Beowulf Theme Essay There are many different types of themes. The unknown author of Beowulf has put many different themes into Beowulf. The main character Beowulf has been portrayed as a good character. The story Beowulf is about a hero that must undergo different battles. He fights many different characters. There may be many different themes in Beowulf, but one of the main themes is good vs evil. In Beowulf every battle is a fight to the death. Every battle that the hero gets into someone will die. The hero wins most of his battles. To begin with, The character Grendel has a yearly war with king Hrothgar by killing his men. Before Grendel attacks he lurks in the darkness watching all of the men being full of joy. For example, "He slipped
“Every person has negative character traits that they struggle with and should continue to improve. That’s part of being human (Thomas). Every person who has lived has had to battle against human character flaws like anger, jealously, wrath, and greed, over the span of their life. Nations, world leaders, down to the average person has had their downfall due to these negative character flaws. The three monsters in Beowulf each represent a specific flaw in human character with Grendel representing envy, Grendel’s mother representing wrath, and the dragon representing greed, and each show the consequences of said character flaws.
Beowulf (Heaney) is a three part poem about a man, if one can call him a man, with superhuman strength, the ability to swim for eight days straight, breathe underwater, and contest with nightmarish monsters in hand-to-hand combat, just to name a few. He, notably, combats Grendel, a spawn of Cain himself , “Grendel was the name of this grim demon… he had dwelt for a time in misery among the banished monsters, Cain's clan, whom the Creator had outlawed and condemned as outcasts. For the killing of Abel...Cain got no good from committing that murder...and out of the curse of his exile there sprang ogres and elves and evil phantoms and the giants…”
We have a concrete hero character in Beowulf, and a concrete villain in Grendel. We see this as a theme throughout the epic poem. The dichotomy of good versus evil is the fundamental backbone of this piece of literature. It is so significant due to the fact that everything that happens in this book is someway related to good versus evil. If Beowulf wasn’t so good at heart, he would not even be enticed to leave his homeland and go help the danes. Without the drive in Beowulf 's heart to do what is right, all of his heroic moments of glory would not exist. Once this is pointed out to the reader, it becomes so clear that one could wonder why the book isn 't just named: “Beowulf, a Story of Good vs. Evil.”.
The belief of honor we have today is very similar to the Anglo-Saxon belief of honor. Honor is defined as one with courage and loyalty. The Anglo-Saxon belief of honor is held so high in society that it can define one’s true character. Throughout the epic Beowulf, Beowulf demonstrates many acts of courage, nobility, and faith.
Beowulf begins with a history of the Danish kings. Hrothgar is the present king of the Danes. He builds a hall, called Heorot, to house his army. The Danish soldiers gather under its roof to celebrate and have fellowship with each other. Grendel, who lives at the bottom of a nearby swamp, is awakened and disgusted by the singing of Hrothgar's men. He comes to the hall late one night and kills thirty of the warriors in their sleep. For the next twelve years Grendel stalks the mead hall known as Heorot.
87-91). Hearing all the jubilation that he cannot share in makes Grendel bitter. Because nothing that can be done to make Grendel’s resentfulness subside, he “[wages] his lonely war, inflicting constant cruelties on the people, atrocious hurt” (ln. 164-166) to make himself feel better. Every day he finds satisfaction in killing and eating the men who fall asleep in the hall after they have drunk and partied the evening away. Causing harm to human society is Grendel’s means of compensating for his loneliness.
Pride manifests itself into many different forms and will sometimes overshadow a person 's good judgement, in turn affecting their actions. It is truly the cause for the rise and fall of men for centuries and thus has become one of the greatest concepts to be addressed in British literature. Throughout the literary works studied this semester, some form of pride has always presented itself as a major theme.
Beowulf has multiple archetype that can be defined as figures, character types, settings, and story patterns that are universally shared by people across cultures. Three that stick out the most are character archetypes, symbolic archetypes, and situational archetypes. The reason these stick out the most to me is because Beowulf goes on an adventure driven by his desire to help. Also Beowulf is the main hero of the novel and is constantly saving the day. Cause Beowulf is depicted as a hero it is easy to say that this show character archetypes. Him fighting the Grendel, Grendel’s Mother and the Dragon can be seen as symbolic and situational archetypes.
Beowulf’s death at the end of the book took me by surprise. Even though he foreshadowed his own death in multiple ways, I never expected him to die. The entire beginning of the book was about fate and how heroes passed on their legacy, but I was not anticipating such a sudden death. However, he died as any hero would want, defending his people's honor and receiving much fame and glory.
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. Though he is viewed as a godly force, the situations and the behaviors that Beowulf expressed, sometimes deviate how the Anglo-Saxons viewed his character. From this, the theme of "Good vs. Evil", which can be easily depicted in the literature piece, was constantly contradicted throughout the entire poem.
Before a time of light, people usually go through a time of darkness and struggle until they persevere through it. The struggles and darkness that Beowulf goes through allow him to prove what he is made of. In Beowulf, through the hero's victorious battles, the author paints a detailed distinction between light and dark. The story heavily depicts light and dark imagery, through the battles of good and evil, in which light ends up victorious.
Beowulf is widely regarded as a classic “good versus evil” story. The Beowulf-poet depicts Grendel, his mother and the dragon as the “evil” of this dichotomy. This raises an interesting question concerning the idea of a community: How exactly is “good” distinguished from “evil” in an absolute sense? Given that the Beowulf-poet expresses a tone suggesting that the pagan figures are the evil ones, it is clear that he is biased in his treatment. Still, this tone contradicts some of the events that play out in the epic. Building upon this, one could argue that the distinguishing of this good-evil dichotomy is relative; what is considered “evil” to the Beowulf-poet may be considered “good” from another’s perspective. With this moral relativism in mind, a psychology of confusion is established in the reader that creates a sense of uncertainty concerning one’s values in shaping a community.
Beowulf is an interesting story in that it has a meaning that is firmly rooted in fantasy creatures based in mythical origins while providing insight into religious ideals and practices of the time. It also speaks of tradition and the struggle of man against things perceived as evil. In this tradition especially, Beowulf is an incredible allegory regarding the struggle of good and evil in the Christian tradition.
Good and Evil- The entire poem of Beowulf deals with the battle of good verses evil, good being Beowulf, his followers, Hrothgar, and Hrothgar's people, and evil being Grendel, Grendel's mother, and the dragon. In this poem the power of good overcomes all the evils, but not without the lose of life. These lives include that of Beowulf, Aeschere, and many of Hrothgar's people. The clashing of good and evil forces was the main method of creating interest and suspense in the poem.
The epic poem Beowulf centers around the hero. From the character of Beowulf, the reader can see the importance of community, orality, and heroism. Beowulf, as a result, is an icon of his ancient Germanic heritage. He is mimetic of the world around him. In addition, he reflects the past?s tradition of heroes; he follows in Shield and Sigemund?s footsteps, mirroring their characteristics and actions. Thus, when Beowulf passes on, both the ancient world and the new world collapse.