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Beowulfs narrative
Beowulfs narrative
Analysis of the epic beowulf
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The Superhuman Powers of Beowulf
Beowulf was the first literary super hero. Like the common day superman,
Beowulf has ordinary human characteristics, as well as superhuman powers. Like
the Anglo-Saxons of Beowulf's time, he is boastful, manly, and willing to outdo
his fellow neighbor. The only difference between him and the rest of the Anglo-
Saxons is that he possesses extreme amounts of physical power.
Grendel, the antagonist of the story, was feared by all men. He ate
humans and attacked them in their sleep. Many men had attempted to kill Grendel,
but until Beowulf, no man had ever succeeded. "...so Grendel ruled, fought with
the righteous, One against many and won..."(line 81,82).
Despite the probability of Beowulf's death against Grendel, he still
insists on attacking him and defeating him. Beowulf kills Grendel in an unusual
way. Rather than attacking him with a sword like every other Geat, he grabs onto
Grendel's arm and squeezes until the torture is unbearable. Grendel loses his
strength, his body parts, and his blood in this violent scene. He later bleeds
to death. "Saw that his strength was deserting him, his claws Bound fast,
Higlac's brave follower tearing at his hands."(line 464-466)
Beowulf's unusual and courageous method of killing Grendel demonstrates
his bravery and physical strength. Before, Unferth had taunted Beowulf about his
foolish bravery but when he and all the rest of the Geats saw that Beowulf's
strength and power were worth boasting about, they were humbled. To prove
Beowulf was powerful, he hung Grendel's arm, claw, and shoulders from the
rafters of the meeting hall."No Dane doubted The victory, for the proof, hanging
high From the rafters where Beowulf had hung it, was the monster's Arm, claw and
shoulder and all."(line 485-488)
Had Beowulf attacked Grendel with a sword, the events would not have
turned out the same. Many men before Beowulf had attacked Grendel with a sword
and all with no effect to Grendel. If Beowulf had used a sword instead of his
bare hands to kill Grendel, not only would Grendel have survived but the brawl
would not have such a significance in the history of the Geats.
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.
The passage that I analyzed spans the action when Beowulf returns to the halls of Heorot after a harsh battle with Grendel’s mother. He returns to king Hrothgar in the great hall of Heorot to say that he has successfully completed his boast and killed Grendel’s mother. Beowulf states that it has been a very difficult underwater battle and that he has barely escaped with his life, “The fight would have been ended straightway if God had not guarded me” (Donaldson, 29). Beowulf mentions this due to the fact that the sword given to him by Unferth, called Hrunting, was powerless against Grendel’s Mother. Hrunting is useless against Grendel’s mother due to the fact that she has the same charm upon her as Grendel did, which is that no normal sword can pierce her skin. Then, by chance, Beowulf finds an ancient sword on a wall during the battle and uses it against the monster. This sword, which was crafted by the giants, is able to pierce the monster's skin and after one swing, the monster was cut in half. After using this ancient sword to murder the monster, Beowulf watches the blade of the sword melt away due to the toxicity of the monster's blood, until only the hilt was left. A hilt is the handle of a weapon or tool. The hilt is decorated with runic symbols and was given to King Hrothgar of the Danes as proof of Beowulf’s exploits. The King is also given the severed head of Grendel as further reassurance that their troubles at the great hall of Heorot is over.
Beowulf sees Grendel's mother in a cave. He tries to hit her with his sword, Unferth's Hrunting, but it fails to pierce her skin. So he throws the sword away and attacks the mother with his bare hands. He trusts "in his strength, his mighty hand-grip." Beowulf manages to throw Grendel's mother down; however, she quickly retaliates and is soon sitting on top of him. She tries to kill him with a dagger, but Beowulf's armor protects him this time. Beowulf managed to throw her off of himself and sees a sword of enormous size, which he immediately grabs.
direction is like trying to hit a cloud with a bow and arrow. A hero is also
Beowulf is a hero that shows honor respect and courage. In lines 710-1007 is where the battle with Grendel happened. Thinking of the destruction that he will get, Grendel bursts into Heorot. Grendel tears the door from its hinges with his hands and quickly becomes a Geatish warrior while Beowulf carefully looks around. When Grendel reaches out to pick Beowulf up, he is surprised to find his arm gripped with a strength than he never knew could even happen. Confused and frightened Grendel doesn’t want to run back to the safety of the swamplands. He tries to escape, but Beowulf wrestles him down to the ground. The crash around the hall, making noise on the walls and smashing the mead-benches. Grendel begins to panic in pain and fear; the sound
Knowing that the sword is powerful enough to cut the skin of Grendel’s mother, Beowulf slays her and brings the sword and the head of the mother to Hrothgar, and he rewards Beowulf with more gifts and another feast. Once Beowulf returns home, he then tells his lord about his adventures and gives him all of the rewards that he received from Hrothgar for successfully defeating Grendel and his mother. His lord, then gave him rewards such as a new golden sword that belonged to Beowulf's father and grandfather, and some land and houses. In addition, Beowulf was to have the crown after the death of his lord and the lord’s son. Fifty years after Beowulf first became king, in Geatland a dragon was awakened by a slave who discovered the path to his tower by accident.
