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Beowulf : A Medieval Plot Twist

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OPry 1
OPry 4
Anita Kay O?Pry-Reynolds
H. Zengos
Eng 561
19 January 2016
Beowulf: A Medieval Plot Twist.
Beowulf encapsulates all the requirements that modern readers have come to expect of a medieval hero. He is loyal, brave, pious, what stubborn while at the same time he displays traits that represent the anti-hero. He exemplifies both the hero and the anti-hero. Beowulf truly is something for everyone. The epic poem bearing the name of the erstwhile hero is the bellwether for epic poetry; it and Homer?s works are the standards that all epic poems are compared. The epic tale of the hero Beowulf differs for the generic formula taking the medieval audience and the modern reader in a different direction then the works that list each triumph in succession.
Beowulf, while heavily pagan in its content is influenced by the new religion, early on the reader finds that Grendel is a descendant of Cain, the biblical committee of the first murder (Basewell and Howland Schotter). Beowulf is acting as a religious hero in not suffering a monster such as Grendel or his mother to survive. He is also acting as the stereotypical medieval hero slaying monsters and dragons to protect his people and others who are in distress (King).
Judy King (2003), posits Beowulf is the traditional representation of the great hero, from the very beginning of the poem where he calls out to listen to the very end in his dramatic death (King 454). King writes Beowulf, differs from other traditional poems of

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