Grendel's Mother And Beowulf Comparison Essay

A hero; is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to preserve and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles. - Christopher Wilde. There are many ways a hero can be described, but the two most popular traits are honor and strength. Throughout the different stories in this collection of books, one thing has stayed constant; the display of honor and strength. Not only did the protagonist, Beowulf, carry these characteristics but also the antagonists such as, Grendel, and Grendel’s mother. The author of “Beowulf” uses the motifs of honor and strength to support the overall theme of the story.

Antagonists can present honor and strength just like protagonists, which is exactly what Grendel presented. In the the epic poem Beowulf, we see a lot of examples that supports strength. For example, when Beowulf goes to fight Grendel we hear Beowulf explaining how Grendel, “will carry our bloody flesh to the moors, crunch on our bones and smear torn scraps of our skin on his wall.” (line 181-184)

During, The Battle with Grendel’s Mother, “ Beowulf defeated Grendel's mother by using a specific sword, too heavy for an average man to handle, and killed Grendel's mother.” (line 513-525) The author illustrates Beowulf as a strong godlike individual. The importance of this passage, is that it portrays and supports the motif of strength within the characters of the story. Finally, in the final story we see how roles are reversed and the men to something honorable for Beowulf. We learn that, “ the treasures they'd taken were left there, too, silver and jewels buried in the sandy ground, back in the earth, again and forever hidden and useless to man.” (Lines 880-883) The significance of the excerpt is that the author emphasizes the trait of honor one last time. How the men decided to do such a selfless act and bury treasure to honor their king, shows how honorable they were and he