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Characteristics of evil in beowulf
Compare grendel with beowulf
How is evil represented in beowulf
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Do you believe in evil?
(Three types of evil in Beowulf)
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.
The first type of evil is with Grendel and its physical evil. Grendel is the type of evil that you can
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fight hand on hand with and you don’t need any weapons or anything to fight this evil. Grendel is the type of evil that you can see coming, you know it's about to happened and hope you can stop it before it gets too big and you have a bigger problem to deal with. First when Beowulf gets to Hrathgar Grendel comes right away to Beowulf. He doesn’t hide or plays hide and seek he shows up right off the bat wanting to fight. When Beowulf fights with Grendel he doesn’t use any weapons or armor he uses his hands to fight. He is hand to hand combat with him and wins. Tears his arm off, Grendel goes back to his underwater cave and dies. Clearly this evil is easy to handle one that you can just use your hands to fight. The second type of evil is Grendel’s mother, she is the type of evil that you can’t see coming and you need to have a sword and arm to fight. After Beowulf fights with Grendel and kills him. He goes back to his home and passes away in front of his mom. His mother gets really upset and comes in the night and kills one of the king's strongest soldiers. The king gets mad and tells Beowulf about it, so the next day Beowulf goes out into Grendel’s home and fights Grendel’s mother. Grendel’s mother is a witch with magic powers so the only way to kill this kind of evil is with weapons. Beowulf takes a sword that's in the home and uses that to kill Grendel's mother. This evil is like getting jealous, you don’t know when it will attack or when the fighting will begin. It just all builds up until the last minute and then they explode. Clearly this evil is a little harder to deal with because you don’t know when it will happen. The third type of evil that is involved in Beowulf is the kind that you can’t fight and defeat.
The Dragon is the evil in the story that is to hard to defeat. It takes Beowulf a while to fight with the dragon, but in the end the dragon ends up killing Beowulf. In the end Beowulf wants to have a lighthouse to be build so that people could remember who he was and how he was to his people. This kind of evil isn’t something that you can fight and win over, its something that takes your life away. The evil that nobody can win over it will always win and in the end there is no stopping this evil from winning. It's the hardest type out of this whole story, the dragon gets woke up from somebody taking a cup from its home and Beowulf is the one who ends up losing his life over him. He fights the dragon and doesn’t end up killing his. This little man who Beowulf invited to help kill the dragon showed up while all the other people run away in fear. He is the one who kills the dragon after it kills Beowulf. Clearly this kind of evil is that worst kind there is nobody can fight it or win against
it. Clearly this epic story has a lot of evil in that all mean different things. The dragon was evil that nobody can defeat, Grendel’s mother is the sneaky evil and Grendel is that up in your face evil you know it's coming.
The dragon is portrayed as the undefeatable evil. He is nearly invincible, breathes fire, and manages to fatally wound the ultimate hero of the poem. This makes him the ultimate evil Although Beowulf does defeat the dragon, the battle ends in a tie, since both sides perish, which shows the never ending balance between the two extremes: good and evil. The theme of loyalty is also explored here. When the battle between Beowulf and the dragon first begins, “[his] hand-picked troop/ broke ranks and ran for their lives” (1129). This is a common archetype that allows the hero to face the antagonist alone, all while having assistance during the journey leading up to the final battle. The author used this to emphasize the Anglo-Saxon belief of fate. Beowulf was supposed to face the dragon alone, thus his comrades had to disappear. The two ways to do this would have been to have Beowulf go alone, which would conflict with the belief of Warrior Culture, or portray his allies as cowards which would also help reinforce the Anglo Saxon values regarding courage. Thus by adding in the archetype of the cowardly allies, the author creates an emphasis on the important parts of Anglo-Saxon culture without relying on
Towards the end of the story, Beowulf travels to fight a dragon who is protecting a large treasure. He wants to prove to his kingdom that he is still the brave and strong man he used to be, but his main motivation is the treasure he will get after his victory. "And Beowulf uttered his final boast: 'I've never known fear, as a youth I fought In endless battles. I am old, now, But I will fight again, seek fame still, If the dragon hiding in his tower dares To face me'" (606-610). On the other side, the dragon has the same motivation. He is willing protect the treasure if it takes his life. This makes the fight one to the death. "When he comes to me I mean to stand, not to run from his shooting Flames, stand still till fate decides Which of us wins" (619-622). Beowulf feels that if he cannot have this victory, that this is the proper way to
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.
While the classic battle between good and evil forces is a major theme of the medieval epic Beowulf, one may question whether these good and evil forces are as black and white as they appear. Scholars such as Herbert G. Wright claim that “the dragon, like the giant Grendel, is an enemy of mankind, and the audience of Beowulf can have entertained no sympathy for either the one or the other” (Wright, 4). However, other scholars such as Andy Orchard disagree with this claim, and believe that there is “something deeply human about the ‘monsters’” (Orchard, 29). While Grendel, Grendel’s mother, and the dragon are indeed portrayed as evil and violent foes, there are parts within Beowulf that can also lead a reader to believe that the “monsters” may not be so monstrous after all. In fact, the author of Beowulf represents the “monsters” within the poem with a degree of moral ambivalence. This ambivalence ultimately evokes traces of sympathy in the reader for the plight of these “monster” figures, and blurs the fine line between good and evil within the poem.
