Violence In Beowulf

Throughout the epic, violence is evident in the actions and the decision making of the characters in order to obtain peace. The battles and suicides throughout the story are prevalent and gruesome, while moments of peace are minor and fleeting. The characters, whether man or god, result to violence as a primary way to manage their problems. Aeneas is strong, heroic, and seems calm; however, he does not receive true peace and calmness until he has killed his enemy, Turnus, to end the battle and avenge his friend, Pallas. Nonetheless, Aeneas is a noble character who overcomes bad odds and embodies Roman ideals, including violence.

Patroclus’ aristeia is cut short when he is brutally murdered by Hector, after Apollo’s intervention in the battle. When the news of Patroclus’ slaughter reaches Achilles, he finds himself suddenly responsible for much of the bloodshed--and the death of his best friend. He can no longer ignore the consequences of his fury, and mourns Patroclus, “the man [he] loved beyond all other comrades,” before armoring himself and preparing to reenter the battle (18.95). Although Achilles’ superhuman skill in battle proves a major asset to the Achaean forces, he cannot reverse his actions, and cannot bring Patroclus back to life. Achilles now has nothing to do but choose his own fate, and fight brutally until he either leaves the battle and achieves nostos, or kills Hector and achieves kleos, while also sealing his own fate to die in the war.

It is evident from the beginning of the poem that Beowulf is meant to be the hero. He is strong, brave, and courageous but is also boastful and seeks only fame and glory. These characteristics are examples of things that could be related to hyper masculinity and are not necessarily desired in a hero today. In the quote “They have seen my strength for themselves, Have watched me rise from the darkness of war, Dripping with my enemies' blood. I drove Five great giants into chains, chased All of that race from the earth.

When Grendel dies from the power of Beowulf, this does not leave Grendel’s Mother amused. Grendel’s Mother is attacking Herot and “she’d killed a glorious soldier,cut a noble life short.No Geat could have stopped her”(Beowulf 416-417). As seen in the quote, Grendel’s mother is very upset about what happened to her son. By killing a soldier and terrorizing Herot, she is getting revenge for the death of her son. Then Beowulf goes to fight Grendel’s Mother, and during the fight Grendel’s mother “drew a dagger,brown with dried blood, and prepared to avenge her only son”(Beowulf 501-503).

Unfortunately Medea's desire to exact revenge on Jason is greater than her love for her children and Medea is determined to satisfy her thirst for revenge through the children. She thinks only goal of revenge on Jason, not of the consequences it may bring. When she tells the chorus about the plan of killing her children, they wonder “to kill your own children! Can you steal your heart?'' To which she replies ''This is the way to deal Jason the deepest wound.''

Beowulf fights the dragon so that the people he rules can be safe and he is willing to risk his life. In the end, both the dragon and Beowulf die. THEMES: Inevitability of death- When Beowulf and the Dragon both kill each other the cycle of losing a great king begins again. Scyld Scefing died and the kingdom was overtaken with evil. “Such is the feud and enmity, the cruel malice of men, for which I look, in which the Swedish people will come against us, when they learn that our lord is reft of life, who aforetime did guard against those that hated him his treasury and realm, after the fall of mighty men did rule the sea loving Geats, accomplishing the profit of people, yea, and before all did knightly deeds.” This shows that Beowulf was going to end and the fate of his people was inevitable.

At first, he is described as a valiant hero of the land, bravely fighting for King Duncan, but his overreaching ambition causes him to do vile acts, completely overriding his conscience. Macbeth’s conscience, although present, is vastly underpowered compared to his ambition. We see Macbeth’s conscience in scenes where he had just committed an evil act under the influence of ambition. Most notably, after he kills Duncan he says, “What hands are here? Ha, they pluck out mine eyes.

But he knew the greatest threat came knocking at his door for a fight that will live on being told for eternity. Beowulf sacrificed his own life for those around him, “Quickly, the dragon cam at him, encouraged as Beowulf as Beowulf fell back; its breath fared, and he suffered, wrapped around in swirling flames- a king, before, but now a Beaton warrior” (lines 687-691). In the end Beowulf fought till the end fighting not only for himself but for his people. He fought like a king until his death. Beowulf gave the ultimate sacrifice to save his people.

Knowing their fate can sometimes blind people and cause them to try to avoid the fate. In the cause of Oedipus, Antigone’s father, his father learned that Oedipus was to kill him and marry his wife, Oedipus’ own mother, so he tried to avoid that fate by banishing Oedipus. He unknowingly put into play the events that led up to Oedipus killing him and marrying his wife. When Oedipus found out, he gouged out his eyes and prophesied that his own sons would kill each other in battle. This event ultimately comes to pass (Oedipus Rex).

Ambition can be characterized as the yearning and ability to endeavor towards accomplishment or refinement. Despite what might be expected, driving ambition is the outright desire to accomplish a specific goal, paying little mind to any conceivable results. In William Shakespeare's Macbeth, driving ambition brought Macbeth and his wife to murder King Duncan as a result of their yearning for force. While trying to hold his energy Macbeth also killed Banquo and Macduff's gang. Through both of these savage activities, Macbeth and his wife showed that they are not worried about the expense of the deed, but rather just last result that is accomplished.

To avenge Mercutio’s death I slayed his murderer. Surely that is just! And now the Prince dooms me to a life of banishment. Oh and Juliet! To have my new made bride so suddenly torn from my grasp is unbearable.

For example, In a version of Beowu lf by John Gardner, Grendel tells the story and many missing points are clarified such as why Grendel is immune to weapons, why he attacks to the mead-hall and what he thinks during all that bloodshed. In the epic, Grendel attacks the mead hall of King Hrothgar and no weapon could hurt that ‘’beast’’ while many mighty warriors are killed by him until the hero, Beowulf comes to succor. He ‘’scorns’’ to kill him with a sword. Instead, they fight each other with bare hands and Grendel is defeated. When reading the text, the question why Grendel could not be killed by any weapon while Beowulf end his life with his bare hand, arises in readers’ mind.

Brutus is a person of noble birth and has heroic qualities. Brutus is a person who is fated by the gods for doom and destruction or at least to great suffering. But he struggles mightily against this fate and this cosmic conflict wins our admiration. Brutus is used by people who are close to him, kills his best friend for the “good of Rome”, and ends up ruining everything he tried to protect. And because of this he is forever our tragic hero.

Beowulf: The Evil within the Anglo-Saxon Culture and the Modern Culture In the epic Beowulf, the eponymous hero, Beowulf, from Geat land comes to the rescue of Hrothgar, the king of Danes, whose land is being attacked by a malicious massive monster known as Grendel. The eponymous hero succeeds at defeating Grendel, killing him with his bare hands, as a show of his power. The song Demons by Imagine Dragons talks about difficult times and defeating internal evil. The narrator is putting forth a valiant effort to defend someone from suffering from the demon inside of him. The idea of the evil within all of us is demonstrated through the epic Beowulf and the song Demons by Imagine Dragons.

The strong and powerful Beowulf defeats two extremely murderous demons in very different ways before he sadly meets his end with a third monster. It is important to first note that Beowulf embodies the epic hero traits, which are: “looking like a hero, being noble, famous,