It is a fair night in Geatland, and Beowulf is celebrating his victory over Grendel's Mother in the mead hall Higlac built for his nephew. The mead hall is named The Court of Champions.
Grendel’s mother, a swamp-hag, comes to the mead-hall seeking revenge for the death of her son. She murders one of Hrothgar’s most trusted advisers, before running away back to the swamp. To avenge the death of the trusted advisor, the company travels to the murky swamp, where Beowulf dives straight into the water without hesitation. Beowulf then begins to fight Grendel’s mother in her underwater lair. He kills her with a sword that was made for a giant, and then he ends up finding the corpse of Grendel. Beowulf decapitates Grendel’s head to bring back to Hrothgar as another trophy. After Beowulf has defeated Grendel’s mother, the Danish countryside now find themselves free of its treacherous monsters. This is a great battle for Beowulf because he has now saved the Danes, and he has revenged them. The Danes were obviously overjoyed by Beowulf’s victory once again, and this time his fame was spread across the kingdom. Beowulf had a lot of pride for his past victories, so winning these great battles have backed up his prideful spirit and
Beowulf first shows his heroism by performing brave deeds. He travels to the Land of the Danes to battle an evil monster named Grendel. When he gets there he declares to the king, “my hands alone shall fight for me” (Raffel 173-174). He dares to fight Grendel without any weapons, knowing that swords cannot hurt Grendel. When Grendel shows up, Beowulf
As the intriguing storyline of Beowulf heightens and progresses, the theme of pride is consistently portrayed. Primarily, the characteristic is shown through Beowulf, the book’s epic hero. Through various predicaments and events that occur within the book, obvious signs of Beowulf’s pride are revealed, both good and bad forms of it.
In conclusion, Beowulf would be considered a great warrior, but not a hero. Although Beowulf accomplished many heroic deeds he never did any of them for the right reasons. Therefore, Beowulf is not a hero, but only a warrior who values renown and rewards. From all this, we know that the perception of a hero from Beowulf’s time differs from our perception today. As we feel that the intentions define a hero while in Beowulf’s time the reputation and accomplishments are what makes a
Beowulf, the epic tale of a Danish society plagued by evil beasts, reveals many thought-provoking and admirable character traits of the main character and hero, Beowulf. Firstly, he shows chivalry through his interactions and actions towards the king of Heorot, showing him the respect and honor he deserved. Secondly, he demonstrates bravery in all battles above and beyond the standard of the times and the standard of his fellow fighters. He owes his bravery in part to his seemingly immeasurable strength, having more power in each fist than that of thirty men. Lastly, he demonstrates a trait that applies to people for his time and ours, pride. Pride plagued his times, due to warriors’ great deeds, but it haunts modern times as well. The liberator of Heorot and the champion of the tale, Beowulf, demonstrates three admirable and relevant character traits, chivalry, bravery and pride.
Many time we are asked why we do the things we do. What is our motivation for the things we do? Does someone tell us it do it or do we do it because it’s fun? You can find motivation in many strange and different things. Motivation can be derived from family or friends, personal interest, and even conflict. In Beowulf, there are fights with three different monsters. Beowulf, the hero, has different motivations for fighting each monster. Beowulf didn’t have to fight any of these monsters, but he choose to. During the epic poem, Beowulf, Beowulf’s motivations for fighting the monsters are duty, glory, and sacrifice.
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.
What defines an epic hero? Beowulf is anything but a normal human being, he poses extremely large amount of strength and great leadership techniques. When Beowulf set his mind on a task in battle he never gave in to evil. It all began as a quest to defeat Grendel. Beowulf also possesses superhuman strength and is the smartest of any warrior. While performing these great deeds he proves himself a great and valuable warrior. A real warrior would risk his life before allowing someone else risk there's. These are all reasons Beowulf would be considered a great and valiant warrior.
