Examples Of Evil In Beowulf

Beowulf is a beautiful tale of heroism that inspires the audience to live a heroic life without holding onto illusions and false hopes. No mortal is strong enough to win against death itself, but Beowulf has depicted how the human will can transcend and fight the battle against the worst of human fears. There are three evils that Beowulf personified: Physical, moral and metaphysical.

A descendant of Cain, Grendel is the most frightening personification of physical Evil. As the author put it, Grendel lives “in a hell not hell but Earth”. There is no actual description of Grendel and it invokes the darkness and the fear of that which is unknown to humans. Grendel is a hybrid of the worst kind. He is part human and part beast- living in the darkness- evil misfit, vicious and cruel, cannibalistic and vengeful. He has no morals and poses a physical threat to mankind. One man’s self-defense is destined in a fight against Grendel. He depicts evil as an omnipresent being and stalks all men by following them- unseen, hiding in the dark, never visible but always there. Evil is always insatiable, and there is no

The Mosaic code, “an eye for an eye” has been depicted to perfection in this tale. Moral vengeance, the need to quench the thirst for revenge is what drives Grendel’s mother to fight. She only takes one life and then runs for her life from the hallways. There are the slight perverse twists of events, Beowulf bursts into her home, and she is waiting for him with a warm embrace. Now Beowulf is consumed with self-doubt and most of his men give up on his cause too. Now, he uses Grendel’s magic sword doused in his blood and is ultimately victorious. This victory is, in essence, Beowulf’s entry into adulthood. He now faces complex choices and decisions. The war wounds and the fact that Beowulf is a mere mortal have awakened a deep sense of righteousness in the