The only human brave and strong enough to defeat Grendel was the powerful Geat, Beowulf. Grendel watches Beowulf and his band of Geats land their ships on the shores of Hrothgar’s kingdom. Grendel observes Beowulf speaking to the coastguard, and notices that Beowulf’s eyes are “slanted downward, never blinking, unfeeling as a snake’s”(135). Grendel’s observations about Beowulf’s destructiveness are proven true as he engages in mortal combat with the Geat. When Beowulf takes hold of Grendel’s arm, Grendel feels as if Beowulf’s “fingers are charged like fangs with poison”(148). After this battle, Grendel’s arm is pulled off at the socket, and he retreats to his cave to die.
There are many traits that are possessed by those who seek heroism. Whether it is in real life or in fiction, every hero desires these character traits in the past, present, and future. IN my opinion, the two traits that are most prominent in the poem Beowulf are bravery and goodness.
and his own people the Geats in their triumph over evil by killing Grendel his
Beowulf is called upon again to defeat this monster. Beowulf puts on his armour and takes the sword Hrunting and descends into the monster’s lair. Grendel’s mother quickly grabs Beowulf and takes him to the battle arena. Once there, Beowulf fights and finds his sword cannot pierce the monster’s hide. So once again, Beowulf throws his sword aside and fights hand-to-hand. Yet, he could not defeat her with his hands alone. Then Beowulf sees, “hanging on the wall, a heavy, Sword, hammered by giants, strong And blessed with their magic, the best of all weapons.” Taking the sword and holding it high above his head he strikes the monster in the neck cutting deep into the skin, breaking bones and all. Thus ending his second heroic battle with a mythical beast and proving that he is indeed worthy of praise. Yet, this is not the greatest of his deeds.
At the feast Beowulf states he will fight Grendel not only alone but also unarmed. This shows his courage and honor because he does not want any of his men to get hurt and Grendel does not use weapons. When Grendel arrives to the mead hall that night, he is met by the strongest warrior in the land. Beowulf and Grendel wrestle inside the mead hall where the strength of Beowulf prevails when he rips the monster 's arm off its body. The injured monster retreats back to his mother 's house in the swamp where he ends up dying. As a symbol of the victory against Grendel, Beowulf hangs the arm on the wall for all the Danes. To celebrate the heroic actions of Beowulf the Danes hold a celebration where they give thanks by giving many gifts to the Geats. The battle with Grendel is just the first challenge the brave and courageous warrior
What does it mean to be a hero? Like anything else in this world, the definition of the word hero can be argued. Some may say that a hero can be passive, that is if he or she refrains from doing a certain action it makes them heroic. Others would argue that to be truly heroic the character must never turn tail and always face the obstacle head on even though he or she may die in the process. So is Beowulf a hero? Yes, Beowulf is a great epic hero, but his greatness comes only from his sword and not from his mind.
Beowulf looked over on the wall next to them and saw a magnificent sword hanging on the wall adorned with beautiful carvings, it was blessed with magic. No normal man could ever have lifted that sword, but Beowulf was no normal being. He waited for the right moment to go and retrieve the sword, and when he found the perfect opportunity and he ran straight towards the wall. He pulled the sword down with great force and began running towards Grendel’s mother. Beowulf took in a deep breath as he leaned back and heaved the sword forward. Beowulf had sliced straight through Grendel’s mother’s scaly neck, blood began to pour everywhere and he heard her bones cracking as the sword passed through her.
Beowulf, the bravest of all warriors, set sail to the distant land of the Danes. He heard of the terror that came upon the kingdom and he went in attempt to allow the people to be reassured. The Geats waited 14 years before stepping up and offering a hand to king Hrothgar. Beowulf was able to do this, not just because the omens were good but because the Danes were their allies and he wanted to help a suffering kingdom. At nightfall, on the day he landed on the shores, Beowulf witnesses what has been terrorizing the kingdom, a monster called Grendel killed people and took over the mead hall. Beowulf killed the monster by tearing his arm off of his body. Through the killing of the monster, order was restored in the Danish kingdom once again. “A prince of the Geats, had killed Grendel, ended the grief, the sorrow, the suffering forced on Hrothgar’s helpless people by a bloodthirsty fiend.” (Raffel 830-833).
“Management is the process of working with people and resources to accomplish organizational goals. Good managers do those things both effectively and efficiently.” (Bateman & Snell, 2004). Management contains four basic functions; planning, organizing, leading, and controlling. By using these four functions, one can create an organization both successfully and proficiently. Planning is specifying the goals to be achieved and deciding in advance the appropriate actions needed to achieve those goals. Planning sets the stage for actions and for major achievements. Organizing is assembling and coordinating the human, financial, physical, informational, and other resources needed to achieve goals. Organizing attracts people to the organizations, specifying job responsibilities, grouping jobs into work units, marshaling and allocating resources, and creating conditions so that people and things work together to achieve maximum success. Leading is directing, motivating,...