The Purpose of Lines 1 – 18 of “Beowulf” August 31, 2005
“Beowulf” begins the British literature. As a classic heroic epic, it outlines the tribal history of the Jutes, providing a great insight into the Anglo-Saxons’ epoch. In the poem “Beowulf,” we meet the most heroic man in the time of the Anglo-Saxons; a man with all the extraordinary characteristics necessitated to being a true hero. Beowulf was his name. He slaughters the monster Grendel, a descendent of Cain, Grendel’s mother and a dragon. By including the mere first eighteen lines of the section The Coming of Grendel in the poem “Beowulf,” the anonymous author successfully reflects the various customs of the Anglo-Saxons, the magnanimity of King Hrothgar and the values of the Anglo-Saxons. It is perhaps the most suitable opening for a work of admirable heroism; revealing grandiose, powerful and gloriousness of the Anglo-Saxons’ period.
Anglo-Saxons lived in times when people believed war was essential for survival whether it was against man, or a ferocious creature. Through such conditions developed the battle customs of the Anglo-Saxons. The battle customs of the Anglo-Saxons, taking into account that Jutes are always victorious, seems to be the division the spoils among everyone, “old and young.”(9) With King Hrothgar taking the throne, it was impossible for the Jutes to face defeat. Drinking a cup of mead, they celebrate their victory in the mead-hall. For his comrades and kinsmen King Hrothgar opens a banquet for every victory, and the Jutes eat, drink and speak in Herot, a place considered peaceful and of community. They again verify their loyalty to the king and promise for continual dedication.
As the King of the Danes, King Hrothgar is portrayed as a wise and generous leader of his people. Not only does he equally distribute the spoils amongst everyone, but also he grants mercy by “leaving the common pastures untouched, and taking no lives.”(10-11) By displaying compassion for those who do not fight in battles, King Hrothgar earns more respect from his followers. Such generosity is rarely found in the man of war. King Hrothgar’s grandeur temperament also pulls attention. When he is for something he truly desires, he has to make it grand and appealing. He built the “most beautiful of dwellings”(14) named Herot, a mead-hall where he can commemorate his victories and share the spoils from battle. When time comes to congratulate his victories in battle, he was glad to “[open] out his treasure-full hands”(18) for a banquet.
Grendel, written by John Gardner, is a novel based off the early epic poem, Beowulf. Gardner tells the tale in the perspective of the monster, Grendel, who is struggling to understand the purpose of life and his place in the world. In Gardner’s novel, Grendel terrorizes the kingdom of Hrothgar for 12 years, killing men in the night relentlessly. With the descriptions of battles and heroic deeds, Gardener conveys to the reader, the ideals of Anglo-Saxon heroes as courageous, self-righteous, humble, and loyal beings that are humanly flawless. The book Grendel tears down all these fundamental ideologies of Anglo-Saxon heroism by giving Grendel the monster a nihilist perspective that makes heroism sound stupid and meaningless.
The society that he terrorized was happy and always rejoicing. “As now warriors sang of their pleasure/ So Hrothgar’s men lived happily in this hall… (11)”
It seems that the avoidance of shame and dishonor in one's youth establishes a life-long pattern in Geat Society, whether minor failures are registered later in life or not. Once a great warrior, Beowulf remains one. His people thrive on his noble character and triumphs; his opponents tremble at his name, in awe and respect.
For more than a millennium, literary excavators and scholars have been deciphering and intensively studying the epic Beowulf. The suspenseful and dramatic narrative takes place in Scandinavia where the Danes are experiencing the wrath of a monster known as Grendel. The titular eponymous King of the Geats gives the King Hrothgar necessary assistance to combat this ruthless and belligerent creature. After being killed, the hero Beowulf defeats Grendel’s mother in a watery underworld called her lair after she strikes Herot Hall. In the final scene, after serving five decades as Geatland’s generous and amiable king, he defeats the infamous dragon. Unfortunately, Beowulf suffers severe wounds from the battle. After briefly summarizing and analyzing
A writers mind is very intellectual, they tend to have an unparalleled vision within their sense of understanding. The differences of this vision, compared to the levels of understanding, shows itself transversely throughout the novel Grendel and the epic poem Beowulf. Both forms of literature are distinct in the plot and setting, but Gardner’s perceptiveness of Beowulf in his novel differs from the view of the unknown author’s relay of Beowulf in the poem. In the poem, Beowulf is portrayed as an epic hero, brave honorable, and dignified, with vast generosity and munificent loyalty. While in the novel, he is portrayed as an unsettling stranger that connives his way into everyone’s life by his dangerous nature and entrancing stories.
"So,” begins poem. “The Spear-Danes in days gone by/ and the kings who ruled them had courage and greatness./ We have heard of those princes’ heroic campaigns” (1-3). What follows is a brief history lesson, the story of “Shield Sheafson, scourge of many tribes,/ a ...