The epic poem Beowulf, an abundance of apparent evils such as the monsters. What about the not-so-apparent ones? Often the true evil hides behind what is obvious to us. In modern society, evil is everywhere because it resides inside society itself. Although the story of the warrior Beowulf is riddled with evil monsters, the true evil lies just beneath the surface.
Villains in classical epics often serve the purpose to enhance the hero’s reputation and add to their grandeur. In Beowulf, Beowulf faces two villains as a young warrior: Grendel and his mother, who are both descendants of cain and outcasts of God. Fifty years later, as a king he goes on to face his final villain, the dragon. In a fairly matched battle, Beowulf manages to slay the dragon but also gets killed in the process. The dragon is characterized as greedy, impulsive and wrathful. He enhances the novel by developing themes of mortality, pride, and loyalty.
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.
In contrast, Beowulf is seen as a hero, even when exemplifying the violent and dangerous qualities the dragon is feared for. Anglo-Saxon society prized loyalty, personal valor, and fame. In order to be a hero, one must recognize the need to act, and not shy away from it. The dragon, based on that definition, embodies the Anglo-Saxon idea of a hero: it is loyal to its cause, it is a good warrior, and it recognizes the need to act. It even has a sense of justice and a sense of wrong, shown by the way it reacted to the theft of the chalice. The dragon becomes vengeful and defensive, using cruelty as a means to correct the wrong. Described as “the guardian of the mound” (2302), the dragon’s intent is identical to Beowulf’s. Beowulf is seen as a hero not only because of his actions, but because he is human. The only thing that makes the dragon different is its inhuman qualities, and therefore it is a monster, a “ground-burner” (2713). Heroism in Anglo-Saxon society is a concept embodied by warriors and guardians, who would vie to be the most well-known. Heroism, to the Anglo-Saxons, is an excuse to use cruelty as a way to further one’s fame. It is a social crutch of sorts, leaned on for the vain chance to be immortal. When Beowulf agrees to fight the dragon, it is to have a heroic death, so he may be remembered. In the battle, just as with Grendel and Grendel’s mother,
In the epic poem Beowulf, the struggle between good and evil reveals its omnipresence in even the oldest of tales. The many allusions and symbols throughout the story relate to Christianity and other Pagan beliefs. By looking at them, it becomes apparent that the author of Beowulf believed that the constant war between good and evil is not only fought by the common man but also in the ranks of their highest esteemed rulers and warriors, and even in their dreaded nightmares where monsters lurk and wait for the death of man. Beowulf was written during the budding of Christianity in England, when it was newly forming. In the story there are obvious references to Christian rituals.
“In my youth I engaged in many wars”, Beowulf boasts to his warriors, which is certainly true. Throughout his life, he faces many deadly foes, all of which he handily defeats, save one. His story focuses on the most challenging, as well as morally significant of foes, Grendel and the dragon. These creatures reveal much about society as well as Christian virtue at the time. Even after Grendel and the dragon are defeated physically, the two monsters pose a new threat to the hero on a higher plane. Beowulf is not only at risk of losing his life, but his humanity, virtue, and even spirituality.
“Every person has negative character traits that they struggle with and should continue to improve. That’s part of being human (Thomas). Every person who has lived has had to battle against human character flaws like anger, jealously, wrath, and greed, over the span of their life. Nations, world leaders, down to the average person has had their downfall due to these negative character flaws. The three monsters in Beowulf each represent a specific flaw in human character with Grendel representing envy, Grendel’s mother representing wrath, and the dragon representing greed, and each show the consequences of said character flaws.
The author makes evident what the evil is in the poem Beowulf. The evil dragon’s in Beowulf would be Grendel, Grendel’s Mother, and the final dragon who took Beowulf’s life. The author introduces Grendel in the beginning of the Poem. Grendel is the mon...
The last battle in Beowulf was against the fierce dragon that could also be saw as the power of Satan. During this battle Beowulf chooses to use a weapon because of the dragon’s deadly venom, it would only be fair. It was a hard fight but Beowulf wasn’t capable of defeating the dragon. This battle could be compared to the will of Christ, in which Christ gave his life for the people, while Beowulf did the same. The dragon now represents the evil a man must fight in order to preserve the good in life. Although Beowulf was defeated, it was not shamelessly, just like Christ he saved the people. Beowulf had a good heart but was sometimes overturned by the bad influences in life. He represents the fact that everyone makes mistakes, you can’t be perfect all the time, everyone’s bound to lose.
Beowulf revolves around the story of a brave, geatish warrior who fights in three battles to defeat three monsters. King Hrothgar is threatened by an evil beast named Grendel and Beowulf comes to the Danes to slay Grendel and restore peace and harmony. After killing Grendel, Grendel’s mom seeks revenge on the Danes and attacks Heorot. Beowulf selflessly seeks her out and kills her to maintain the peace. Fifty years later, Beowulf is king of the Geats, when a thief steals from a sleeping dragon.
Beowulf’s first accomplishment as an epic hero was his battle with Grendel. Grendel was a huge beast, a descendent of Cain, who ruthlessly murdered innocent Danes because he felt pity for himself. Upon hearing of the Dane’s problem, Beowulf set off to help the Danish without having been called upon. Even though Beowulf had men backing him, He drew battle with Grendel alone and without armor or weapons. Yet, Beowulf emerged victorious with the arm of Grendel as his trophy. Beowulf then went on to kill Grendel’s vengeful mother and a huge fire-breathing dragon who thought it had been done wrong by the Geats. Alas, the killing of the dragon would be Beowulf’s last great battle for the dragon took Beowulf’s life in the struggle for his own.