The Three Monsters In The Epic Of Beowulf

A long time ago in the land of Scandinavia, the Danes were dealing with a monster. Lead by Hrothgar, the Danes stayed in Heorot, a mead hall, where they ate, slept, drank mead, entertained and planned battles. It seemed peaceful and also a great place to be. That was the case, until, some of the crew started disappearing at night. Heorot wasn’t safe anymore and needed help. Hrothgar knew someone, a great warrior, who owed him a favor. This warrior went by the name of Beowulf. Beowulf was a Swedish native who had won many battles and had shown brave acts over the years. In this epic poem, he would go on to fight not just one monster, but three monsters. The monsters in this epic relate to The Bible, the story of Cain and Abel, which give them human qualities. Cain and Abel were the sons of Adam and Eve. Cain offered a fruit that had fallen off of a tree while Abel had offered the finest flesh of his sheep. God showed respect for Abel’s offering but he wasn’t too fond of what Cain had offered. Cain then became jealous of his brother and had killed him.

Grendel was someone who the Dane’s believed to be evil because the Lord’s love was unknown to him. He was carried by emotion and whims and felt jealousy and loneliness. This had given Grendel similar human characteristics to Cain in The Bible. He wanted to be accepted by humans but they only saw a monster, a sinner, a demonic superhuman of pure evil. He felt like he would never get accepted and never live a normal life, so he decided to attack Heorot out of pure jealousy that was shown by Cain in The Bible. Beowulf and his men laid in the mead hall, pretending to be asleep as Grendel was searching for his next victim. Beowulf secretly got up as Grendel moved near. At the right moment, Beowulf grasped the monsters arm, pulling it off from his body. Grendel fled, in agony, back to his den to suffer and later die