulf will fight with Grendel instead of him. On the other hand, Beowulf counteracts Unferth by staying calm, explaining