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).
While the classic battle between good and evil forces is a major theme of the medieval epic Beowulf, one may question whether these good and evil forces are as black and white as they appear. Scholars such as Herbert G. Wright claim that “the dragon, like the giant Grendel, is an enemy of mankind, and the audience of Beowulf can have entertained no sympathy for either the one or the other” (Wright, 4). However, other scholars such as Andy Orchard disagree with this claim, and believe that there is “something deeply human about the ‘monsters’” (Orchard, 29). While Grendel, Grendel’s mother, and the dragon are indeed portrayed as evil and violent foes, there are parts within Beowulf that can also lead a reader to believe that the “monsters” may not be so monstrous after all. In fact, the author of Beowulf represents the “monsters” within the poem with a degree of moral ambivalence. This ambivalence ultimately evokes traces of sympathy in the reader for the plight of these “monster” figures, and blurs the fine line between good and evil within the poem.
Beowulf, an Anglo Saxon epic poem, is useful in understanding a warrior culture. An important aspect of a warrior type culture is brotherhood, which is based on trust. A liege lord must have military prowess, and the attributes of honesty, honor, and generosity. A liege lord with these qualities should inspire the same characteristics in his comrades. A group of men with traits such as these, will have a bond built and maintained solely on loyalty. This paper will elaborate on the scenes where this idea of fellowship is most prominent.
Beowulf, written between the 8th and 10th centuries, is an epic poem set in southern Sweden. The poem illustrates the Anglo-Saxon’s strong belief in the heroic code. The loyalty between the warrior and his king bound the culture together. The warrior was the ultimate hero who represented strength and courage. Beowulf, the hero in the poem, illustrates the Germanic principles of the heroic code. Through the battles and character interactions, Beowulf converges loyalty, strength, courage and forgiveness into the hero archetype.
In the epic poem of Beowulf, written by an unknown monk in about 725 AD, the Anglo-Saxon virtue of comitatus is displayed as a slowly dying aspect of life. Comitatus is the basic idea that everyone protects the king at all costs even if it means a warrior giving up his own life, and if a king is killed, the warriors must avenge the death of the king or they can no longer serve as warriors for the next king. This value of comitatus is displayed mostly through the three battles that Beowulf encounters during the epic poem. An analysis of the three battles is important because Beowulf’s choice of weapons, behavior of the Thanes, and preparation for and attitude toward battle all emphasize the death of the Anglo-Saxon virtue of comitatus.
Beowulf is an epic poem telling the story of Beowulf, a legendary Geatish hero who later becomes king in the aforementioned epic poem. While the story in and of itself is quite interesting, for the purpose of this paper it is important to look at the character more so then his deeds, or rather why he did what he did.
The story of Beowulf is a heroic epic chronicling the illustrious deeds of the great Geatish warrior Beowulf, who voyages across the seas to rid the Danes of an evil monster, Grendel, who has been wreaking havoc and terrorizing the kingdom. Beowulf is glorified for his heroic deeds of ridding the land of a fiendish monster and halting its scourge of evil while the monster is portrayed as a repugnant creature who deserves to die because of its evil actions. In the epic poem, Beowulf the authors portrays Grendel as a cold-hearted beast who thrives on the pain of others. Many have disagreed with such a simplistic and biased representation of Grendel and his role in the epic poem. John Gardner in his book, Grendel set out to change the reader’s perception of Grendel and his role in Beowulf by narrating the story through Grendel’s point of view. John Gardner transforms the perceived terrible evil fiend who is Grendel into a lonely but intelligent outcast who bears a striking resemblance to his human adversaries. In Grendel, John Gardner portrays Grendel as an intelligent being capable of rational thought as well as displaying outbursts of emotion. He portrays Grendel as a hurt individual and as a victim of oppression ostracized from civilization. The author of Beowulf portrays Grendel as the typical monster archetype as compared to John Gardner’s representation of Grendel as an outcast archetype.
Beowulf outlines turmoil between three opponents: Grendel, Grendel’s mother, and the Dragon. These separate discords each serve to fulfill different metaphoric purposes. Grendel’s character epitomizes the adverse persona of how an Anglo-Saxon warrior should not be. His mother represents everything that a woman during the time era should seldom be. Lastly, the Dragon embodies all the values that an Anglo-Saxon king should not dare retain. Without a doubt, the symbolic implications of the monsters in Beowulf bring the context to a new level of understanding.
Beowulf is an epic poem that, above all, gives the reader an idea of a time long past; a time when the most important values were courage and integrity. The only factors that could bestow shower fame upon a person were heroic deeds and family lineage. Beowulf, as the paradigm of pagan heroes, exhibited his desire to amass fame and fortune; the only way to do so was to avenge the death of others. This theme of retribution that is ever present throughout the poem seems to color the identities of its characters.