Beowulf And Grendel's Mother

The epic poem, Beowulf, consists of various battles. Beowulf encounters a different monster every time he is faced with a new vigorous battle. The monsters that Beowulf fights with include: Grendel, Grendel’s mom, and a dragon. The meanings of each battle vary, as well as the similarities and differences between the three of them. All of these battles show distinctive and different purposes; however they also seem to correlate with each other in some form.

Grendel, an antagonist descended from Cain was the first monster that Beowulf fought. Grendel preyed on Hrothgar’s warriors in the king’s mead-hall, Herot. This constant action occurred over a long period of time, allowing word to get around to Beowulf. Despite the distance and danger,

Beowulf travels to Hrothgar’s kingdom to help protect the Danes by defeating Grendel. This action shows Beowulf’s bravery and honor because it was not Beowulf’s kingdom to protect, he risked his life to help out Hrothgar and his people. Part of Beowulf’s motivation for taking on Grendel was power and recognition. “There was no one else like him alive. In his day, he was the mightiest man on earth, high-born and powerful” (Beowulf 15). Beowulf feels the need to fight for acknowledgement by continuing to prove that he is the most powerful man on earth, he does not want to be outwitted. He also wants to be recognized and known for his strength. He demonstrates this before the battle when he discovers that Grendel does not use any weapons to fight, so as a result Beowulf decides not to use any weapons. By Beowulf not using any weapons, it shows how much stronger he is compared to everyone else. The battle concludes with Beowulf ripping Grendel’s arm off, this victory shows his power. Many people attempted to kill Grendel and none of them succeeded until Beowulf. This fight with Grendel showed how Beowulf’s power and strength helped him succeed.
Grendel’s mother was a part of the second battle that Beowulf encountered.

The cause of this fight was Grendel’s mother wanting revenge for her son. Since Beowulf defeated Grendel, he felt it was his duty to complete the task of overcoming his mother too. Hrothgar also suggested that Beowulf should be the one to face Grendel’s mother. During this battle, Beowulf had to overcome many disadvantages. Grendel’s mother seemed to possess fewer human qualities compared to Grendel, also the area where the battle takes place is in Grendel’s mother’s territory making it harder for Beowulf. These fewer human qualities makes it more complicated for Beowulf to fight her. So, in preparation for this battle, Beowulf puts on armour and brings a sword which shows that Beowulf believes that this fight will prove to be a lot harder than the previous one with Grendel. Throughout the battle Grendel’s mother grabbed Beowulf and he struggled to escape. The sword that he brought did not do anything because it ended up breaking. Eventually Beowulf finds a magical sword nearby and uses it to kill Grendel’s mother. This battle represents Beowulf’s weaknesses and struggles because it showed that not everything that Beowulf does is simple and easy for him to complete. “If this combat kills me, take care of my young company, my comrades in arms” (Beowulf 103). So, before the battle even began Beowulf showed weakness through his lack of confidence in defeating Grendel’s mother. The battle shows that

everyone struggles and has weaknesses from time to time. However, Beowulf overcame his weaknesses and accomplished his goal, defeating Grendel’s mother.
Nearly fifty years later, Beowulf completes his final fight with a dragon.

The dragon had valuable possessions stolen, so the dragon began to mercilessly burn the Geats’ homes and lands. To stop the dragon from destroying the Geats’ homes and land, Beowulf decided to fight the dragon.“I risked my life often when I was young. Now I am old, but as king of the people I shall pursue this fight for the glory of winning, if the evil one will only abandon his earth-fort and face me in the open” (Beowulf 171). Even though Beowulf admits his old age he still believes that he must pursue this fight. For this battle Beowulf starts out with a small army, unfortunately they desert him. Similar to his second battle with Grendel’s mother, he wears armors and weapons because he claims that the dragon already has natural armor and weapons. However, these armors and weapons do not benefit him as Beowulf gets defeated. The Dragon and Beowulf both end up dying as result of the battle. The fight with the dragon symbolizes Beowulf’s stand against evil and destruction, and Beowulf being the hero, knows that failure will bring destruction to his people after many years of

peace.
In Beowulf, the three battles with Grendel, Grendel’s mom, and the dragon all have similarities. One similarity is that Beowulf was unable to beat his enemy with any type of mortal weapons. When he fought Grendel, he had no choice but to fight with his bare hands because his men had tried to hurt Grendel by using their weapons, which resulted in doing no harm towards Grendel. During the next battle against Grendel’s mother, Beowulf attempted to kill her with a sacred sword which also did not do anything. In the last battle against the dragon, when he tried to use his sword it broke and his shield melted from the dragon’s fire. Another similarity between the battles was that most parts of Beowulf’s battles were fought alone. During the first battle, Beowulf was the only one who fought Grendel and tore his arm off. He went alone to fight Grendel’s mother, and in the third battle against the dragon, his men left him all alone. Another similarity is that Beowulf fights something evil or dark in each battle. Grendel, a gruesome monster that attacked and killed the Danes, Grendel’s mother whose revenge results in the killing of the king’s closest friend and hurting Beowulf. Lastly, the dragon who was guarding a sacred treasure and would kill anyone who dared to try and pass. Even though these battles have many similarities, they also have differences.
Each of the three battles are unique. They each show different qualities that Beowulf possesses. The first battle with Grendel shows that he has power and strength. It is also a representation of his youth. The battle with Grendel’s mother shows Beowulf’s weaknesses and struggles because this fight was not as easy to win compared to the fight with Grendel. Then, the unsuccessful final fight between Beowulf and the dragon reveals that when Beowulf fought his hardest it was no longer good enough. Another difference between all of the battles was the combat. When Beowulf fought Grendel it was hand-to-hand combat, when he fought Grendel’s mother it was a sword-fight, and when he fought against the dragon it was full-armoured combat.
Beowulf was known as a hero all over because of his actions. He fought in many battles and each one served a different purpose but they also had connections to each other. These battles show Beowulf’s strength, resourcefulness, gradual deterioration of strength, and eventually his age and mortality.