In the epic poem Beowulf, the main character Beowulf demonstrates that he is a warrior who places heroism and bravery over his own well-being and life. These actions exemplify the pagan warrior mentality. God has granted him the greatest strength, allowing him to defeat all of his enemies. However, Beowulf also possesses a sense of morality. He will not harm any of his companions, even while intoxicated. His good deeds, and successful battles make him well-liked and respected.
As a reward for his bravery and courage, Hygelac gives to Beowulf a mighty sword, adorned in gold, which surpasses any other swords of the Geats. This sword is an heirloom of Hrethel, Hygelac's father. Beowulf is also given seven thousand [hides of land], a hall, and a throne.
When King Hygelac is killed in battle, his son Heardred inherits the throne. When Heardred is later killed in battle, Beowulf then becomes king, ruling for fifty years. Beowulf rules wisely, and is a good king. He guards the land and its citizens until a dragon arrives in his kingdom. The dragon lives in a barrow and guards his treasure. A man comes and steels a gold cup from the dragon while he is sleeping.
The author describes the thief as "someone's slave". The thief is the first character in Beowulf that is not a warrior or a king. The dragon is guarding a treasure hoard left by "the last survivor of a noble race," who, before he died, locks his gold and jewels in a stone fortress. After that Last Survivor dies, his treasure-hoard is guarded by a dragon for whom the treasures are useless. The thief angers the dragon by stealing a single cup from the treasure-hoard.
The dragon becomes furious when he awakes and discovers that he has been tricked. He is determined to find the man who stole the cup . The fierce dragon takes joy in the thought of warfare.
When night falls, the dragon happily leaves his hoard to find the man who stole his treasure. The dragon begins to vomit flames, burn houses, and kill everything in his path. He even burns the house of Beowulf, which houses the throne.
Beowulf’s fight against the dragon shows Beowulf as a hero. Although Beowulf had previously defeated two other foes, he stands fast and fights his most formidable foe yet, the dragon. Dragons were notoriously difficult to kill, and the poem states that it was a great man, who could kill a dragon, even if it meant losing one's life. While others cower away Beowulf fights the dragon. Beowulf defeats the dragon but loses his life in the same instance. Like the classical hero Beowulf loses his special status in death. Beowulf sought no compensation for his services; the mere satisfaction of helping others was pay enough. Like his two previous battles Beowulf fights for those who could not fight for themselves.
After fighting and winning many battles, Beowulf's life enters a new stage when he finally becomes king of his homeland, Geatland. Even in his old age, his code of honor still obligates him to fight against an evil, fiery dragon. For fifty years he has governed his kingdom well. While Beowulf is governing, the dragon "...kept watch over a hoard, a steep stone-barrow" (Norton 55). Under it lays a path concealed from the sight of men. Over centuries no one had disturbed the dragon’s kingdom until one day when a thief broke into the treasure, laid hand on a cup fretted with gold, which infuriated the dragon. "The fiery dragon had destroyed the people's stronghold, the land along the sea, the heart of the country" (Norton 57).
When the dragon awakes after three hundred years of sleep, he discovers that his cup has been stolen. The dragon, also known as the worm, fills with anger and rage. Even though he is so angry, he does like the idea of battle: “Yet he took joy in the thought of war, in the work of fighting” (Donaldson 40). The dragon cannot wait to ravage the land of the people where one man has stolen from him: “The hoard-guard waited restless until evening came; then the barrow-keeper was in rage: he would requite that precious drinking cup with vengeful fire” (Donaldson 40). The dragon destroys the land and kills everyone around. The dragon even destroys Beowulf’s home.
How Reality TV affects the audience and the characters who were participating into it? Does it really give knowledge to people who were watching and supporting? Or is it just the sake of money and exposing their appearance on television? When it comes to watching television, people at home can choose which types of program they want to want for many reasons. Some people look to television for inspiration; others want to be kept informed about their surroundings and the world. In the article entitled, “Reality TV and Culture” by Jack Perry, he argues, there are some good points to how reality television are formed and offered. Perry explains that, not all of the shows are designed to encourage and promote dangerous and unrealistic. However,
Throughout the poem, Beowulf fights against monsters time after time for the treasures and gold rewarded after a victory. The king of the Danes, Hrothgar, recruits the most prestige fighter around, Beowulf, to save his people from Grendel, a monster that had been disturbing the peace for years. Beowulf agrees to fight Grendel, but his reasoning for fighting Grendel was not for the people, but for grasping the treasures rewarded. After defeating Grendel, as promised, the “Halfdane’s son presented Beowulf with a gold standard as a victory gift, an embroidered banner; also breast-mail and
has been awoken by a thoughtless peasant’s theft of a golden cup. The dragon is then enraged with greed
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.
