Beowulf Life Lesson Analysis

Final: Living in the Present Many authors attempt to portray elements in their literary work that serve as a life lesson to their audience. Even if that life lesson does not pop out at the reader immediately, they are always there. For example: in the story The Boy who Cried Wolf, a boy repeatedly lies about seeing a wolf and, when it gets to the point that he does see the wolf, no one believes him because he has lied so many times about seeing it. The reader is given a life lesson by the author of what happens when people lie repeatedly and not to lie because no one will believe what is being said. All the readings read throughout the semester had a certain life lesson to go along with them; some having to dig deep to grasp and some being

Beowulf is an Old English poem with an unknown author that has been passed down for centuries. In the poem, the character the Dragon lives in a cave where he guards his many golden treasures. One day, a slave is sent to steal one of the treasures from the Dragon, in return for his brother’s life. When the Dragon wakes up and one jeweled cup is stolen from his numerous treasures, he begins to look for the thief and his jeweled cup, “back in he’d go in search of the cup, only to discover signs that someone had stumbled upon the golden treasures” (Vol.B, 164) the Dragon is infuriated and begins to kill and destroy everything in his way including the villages and people of Beowulf’s home. He has these treasures and still decides to act with greed and destroy villages all around him. Little does the Dragon know, his greedy actions will ultimately result in his death. The dragon is living in the moment not thinking how his greed will affect him later. Beowulf decides to avenge the destroyed villages and all the people killed and, kills him. In the end, the Dragons death is influenced by his greed of acting the way he did over one missing treasure of all the abundant treasures he

Chaucer uses the Pardoners Prologue and the Pardoners Tale to incorporate a perfect example of how authors can depict a life lesson with a character acting out of greed and not thinking about how their actions may affect their future. In the Pardoners Tale, the Pardoner tells a story of three friends who end up dying because of their greed. The Pardoner is doing this for his own greedy pleasures; he tells this story so the people who have lived a life of sin and greed will want to buy the pardoners relics and be pardoned so they will not die with greed and sins. The Pardoner himself lives a life full of greed by preaching to people about living a moral life when he himself does not live by his own words. Just like the three friends who did not think their greedy actions would not affect them later; the Pardoner is doing the same thing by telling people these stories and only doing it for the riches, “Now, good men, God forgive you your trespass. Beware of the sin of avarice so grave! My holy pardon may you now all save, If you offer coins of gold or sterling” (Chaucer 618-621). It is ironic how the Pardoner lives in the present and does not live by his own words when he has given examples of how greed catches up to people, like the three friends and their fate from their