Beowulf Epic Hero Essay

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.

Not only is Beowulf honorable and well respected, he is brave as well. His courage is shown by not hesitating to risk his own life to pursue the Dane’s enemies. By being self-assured, Beowulf is able to successfully defeat the fiends, Grendel and his infamous mother. At the time Beowulf is planning to pursue the vindictive dragon, the epic poem states, “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.”(ll. 2511-2515). He feels no fear, is confident in fighting the dragon alone, and has no qualms in risking his life to save others. He declares his bravery by saying, “When he comes to me I mean to stand, not run from his shooting flames, stand till fate decides which of us wins... No one else could do what I mean to, here, no man but me could hope to defeat this monster.”(ll. 2525-2534). In his actions, Beowulf’s bravery is clearly shown throughout the poem.

Beowulf is an old Anglo-Saxon story of a terrifying monster Grendel, Grendel travels to the Danes mead hall Heorot and while the danes expect it least he attacks killing countless men purely for the joys of doing so. Hrothgar king of the Danes calls for a warrior to fight this unruly beast. After 12 long years of grendel attacking Hrothgar's calls are answered and the great warrior Beowulf comes to kill Grendel. Beowulf travels to the land of the Danes from across the seas and in the first night he kills Grendel. Sadly for Beowulf Grendel has a mother that now seeks revenge for her son's death and Beowulf is asked to kill Grendel’s mother as well. Beowulf goes to where Grendel’s mother is staying and battled her to the death , Beowulf wins

“[Grendel’s] mother had sallied forth on a savage journey,/ grief-racked and ravenous, desperate for revenge” (Beowulf, 1276-1278). Her desire to avenge her son is carried out, but it ultimately leads to her death. Beowulf’s desire to garner fame and respect overpowers all of the raw emotion and anger felt by Grendel’s mother. She serves the purpose of showing the purest form of revenge, and how its blindness can lead to one’s demise.

Grendel’s mother is a swamp-hag who lives in a desolate lake. She comes to Heorot seeking revenge for her son’s death. She murders Aeschere, who is one of the king’s best friends and most-trusted advisers. After murdering him, she sinks back down into the lake to return to her house. Beowulf decides to pursue her into the lake to fight her in the underwater house. Beowulf kills her with a sword that was made for a giant. After killing her, he discovers Grendel's body in her underwater house. He cuts off Grendel's head and brings it back to the king as another prize to hang in the mead-hall as a

When Grendel's mother arrives to torment the Danes, seeking vengeance for her son’s death, Beowulf’s fight with Grendel's mother

There was two more to follow. Beowulf’s second battle was against a grieving mother, Grendel’s mother; “And now it was known that a monster had died but a monster still lived, and meant revenge. She’d brooded on her loss, misery had brewed in her heart, that female horror, Grendel's mother …” Grendel’s mother wanted and needed revenge for the injury that Beowulf had on her. Beowulf killed her last living family member, her son. The monster’s mother broke into the mead hall that night, taking a man and her son’s claw; “To save her life she moved still faster, took a single victim and fled from the hall, … she had carried off Grendel’s claw.” The victim of the horrible monster was Esher, “... Hrothgar’s closest friend, the man he most loved of all men on earth; …” Therefore, the king wanted revenge for the injury that Grendel’s mother caused him and his people. Beowulf carried out this revenge by swimming down to her home under the bloody water, killing her with an ancient sword.

First, Grendel is an angry demon who has been attacking Hrothgar’s Kingdom and hurting the villagers for twelve years. Some people refer Grendel as, “Grim demon”. Beowulf is informed about Grendel destroying the kingdom and hurting innocent people. One night Grendel had struck Beowulf’s men with his brutal strength. After Grendel slaughtered all the men, Beowulf walked up to Grendel tried to grab, but Beowulf grabbed Grendel’s arm and held onto him with a firm grip. Grendel was trying his best to escape Beowulf because of his brute strength. For example, “you could hear Grendel’s claws cracking.” Beowulf through Grendel’s urge to rip Grendel’s whole arm and part of his chest off. Beowulf watched as Grendel died slowly from the amount of blood loss.

