Hrothgar's Pride In Beowulf

In literature, monsters are often used to symbolize characteristics in humans. In the poem Beowulf, monsters are used to symbolize destructive behavior in humans. In the case of Hrothgar and Beowulf, their pride causes them to become selfish. Pride often makes people lose focus of their priorities and that can make their selfishness get out of control, and lead to destructive behavior.

Hrothgar’s pride caused him to fail to protect his kingdom, and make his people vulnerable. His biggest accomplishment as king was the building of Heorot Hall. Heorot distracted him from his people and he was not able to protect them from Grendel. When Hrothgar came up with the idea of Heorot Hall he wanted something that was “meant to be a wonder of the world

forever/…/ but not the common land or people’s lives” because he wanted it to be something spectacular for him and his warriors (Heaney 67-72). The first night Grendel attacked, Hrothgar did nothing to save his men but “[sit] stricken and helpless/…/ bewildered and stunned…”(129-132). Because he was king, Hrothgar was expected to save his people but he did nothing to help them and continued to party in Heorot every night with his warriors. While Grendel continued to attack Heorot no one was safe in the mead hall, “all were endangered; young and old” (159). His attack on Heorot went on for the next 12 years until Beowulf came and defeated him.
Beowulf’s success in battle caused him to become too prideful, and that pride lead to his downfall. He liked to boast about his past and upcoming fights saying that he could fight them alone allowing his pride shows how disconnected he is from humanity, and how he only lives for battle. When Beowulf first meets Hrothgar, he tells him that his people supported his wish to come help him with Grendel because “[they] knew of [his] awesome strength” and believed that he would be able to do it (415). At the feast before his fight with Grendel, Beowulf boasts that he will be able to defeat him in one fight and without any weapons and believes that Grendel is no better at fighting than he is and says that “when it comes to fighting [he counts himself]/ as dangerous… as Grendel”(677-678). While in Heorot after Grendel is defeated, Hrothgar warns Beowulf to “not give way to pride/ for a brief while [his] strength is in bloom/ but it fades quickly”, but Hrothgar’s warning to Beowulf to not let his pride control him is ignored (1760-1762). Fifty years later, Beowulf is king and goes to get rid of a dragon that is in his kingdom. When Beowulf goes off to fight the dragon he goes alone because “[he] was too proud/ to line up with a large army” and that would hurt his pride and his credibility (2345). In defeating the dragon, he lost his life: something he could have kept if he had not fought alone.
Hrothgar and Beowulf’s selfishness caused them to lose things they valued. Hrothgar’s focus on Heorot caused him to disregard everything else and made his people vulnerable to Grendel. Beowulf’s reputation made him too prideful and his desire to keep it up made him selfish and led to him losing his life. Hrothgar and Beowulf’s actions show how selfishness stems from pride and how that can lead to destruction.