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Beowulf as an anglo saxon epic
Heroism in the Canterbury tales and beowulf
Heroism in the Canterbury tales and beowulf
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What makes a monster? Is it the way they speak, walk, or look? The probability of having a neighbor who is to be considered a monster, is not too far as you may think. An old tale that is able to represent how monsters can diversify is Beowulf the Epic. It is an Old English poem written in cantos and considered to be one of the biggest epics of the Anglo-Saxon era. Main character Beowulf, a warrior hero for the Geats, comes to the rescue of Hrothgar. The King of the Danes hall, Heorot, has been under attack by the monster, who is named Grendel, for twelve years. Beowulf is set out to kill Grendel with his bare hand and take on the avagece of Grendel's mother after the death of her only son with a giant's sword that he found in the lair of the
In Beowulf, the protagonist Beowulf is shown as a hero with extrodinary strength. This is not what makes him a hero. By definition, a hero is a man of exceptional quality. However this term does not do Beowulf justice. His self-imposed purpose in life is to help others, and eventually sacrifices his own life in doing so. Beowulf’s battle with the dragon serves as a critique of the notion that Beowulf is a hero. The Dragon section displays many of Beowulf’s heoric characteristics. Beowulf establishes himself as a hero by fighting the dragon, exemplifing strength and courage when fighting the dragon, and sacrificing himself so that others can live.
In society, there have always been different roles in defining the boundaries between right and wrong; Monsters take a big part of that role. In Jeffrey Cohen’s “Monster Culture,” Cohen explains seven theses which provide a clearer explanation of how monsters take a part in establishing these boundaries. The oldest Anglo-Saxon story written- “Beowulf”- provides three different monsters which all connect to Cohen’s seven theses. In the older version, however, the monsters do not relate to humans in any way, except that they are enemies. The modern version of Beowulf portrays Grendel’s mother to still be evil but also have relations with the humans in the story.
Someone once said, “stories can conquer fear. They can make the heart bigger.” In Grendel by John Gardner, the dragon represents immortal monsterhood and its lawlessness. The Shaper represents the mortality and noble pursuits of human culture. The Shaper and the dragon act as philosophically opposing forces in Grendel’s mind as he discovers how to define himself in relation to the rest of the world and explores the monumental power of stories.
Monsters are symbols and representations of a culture. They exist because of certain places or feelings of a time period. Monsters are “an embodiment of a certain cultural moment”. Author of Grendel, John Gardner, and author of Frankenstein, Mary Shelley, both create a monster to represent something larger than itself in order to have the reader reflect on their “fears, desires, anxiety, and fantasy” in society, which is explained in Jefferey Cohen's Monster Culture (Seven Theses). The latest trend in monster media, zombies, also fit into Cohen's theses on what a monster is.
For ages, we have wondered what is the difference between monsters and men that make them who they are. What are the characteristics that define a monster? Typically it’s the bad guy, the person or thing that comes into the story just to cause massacre or stand in the protagonist’s way. On the other Men are just defined as people who are the opposite of evil. There can be multiple people in a story who can be characterized as men. They don’t all necessarily have to be heroic to be considered as men. In the literature pieces of Macbeth, Beowulf and Frankenstein; there are countless instances where one might be able to distinguish between Monsters and Men. But they all fall in different genres. Macbeth is a story about a tragic hero; the fallen one or the man who brought misery upon himself. The monster can be identified as guilt. This guilt built stronger and stronger and led him to be his worst enemy. Beowulf is an epic about a hero (men) who takes on great challenges and adventures. His worst enemies are all the monsters that took place over the course of the story. Like: Grendel and his mother. This epic poem was made around the Anglo Saxon period. And lastly, Frankenstein is about a crazy doctor who created a monster. The monster name wasn’t Frankenstein, the doctor’s name was. That’s why the story is called “Frankenstein’s monster.” All these literary pieces are plotted so intelligently that it takes a moment before one can distinguish the monsters and the men.
Beowulf is a poem about strength and courage. This is illustrated in the eighth section of the story called “Beowulf and the Dragon.” A slave, a hero and a dragon play a big role in this section. The characters are well developed, as is the setup for the conclusion of the poem.
Beowulf outlines turmoil between three opponents: Grendel, Grendel’s mother, and the Dragon. These separate discords each serve to fulfill different metaphoric purposes. Grendel’s character epitomizes the adverse persona of how an Anglo-Saxon warrior should not be. His mother represents everything that a woman during the time era should seldom be. Lastly, the Dragon embodies all the values that an Anglo-Saxon king should not dare retain. Without a doubt, the symbolic implications of the monsters in Beowulf bring the context to a new level of understanding.