Upon entering the Danes' hall, Herot, Grendel is confronted by Beowulf, who immediately seizes Grendel's arms and drives fear into the monster's heart, "... [Grendel] knew at once that nowhere on earth/ Had he met a man whose hands were harder..." (lines 751-752). Through his slaughter of Grendel, Grendel's mom, the dragon, and other monsters, Beowulf proves his amazing strength to the other characters and to the readers.

In today’s world not everyone can relate to fighting monsters and having to save their family financially, but there are characteristics in both situations that can be experienced by anyone. People in everyday life may feel like they cannot overcome or other people do not 100% believe that they can complete a hardship or responsibility. In the epic Beowulf, the main character Beowulf from Geatland had to defeat three monsters, Grendel, Grendel’s Mother (both live in a swamp in Denmark), and a dragon (who protects treasures in a cave in Sweden) so that the monster will no longer disturb the peace of the humans in both communities. In the novel How to Build a Girl by Caitlin Moran, the main character Johanna Morrigan comes from a family of six

During the battle Grendel's mother carries Beowulf to her underwater home. Beowulf kills the monster with a magical sword that he finds on the wall of her home. He also finds Grendel's dead body, cuts off the head, and returns to land. The Danish king delivers a sermon to Beowulf on the dangers of pride and on the fleeting nature of fame and power. The Danes and Geats prepare a feast in celebration of the death of the monsters. Hrothgar presents Beowulf with treasures. The Geats sail home.

As beowulf starts to walk into the hall, he tells the story of his encounter with Grendel, as he is talking he relates the story to Grendel's mother also.

After defeating Grendel Beowulf enjoys the celebration and rewards that Hrothgar has treated him to. Beowulf earns the respect of the whole kingdom of Heorot. A few nights later Grendel’s mother learns that her son was killed by a human. She comes angrily back to the mead hall where she will take vengeance for her son. “But now his mother had sallied forth on a savage journey, grief-racked and ravenous, desperate for revenge” (pg. 89). Grendel’s mother is another stage in Beowulf’s step toward an older warrior. Before the great battle with Grendel’s mother, Beowulf was a little bit more mature and was not as confident. “Beowulf got ready, donned his war-gear, indifferent to death; his mighty, hand-forged, fine-webbed mail would soon meet with the menace underwater.” (pg. 101) He needed armor because he feels that it wasn’t the kind of battle he would face without his necessity to survive. After a long fight Beowulf finds the strength in him to grab the weapon that would kill Grendel’s mother. Once again good has defeated evil. Beowulf comes through as a hero one more time before his departure from Heorot.

In the poem, Grendel’s mother was furious that her son had died, and she went for revenge. She had him held when they fought, and held him down with her weight. Beowulf killed Grendel’s mother by striking her across the neck with a sword that no ordinary man could lift. In the movie, Beowulf dreams that Grendel’s mother attacked the mead hall while he is sleeping. Beowulf and Wiglaf then go down top Grendel’s mother’s layer. Grendel’s mother tells Beowulf that she wants a son from him. Instead of Beowulf killing her, he has an affair with her.

The second battle of Beowulf was fought because Grendel’s mother wanted to avenge her son’s death. She felt it was unfair. She left the deep lake in which she resided in and started toward Herot. That night, Beowulf had celebrated with the Danish and was rewarded greatly. It was a pleasant time and Beowulf started thinking about heading back to Geatland. That night, however, everything changed. Grendel’s mother came at night and started a massacre. She killed many warriors and Danish and carried away Hrothgar’s advisor with her to her lair, forcing Beowulf to confront her. Beowulf followed in suit and left to fight Grendel’s mother. He insisted on being alone, and journeyed to the lake to swim downwards for many hours. All of a sudden Beowulf was snatched by Grendel’s mother. The other Danish warriors that had come to wait for Beowulf had lost hope and left, thinking he had been defeated. Beowulf was in a heated battle with Grendel’s mother. The sword he had been given, Hrunting, was said to be the second greatest sword in all the lands. As he swung his sword to slash Grendel’s mother, it broke. The sword could not penetrate her scaly and tough membrane. Beowulf seemed to have lost all hope when he saw the sword on the