An epic is a long narrative poem on a serious subject. It usually is about
Leks are males who congregate together and perform outrageous specific rituals in order to entice females to mate with them. Males in these species contribute nothing but their genes, therefore the only benefits a female can acquire from the male are the indirect genetic traits, the ‘good genes’ the male possesses, which are passed on to their offspring, improving their sons future mating success as they inherit the attractive trait from their father. This continuous selection for the most attractive traits should cause directional selection, which in time should erode genetic variance for that trait, decreasing the amount of choice and variation between each individual. This decrease in genetic variance would also lead to impaired survival for that species, due to them all having similar traits...
In Beowulf, after slaying Grendel and his mother, Beowulf returns to his home land, the land of the Geats, bearing great treasures that he has been given by Hrothgar. Beowulf goes to the hall of Hygelac and describes his courageous deeds to his lord and kinsmen, telling them of his welcome into Hrothgar's family, and of his battles with Grendel and Grendel's mother. Beowulf then proves that he is humble and loyal to Hygelac by dedicating all of his courageous deeds to his lord and people. Beowulf says, "My prince, there with my deeds I did honor to your people" (Howe, 36), and this shows the proper attitude of a thane to his lord. All of the gifts that Beowulf has received from Hrothgar are given to Hygelac and his wife, Hygd. The passage ends with Beowulf receiving land, treasures, a sword, and a throne, making him a king.
Cancer starts when certain cells in the body are mutated or changed and begin to divide. Cancerous cells grow differently than normal cells, instead of progressing through the normal cell lifecycle, cancer cells continue to grow and create more abnormal cells. A specific trait of cancer cells is that they have the ability to infiltrate and grow into surrounding tissues, developing out of control and causing serious damage to the host (Vincent, 2008). Cells become cance...
The way that reality TV portrays reality is completely misleading. It is giving the public what they want in a very unethical way, by completely lying about how they reach a “truth”. The people behind the scenes of reality have found a way to perfectly edit everything that the public sees so it keeps only the “juicy stuff” (Crouch pg 1). Often times, producers of competition shows will step in if the plan was to eliminate someone that is good for ratings (Crouch pg 4). Building shows often lie about needed skills, prices and the amount of time it takes for projects (Crouch pg 5). Anytime that shows have “big surprises” it is almost entirely staged because there’s such a complicated process needed for dramatic shots and lighting ...
Beowulf is honored after Grendel and his mother’s defeat for his morality and willingness to help the king with his problem. He put aside the life he had at home and gave up everything so they were protected. Upon his return, everyone was praising him and lifting up the wondrous works and all that’d he’d done to protect them. Because of his respectable actions, Beowulf was rewarded for his true heroism. He becomes king over his people and ruled for the next fifty years.
Reality television shows dominate many television networks today. There are reality television shows enjoyed by virtually every age-group. However, many people are unaware of the truth behind reality television shows. They are unaware of the planning and prearranged situations that occur in most "reality" shows. Reality television shows pose some important detriments for society, which include presenting contrived situations as reality, promoting unethical values, and presenting humiliation as a form of entertainment.
After settling down as king in the Land of the Geats, a thief disturbs a dragon's cave, infuriating the dragon, Beowulf sees no other option but to kill it. As the dragon is about to die it bites Beowulf in the neck and the two of them die together, but his men still avenge him. The author writes, “They pitched the dragon over the cliff top, let tide’s flow and backwash take the treasure-minder” (p. 211). By the end of the poem, with Beowulf realising that his life is coming to an end, he dies at ease knowing that he has faced all the challenges he was confronted with. This is symbolized by his men throwing the dragon, his last challenge, into the ocean and having it taken away by the waves. This illustration of what happens after the dragon dies highlights that because the water is finally being used to help him conquer his enemies, he has accomplished all that was meant for him to do. The ocean that once terrified him so much so at the beginning is now what is helping to get rid of the animal terrorizing his people. Conclusively, by the end of the poem Beowulf successfully overcomes all hardships that he has faced throughout his