Beowulf is willing to risk his life by battling battles to protect the people. There are three main battles. The first battled Beowulf had to fight was against Grendel. The second battle, Beowulf had to fight was against Grendel's mother. The third battle, Beowulf fight was against a dragon. Tangible riches are things that are able to be touched or felt. Gold is an example of tangible riches. Intangible glory is something that is unable to be touched, but it is unable to be felt. Love is an example of intangible glory.
These nations were all founded by Anglo-Saxons and while they shared languages, religions, and culture, they were constantly at war with each other, as all Anglo-Saxon warriors must embody possibly the most important of the Anglo-Saxon values, loyalty. Warriors must be absolutely loyal to their own kings and must fight to protect him and the kingdom even at the cost of their own life. In Beowulf, both loyalty and lack of loyalty are displayed. Beowulf's loyalty is shown when he asks his king, Hygelac, if he could be allowed to help King Hrothgar defeat the monster Grendel, who had been attacking Hrothgar's kingdom for the past 12 years. His victory over Grendel added greatly to his reputation as a warrior, and he had earned the respect of Hrothgar, but Beowulf remained loyal and returned to his king. Beowulf's men were loyal to him, as they stayed and waited for him to surface from the water during the battle with Grendel's mother, even when the Hrothgar's men had given up during the battle with Grendel's mother. Furthermore, during Beowulf's battle with the dragon, only Wiglaf stayed, while the rest of his men were too scared to fight and ran away. Because of this, they were banished from their country, a fate that is considered worse than
Beowulf the Epic: A three part poem written in near Omnipotentness, jumping from year to year, and character to character. It is about a man, if you can call him a man, with superhuman strength, with the ability to swim for eight days straight, breathe underwater, and to contest with nightmarish monsters in hand-to-hand combat. Just to name a few. He, notably, combats Grendel; a spawn of Cain himself. Grendel’s mother, who tries to avenge her son’s death. And a dragon of a near extinct dragon race. At the end of the book, Beowulf’s life comes to an end due to the poison in the fatal bite delivered by said dragon. Beowulf and Grendel: A movie released anywhere from 1500-2000 years after Beowulf the Epic is estimated to have been written. So it should be pretty different right? Grendel has a father, there is no dragon, there is swearing, and Beowulf lives? It isn’t so omnipotent, and Beowulf has great abilities but not the fabled abilities that are described in the Epic. This movie is nothing like the Epic Poem,
Beowulf risked his life multiple times by battling Grendel and Grendel’s mother to save the people of Denmark. He also embarks on a battle with a dragon as an old man ascending on the Geats Throne. Each battle Beowulf fought has all been for the safety of his people. Although the Knight did not battle as a deed for his people, he also is viewed as a humble person his battles were for a purpose greater than himself. The knight never talks about his brave and valorous deeds. He is completely satisfied with his station in life and is courteous to the other pilgrims without becoming friendly with them.
These values contribute toward Beowulf's Fame and determine his decisions and actions. Sometime after Beowulf returns victorious from Denmark, his king and father figure dies in battle. The Queen, afraid her own son was not capable of protecting them from their enemies, offers the crown to Beowulf. Beowulf declines this offer. "But Beowulf refused to rule when his Lord's own son was alive." "He gave Herdred all his support, offering an open heart where Higlac's young son could see wisdom he still lacked himself: warmth and goodwill were what Beowulf brought his new king." This shows Beowulf's loyalty to Higlac his late King, and to his family. Beowulf would not be dishonorable by taking what wasn't rightfully his; he would rather stand by Higlac's son and teach him all he knows. Beowulf is the hero to his King's son and country, by staying loyal and having honor. Beowulf does eventually become king when Higlac's son is killed. "Beowulf ruled in Geatland, took the throne he refused, once, and held it long and well." Because of Beowulf's well-known reputation, all the Geat's enemies were afraid to fight against the mighty warrior. As Beowulf reigned for years, all was peaceful, until 50 years have gone by and a dragon wakes from his
This was a lost story of a courageous leader, Beowulf. Beowulf was very brave and courageous. Beowulf is a hero because he demonstrates bravery and courage.