Examples Of Vengeance In Beowulf

1223 Words3 Pages

Aaron Leszczynski
Mr. Fisher-English Lit
Period 2
8 September 2014
Vengeance
Anglo-Saxon, it is the culture that the protagonist in the epic Beowulf lives in. (The protagonist in the novel is Beowulf.) Anglo-Saxon culture was very aggressive. The BBC took a look at their culture and they said, “The new conception of royal justice was aggressive. The Anglo-Saxons had a brutal corporal and capital punishments at their disposal, including ‘the ordeal’ and grisly mutilations.” (Wood 1-6). In order for their culture to attempt to stop having so much blood shed they had wergild. According to thefreedicitonary.com, wergild is defined as, “a price set upon a person’s life on the basis of rank and paid as compensation by the family of a slayer to the kindred of lord of a slain person to free the culprit of further punishment or obligation to prevent blood feud.” (Dictionary 3-4). It is portrayed that the concept of vengeance is important. According to dictionary.com, the word vengeance means, “the desire for revenge.” The epic portrays vengeance as it is enacted and it appears to be making a connection with what it means to be human in the Anglo-Saxon culture. Throughout the epic Beowulf, vengeance is shown in multiple parts, however, it is strongly portrayed when; Grendel’s Mother avenges Grendel as well as the part in the epic when Beowulf attacks Grendel’s Mother to avenge the companion. In the …show more content…

However, the so called culture that claimed to be ‘Christians’ evidently turned out to be pretty poor ones if the epic Beowulf accurately portrays what Anglo-Saxon culture was like, then they were fairly poor Christians. During the epic Beowulf, vengeance is shown in many different scenes of the epic, however, it is strongly portrayed when; Grendel’s Mother avenges Grendel as well as the part in the epic when Beowulf attacks Grendel’s Mother to avenge the

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