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How does beowulf relate to modern day society
The influence and cultural value of Beowulf
The influence and cultural value of Beowulf
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The cover of the November, 1975 comic book "Beowulf: Dragon Slayer" features a red-haired, horn-helmeted Beowulf swinging a large broadsword at a purple-caped villain also bearing two razor-sharp swords. As Beowulf rears up on his steed, a bikini clad woman, cloth slightly aside to reveal the shadow of a buttock is drawn falling, face filled with terror. In the background, a rising full moon and silhouetted gothic castle keenly set an atmosphere of dread and foreboding. Above the emboldened title of the comic book reads in smaller letters, "Beowulf: First and Greatest Hero of Them All!" Text in the bottom-left corner gives the juicy hook for this edition: "Beowulf Meets Dracula." Despite over eight hundred years of literary separation, English literature's earliest known epic hero gallantly faces off against its biggest villain.1
While the idea of Beowulf and Dracula facing off mano-a-mano is hardly surprising to today's postmodern readers, the combination of the disparate elements on the comic represents something larger than the story arc itself: the canonization of Anglo-Saxon literature into modern popular culture. Through the use of Beowulf as a bridge between the educational and the pleasurable, the comic's creators were able to overcome social anxieties which faced medieval English literature. Dracula had long before been a staple of popular culture, from movies portrayals an erotically charged gentleman to a cartoon caricature hawking sugar cereal. Meanwhile, for years Beowulf and the Geats had been trapped in that least cool place of literature: academia.
Writer Michael Uslan anticipates this problem in "Beowulf: An Epic Comes Home," an epilogue to the first issue of "Beowulf: Dragon Slayer:"BEO...
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...nto popular culture. Meanwhile, the contemporary anxieties over violence and homosocial relationships in comic books necessitated changes from similar aspects in comitatus order to reach the mainstream. Uslan and Villamonte balance out the popular and the academic with respect to Anglo-Saxon culture by stretching the Beowulf poem to fit a multi-faceted mainstream audience. Old English words are kept because of their educational value, which lends acceptance to the more violent scenes portrayed in the comic. Meanwhile, the gory monsters and celebrated "REAL LIVE action and adventure" make the learning of the same words less distasteful to adolescent readers. In short, Uslan and Villamonte bring their interpretation of Beowulf into the popular sphere through working at comforting social anxieties over the entertainment value and safety of Anglo-Saxon literature.
In Tolkien’s lecture, “Beowulf: The monsters and the Critics,” he argues that Beowulf has been over analyzed for its historical content, and it is not being studied as a piece of art as it should be. He discusses what he perceives the poet of Beowulf intended to do, and why he wrote the poem the way he did. Tolkien’s main proposition, “it was plainly only in the consideration of Beowulf as a poem, with an inherent poetic significance, that any view or conviction can be reached or steadily held” (Tolkien). He evaluates why the author centers the monsters throughout the entire poem, why the poem has a non-harmonic structure, why and how the author fusses together Christianity and Paganism, and how the author uses time to make his fictional poem seem real. He also discusses the overall theme of Beowulf and other assumptions of the text. To support his viewpoints, Tolkien uses quotations and examples from the poem, quotations from other critics, and compares Beowulf to other works of art. Tolkien discusses several statements in interpreting Beowulf as a poem.
Beowulf is a poem about strength and courage. This is illustrated in the eighth section of the story called “Beowulf and the Dragon.” A slave, a hero and a dragon play a big role in this section. The characters are well developed, as is the setup for the conclusion of the poem.
Beowulf was written between the 8th century and 10th century in England, however it is set approximately during the 6th century in Scandinavia (“Beowulf”, Gale). As a result of its origins, Beowulf’s pagan mentions are often shrouded by Christian substitutes; yet Beowulf’s pagan ideals are still transferred into the title character’s persona. The protagonist, Beowulf, is an obvious beacon of honour and his boasts of heroism aid his symbolic isolation from his other human counterparts. Unferth, for example, who is first mentioned around line 500 challenges the validity of Beowulf’s boasts; consequentially resulting in Beowulf bragging about his accomplishments further and then compare them to Unferth’s own infamous past (“Beowulf”, Norton). Beowulf’s response gives the reader cause to resent Unferth and again separate Beowulf from the ordinary men of Heorot. Ironically, Unferth’s position on Beowulf changes as he offers his own sword to Beowulf supporting his solo attack on Grendel’s mother (“Beowulf” 1455-1472). This change shows contrast between the characters since Unferth will not risk probable death to protect his fellow people, while the macho Beowulf storms into danger, seeking honour and fame. Fifty years later Beowulf evolves ...
