Beowulf Response Paper

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Connor Williamson
Honors Intellectual Traditions
Response Paper #3

In the epic of Beowulf, an unknown author writes of the heroic tale of the warrior, Beowulf, who was called to duty by the Danish king, Hrothgar, whose kingdom was relentlessly tormented by the nearby swamp demon, Grendel. Beowulf proceeds to killing the demon as well as the demon’s mother and is generously rewarded by King Hrothgar. After, Beowulf returns to his home kingdom of Geatland where, some years later, he accepts the throne open to him after the death of the kingdom’s ruler, Hygelac. Time passes and Beowulf, now an old man, is once again called to battle. This time however, against a dragon who was woken up by a thief. Beowulf kills the dragon but dies from the dragon’s venomous bite inflicted during battle soon after the fight is over. The citizens of Geatland bury Beowulf with a massive amount of treasure near the sea. After reading Beowulf, the one aspect that stuck out to me was the importance of role identity. Throughout the epic, people introduce themselves in relation to the importance of their father or lineage. Because of the importance the characters put on role identity, they strive to live up to the valiant standards set by their ancestors. …show more content…

In psychology, Erik Erikson created a theory on the psychosocial stages of life. In his theory, different periods of life correspond to different needs for living happily. For example, during the final stage of life coined “Ego Integrity vs. Despair”, lasting around the age of 65 till death, Erikson hypothesized that people need to look back on their life with a feeling of fulfillment, or else they’ll live the rest of their life with regret, bitterness, and

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