This fight is a struggle of pure strength; Beowulf shows that he is inhumanly strong. When Grendel was killing Beowulf’s men one by one, others waited for their master’s move. Yet, Beowulf does nothing but pretends to be asleep until Grendel comes to attack him. This is when he surprises the monster and fatally wounds him. As a good leader Beowulf should fight along with his men. He should protect them from harm but instead he sacrificed many of his companions to carry out his plan. His purpose was to kill Grendel on his own, just as if he wanted to get the credit for himself. What is most unsettling about this fight is the fact that many of Beowulf’s men could be saved. If all warriors conformed to the idea of comitatus, which emphasizes the
In the epic story of Beowulf there are three monsters that he has to fight through at the story, that represents the three types of evil. In the beginning of the story Beowulf sales to Hrathgar to ask the king if he could take Grandel hand on hand battle and save the town for the monster. Beowulf has to come back to Hrathgar to fight Grendel's mother after he skills Grandel. Then after he goes back home somebody sneaks into a dragon's home and steals a cup, wakes the dragon up and ends up having to fight the dragon. Beowulf doesn’t end up living through the dragon. Each monster represents three different types of evil, Grendel is physical. His mother is elusive evil and the dragon is evil that cannot be defeated.
For twelve winters, an evil monster ruled the Kingdom of Herot. This monster was known as Grendel, who lived in the darkness. He battled man, and lead many to their deaths, as Grendel was one against so many, but he stood victorious. The only ones who survived, were those who fled from Herot. Grendel’s motive was the happiness and joy of Herot, which he sought out to destroy. Hrothgar, king of the Danes, suffered in unbelief, the monster had taken his kingdom and left it deserted. The rumors and stories had reached the shores of other kingdoms, Herot was in distress.
In any classic story about heroes and villains, the monsters involved are often characterized as the evil ones and, consequently, receive no justice under the law. Throughout the epic story Beowulf, the hero of the story encounters three monsters that are threats to society: Grendel, Grendel’s mother, and the dragon. The monsters in Beowulf are quickly targeted and destroyed because of the harm they cause to society. However, upon further examination of the monsters and the motives for their actions, the reader can view the monsters not as the cutthroat villains they may initially appear to be, but perhaps as victims of society. In today’s society, murderers and robbers are also portrayed as “monsters” because of the atrocious crimes they commit. While it is undeniably wrong to commit any kind of crime and I do not wish to condone murder or theft in any way, there may also be an ulterior explanation for why these modern “monsters” cause harm to society. In comparing and contrasting the monsters of Germanic epic with criminals of today, perhaps we can gain some insight into the motivation of both.
The Old English epic Beowulf depicts Anglo-Saxon warrior culture where fate (wyrd) governs the actions of the hero. Beowulf, now over seventy years old and king of the Geats, has earned his respect and glory on the battlefields as a great warrior. The honorable old king has ruled for fifty years, and according to the author, "he was a wise king, an old guardian of the land" (Norton, 55), when the dragon attacks Beowulf's Hall, assaulting Geats at night.
Monsters can come in various physical forms, but all monsters share the same evil mentality. A Monster is a being that harms and puts fear within people. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is a prime example of how appearance does not determine whether a creature is a monster or not. In the story, Victor Frankenstein tries to change nature by creating a super human being. The being appears to be a monster. Victor becomes so obsessed with his creation and then rejects it. Victor is the real monster because of his desire for power, lack of respect for nature, and his stubbornness.
There are three prominent monsters in the Beowulf text, Grendel, his mother, and the dragon. While the dragon proves to be the most fatale of foes for Beowulf, Grendel and his mother do not simply pose physical threats to the Germanic society; their roles in Beowulf are manifold. They challenge the perceptions of heroism, a sense of unrivalled perfection and superiority. Moreover, they allow the reader to reconsider the gender constructs upheld within the text; one cannot help but feel that the threat that these monsters present is directed towards the prevalent flaws in Beowulf’s world. Moreover, what makes these monsters is not their physical appearance; it is what they embody. Both Grendel and his mother have humanlike qualities yet their monstrous appearance arises from what their features and mannerisms represent. The challenge they pose to societal paradigms makes them far more terrifying to our heroes than any scaled flesh or clawing hand. These monsters provide the ‘most authoritative general criticism […] of the structure and conduct of the poem’. Their presence provides contrast and criticism of the brave society (Heaney 103).
A monster is defined as an imaginary creature that is typically large, ugly, and frightening. By this definition, Victor’s creature who is depicted to be eight feet tall and hideous