Comparing Beowulf, Grendel's Mother, And The Dragon

For the Beowulf art project, the artist creatively represented the weapons that Beowulf chooses in his battles against Grendel, Grendel’s Mother, and the Dragon. This representation was accomplished by hand-drawing each weapon (a hand clenched into a fist, a sword, and a broken sword), and placing a quote that happened in each duel underneath the drawings. These quotes directly reflect upon the battle and killings (or the events leading up to the killings) of each of the monsters, and talked about each of the weapons in the specific scenes. In the background of each of the drawings, there are certain colors that show if Beowulf won the conflict or not. The lighter, happier colors in the background (yellow and blue) show that he won the fight,

and the darker, depressing color (dark grey) represents that Beowulf lost. There are many aspects to this project that reflect upon the story itself, the drawings depict the weapons chosen by Beowulf in the clashes, there are quotes directly referencing the battle underneath the drawings, and each background of the drawings shows if Beowulf won that specific duel or not.
For the clash that Beowulf had with Grendel (the first duel that he fought in against the monsters), the artist drew a clenched fist (drawn in the panel on the far left of the poster board). She drew this because Beowulf chose his hand as his sole weapon. The hand was made into a clenched fist because it made the hand appear as if it was in a fight of some sort, while a hand at rest appeared as if it is relaxed and calm. Along with their reasoning, there was a specific part in the book that referenced Beowulf as having his hand clenched in a fist. “But Higlac’s follower remembered his final Boast and, standing erect, stopped The monsters flight, fastened those claws In his fists till they cracked, clutched Grendel Closer”(11.758-762). The hand itself also is a representation of the heroism that Beowulf had whilst in battle. Instead of using a sword or a weapon of that sort, he used his own hands, which was a very brave thing for him to do. Underneath this picture, a quote was written out: “That shepherd of evil, guardian of crime, Knew at once that nowhere on earth Had he met a man whose hands were harder, [Grendel's] mind was flooded with fear...”(11.750-754). She chose this quote to put under the drawing because it gives the reader a glimpse of the emotions and thoughts of the villain, which did not happen much in the whole story. This quote also as chosen due to how much it related to the depiction of the hand. It specifically references Beowulf’s hand, and what it was like in battle. For the background of this picture, she chose to use a pale yellow to represent the happiness that the people of Herot felt when Beowulf won. “...nowhere On earth or under the spreading sky Or between the seas, neither south nor north, Was there a warrior worthier to rule over men. (But no one meant Beowulf’s praise to belittle Hrothgar, their kind and gracious king!) And sometimes, when the path ran straight and clear, They would let their horses race, red And brown and pale yellow backs streaming Down the road”(13.855-867). Yellow is scientifically proven as a happy color, and the people at the time were celebrating the win of the battle against Grendel, so it was fitting to put the yellow detail behind the drawing itself. This one panel of the whole Beowulf project relates in many ways to the book. It connects to many quotes (even if they aren’t explicitly listed), it depicts in a hand-drawn image of the fist that Beowulf delivered the final blow with, it shows a quote about the feelings that Grendel had during the attack, and it shows a background in which it hints to the victory of Beowulf.
For the battle that Beowulf had with Grendel’s Mother, the second of the three duel’s with the monsters, the artist drew a sword with blood on it (represented in the middle column of the poster).

This image was drawn because it is the weapon that Beowulf uses and ultimately kills Grendel’s Mother with. There was another sword that he planned to use to fatally strike the beast with, but that sword was lost in the midst of the battle. All hope seemed to be lost for him, until he found a different sword (the one depicted in the drawing). “Then he saw, hanging on the wall, a heavy Sword, hammered by giants, strong And blessed with their magic, the best of all weapons But so massive that no ordinary man could lift Its carved and decorated length”(23.1556-1562). This sword is much depicted much larger than the other on the poster, which is due to the fact that the sword was described as having such a large size that a normal man could not even lift it. Underneath this drawing, a quote was included describing what it was like the instant that Beowulf killed Grendel’s Mother. “...lifted it high over his head And struck with all the strength he had left, Caught her in the neck and cut it through, Broke bones and all. Her body fell To the floor, lifeless, the sword was wet With her blood, and Beowulf rejoiced at the sight”(23.1564-1569). Since the artist wanted to convey the picture exactly as the quote said the sword was like, she covered the top edge of the sword with blood to make it appear as if it has just come out of the battle. The quote was also chosen due to the fact that it describes the killing of her in such great detail. It shows specifically how the sword went through her body, and the impacts that it had on her. In the background of the depiction of the sword, she colored it a light blue. Blue can either be a happy color or a dispiriting color based upon the shade, so it was made sure that the color was a lighter color (what she considered to be a happy

color). It was colored like this because Beowulf won this battle against the beast. Also, the battle took place underwater, so she thought that it could represent that with the blue background. “As his words ended He leaped into the lake, would not wait for anyone’s Answer; the heaving water covering him Over. For hours he sank through the waves…”(22.1492-1495). Even though the color blue drawn on the background of the picture may not be the same color as a murky lake, she still tried their best to represent it with the drawing. All of these aspects on this panel of the poster connect to the story of Beowulf in many ways, the background with the connection to the water and victory, the depiction of the weapon with the blood (connecting to the quote), and the quote directly from the battle itself that describes the way that Grendel’s mother was killed. All of these things relate to Beowulf on may level.