Examples Of Light And Darkness In Beowulf

Pythagoras once said: “ If there is light, then there is darkness” Whenever over the past or in the modern society, light and darkness follows each other. Of course, the light always defeats the darkness just like good overcome all the evils. Same thing happens in the epic of Beowulf which tells a story of the ancient hero Beowulf came to destroy the monster Grendel, Grendel’s mother, and the dragon. To show the conflict between the light and darkness, the author uses imagery and symbolism.

The imagery is very important in this epic to show the evidence of the battle between the light and darkness. In this case, light and darkness are basically closed together. At the beginning of this epic, it says that “a monster living in the darkness

and growled in pain.” and then, it describes a very beautiful place called Hrothgar where all the warriors live.

“the corners of the earth were made lovely...so Hrothgar’s men lived happily in his hall”. It displays a contrast between the warriors which associate with light and monster which associate with darkness. Moreover, it says, “That shadow of death hunted in darkness.” which is saying that Grendel only hunted at night, in darkness. When daylight comes there is nothing but warrior's blood which is also associated with light. There is another example of the contradistinction between light and darkness. Grendel kills all of the warriors in Hrothgar but “he never dared to touch king Hrothgar’s glorious throne, protected by God”. Because the throne is represented light which Grendel hatred and also scared. This is something he never touched and felt before because he was born in darkness and was represented evil. Hereafter, a battle is coming.

The hero, living light, comes to fight with monster Grendel. “He moved quickly through the cloudy night...gold-shining hall.” It shows an imagery of the conflict between light and dark. Finally, Grendel is dead “And then, in the morning, crowds surrounded Herot…...as hell opened to receive him.”Evil was defeated by the good, and go to the hell. Good won the battle and received the treasures. It illustrates that darkness would be overcome by the light eventually, and also a contrast between them.
The symbolism is used through this epic to give objects a deeper meaning as a whole.

In a series of battles in which Beowulf defeats all the evils shows that man could overcome evil. After Beowulf kills Grendel, from“for the proof, hanging high...was the monster’s arm, claw and shoulder and all.” to notice that the body of Grendel which are hung high, is a symbol of Beowulf’s victory and Grendel’s lose. There are many swords shown in this epic. However, neither of them do their jobs. Because Beowulf believes “If weapons were useless he’d use his hands, the strength in his fingers.” Here is a symbol of man’s strength which are given by God. Beowulf’s last battle is with the dragon who guard a treasure without using it. Just as the dragon devotes himself to protect his treasure-trove, Beowulf ends his life to kill the dragon and win the peace and treasure for his people. However, the treasure is neither used by dragon nor the people but buried with the greatest warrior Beowulf as a mighty and honor reward. As a result, Beowulf comes to be a hero who is symbolic as light and good whereas Grendel, Grendel’s mother and dragon are evils who are represented bloody, darkness and

inhumanity.
The strength of evil is limited, but the power of God is infinite. Although Beowulf died for defeating the evil, he remained the light for his people. This epic gives a conclusion what the dark would never overcome the light.