An epic is a long narrative poem on a serious subject. It usually is about
The Anglo-Saxons were a group of warlike tribes who occupied England starting around A.D. In the Anglo-Saxon epic Beowulf, by an unknown author, the titular character is shown to be a perfect example of what the Anglo-Saxons believed to be a hero. Beowulf is a glory seeking warrior who throughout the epic is encouraged by the pursuit of glory; he later achieves this glory by winning great battles and boasting of his accomplishments; these accomplishments are later recognized by others in Anglo-Saxon society, further forwarding his quest for the glory.
While fighting the Dragon Beowulf shows feats of strength and courage that define him as a hero. The classical hero displays a special quality that separates him from the rest of
There are three prominent monsters in the Beowulf text, Grendel, his mother, and the dragon. While the dragon proves to be the most fatale of foes for Beowulf, Grendel and his mother do not simply pose physical threats to the Germanic society; their roles in Beowulf are manifold. They challenge the perceptions of heroism, a sense of unrivalled perfection and superiority. Moreover, they allow the reader to reconsider the gender constructs upheld within the text; one cannot help but feel that the threat that these monsters present is directed towards the prevalent flaws in Beowulf’s world. Moreover, what makes these monsters is not their physical appearance; it is what they embody. Both Grendel and his mother have humanlike qualities yet their monstrous appearance arises from what their features and mannerisms represent. The challenge they pose to societal paradigms makes them far more terrifying to our heroes than any scaled flesh or clawing hand. These monsters provide the ‘most authoritative general criticism […] of the structure and conduct of the poem’. Their presence provides contrast and criticism of the brave society (Heaney 103).
Abrams, M.H., ed. Beowulf: The Norton Anthology of English Literature. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2001.
The epic poem, Beowulf, a work of fiction, offers more insight into Ancient Anglo-Saxon English culture than the work of Bede, who wrote, A History of the English Church and People. The epic poem Beowulf gives an enhanced illustration and clearer understanding of the culture of the Ancient Anglo-Saxon’s. The epic poem gives the audience a picture of what the Ancient Anglo-Saxon English valued; seafaring, warriors, heroes, and paganism.
“Beowulf.” Trans. Suzanne Akbari. The Norton Anthology of World Literature. 3rd ed. Vol. B. New York: W.W. Norton, 2012. 112-82. Print.
What does it mean to be a hero? Like anything else in this world, the definition of the word hero can be argued. Some may say that a hero can be passive, that is if he or she refrains from doing a certain action it makes them heroic. Others would argue that to be truly heroic the character must never turn tail and always face the obstacle head on even though he or she may die in the process. So is Beowulf a hero? Yes, Beowulf is a great epic hero, but his greatness comes only from his sword and not from his mind.
One of the first literary work studied by our class was “Beowulf,” the longest and greatest surviving Anglo-Saxon poem. The poem is packed full of Christian and Pagan elements that are constantly fighting for the dominant position. In order to understand these thematic elements portrayed throughout “Beowulf,” we must first discover
Beowulf is an epic poem that explores many themes and motifs within the Anglo-Saxon society. The Author, who remains anonymous, composed the epic around 1000 A.D. The literature focuses mainly on a Scandinavian warrior named Beowulf, who comes to the aid of Herot, a small town ran by King Hrothgar. Beowulf arises to rid the town of evil forces, such as the demon monster Grendel, and his savage mother who seeks revenge for the death of her son. As he ages, Beowulf presumes his title as king of Geatland, still eager to protect his loyal followers from danger.
The monsters of Beowulf live within us. Grendel, his beastly mother, and the hoarding dragon have frightened each and every human from the Stone Age to the era of the internet. All of our technology and globalization cannot banish them. Audiences worldwide are both repulsed and attracted to tales of their evil. They are Anglo-Saxon manifestations of primal human fears, those of the marauding predator. But the genius of Beowulf is that the monsters represent more than archetypical spooks and scares; they are foils to the civilized human being.
Beowulf is the single greatest story of Old English literature and one of the greatest epics of all time. Ironically, no one can lay claim to being the author of this amazing example of literature. The creator of this poem was said to be alive around 600 A.D. and the story was, since then, been passed down orally from generation to generation. When the first English monks heard the story, they took it upon themselves to write it down and add a bit of their own thoughts. Thus, a great epic and the beginning to English literature was born.