Writing Lab III
Beowulf: Epic or Elegy? Beowulf is a poem written in manuscript form created in England sometime between the years 700 and 1000AD. The author is unknown to this day. Is Beowulf an epic poem or an elegy?
An epic is “a long narrative poem in elevated style presenting characters of high position in adventures forming an organic whole through their relation to a central heroic figure and through their development of episodes important to the history of a nation or race” (Harmon and Holman 188). An elegy is “a sustained and formal poem setting forth meditations on death or another solemn theme” (Harmon and Holman 178). Beowulf has been considered to be both an epic and an elegy; an epic by some, and elegy by others.
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The many adventures take place in Denmark and Geatland. Beowulf first fights Grendel in Denmark unarmed and defeats him. While still in Denmark, Beowulf goes underwater to Grendel’s mother’s lair to defeat her. In Geatland, Beowulf encounters the dragon for a fight to the finish. Although he was victorious, he paid the ultimate price, that price being his life. Moments after being bitten on the neck by the dragon, he succumbed to death. Epic poems consist of heroes who complete deeds of valor or extraordinary courage. “The captain of evil discovered himself in a handgrip harder than anything he had ever encountered in any man on the face of the earth. Every bone in his body quailed and recoiled, but he could not escape” (Beowulf 749-753). This quote shows that Beowulf’s strength is so great that even a monster cannot escape from it. As I have said before, Beowulf is not afraid to die. He faces death fearless and bold and prepares himself for battle.
Beowulf got ready, donned his war-gear, indifferent to death; his mighty, hand-forged, fine-webbed mail would soon meet with the menace underwater…
(Beowulf 1442-1445).
In this quote, Beowulf is getting ready to meet Grendel’s mother in her underwater lair. Beowulf is ready and does not fear death. He would rather fight until he dies instead of giving up a fight. No other human being would even think to try to defeat Grendel, or even think about trying to defeat Grendel’s mother. In an epic
Beowulf, now an old man, says in 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” (lines 607-609). Beowulf realizes the dangers of going into battle as an old man, and despite still knowing that his strength and fighting skills were not what they used to be still goes into battle against the ferocious dragon in order to protect his homeland from the villain. Unfortunately, as Beowulf was fighting saw that “for a time (the shield) held, protected Beowulf as he’d planned; then it began to melt, and for the first time in his life that famous prince fought with fate against him, with glory denied him. He knew it, but he raised his sword and struck at the dragon’s scaly hide/And the Geats’ ring-giver did not boast of glorious victories in other wars” (lines 666-671/678). As Beowulf fights the dragon, he comes to realize that he is not going to win and is going to meet his fate. All the battles he had previously fought had him fighting alongside fate, not against it, but now he realized that this is the battle he would not win. Still, Beowulf fights on knowing he would die. He, as stated in the quote, does not seek any pride nor has he in any of his battles and would valiantly fight until his death. These actions Beowulf has portrayed ultimately
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.
The poet admired Beowulf’s ability as a warrior stating “There was no one else like him alive. In his day, he was the mightiest man on earth,”(15). The poet described the great warrior as wielding “the strength of thirty in the grip of each hand”, treating his comrades with great respect, and only using his immense strength for noble deeds, to the point where the Geats considered him weak (149). Like most warriors at the time, Beowulf believed in a fatalistic view, made clear in line 1386 saying, “For every one of us, living in this world means waiting for an end. Let whoever win glory before death.” (97). The poet emphasized this philosophy, including many passages where Beowulf’s thirst for glory is
Beowulf’s two main positive attributes are his selflessness for the people that he does not consider friends initially as well as confidence to go into battle whenever certain death is prevalent. During the story Beowulf goes against four different enemies, three that are monsters where typical weapons would do no good and an impossible battle against the Swedes. In all he is the only person save Wiglaf at the end that is willing to fight these enemies. The moments leading up to Beowulf’s fight with Grendel, the narrator implies the sheer animosity of the enemy, “None of them expected he would ever see his homeland again or get back to his native place and the people who reared him.They knew too well the way it was before, how often the Danes had fallen prey to death in the mead-hall. (Heaney 47)” Nobody, likely including Beowulf even saw the remote possibility of him defeating even, only the first monster, yet he showed a willingness to fight and powered through and won. It is heavily implied that he only did this for his own glory and the pure danger of the situation, but by many especially the characters in the book, this is interpreted as someone without a fear of death.
Beowulf’s uncle is king of the Geats so Beowulf is sent to help rid the Danes of the evil Grendel. Beowulf risks his own life for the Danes, asking help from no one. He realizes the dangers but fears nothing for his own life. After Beowulf had served his people as King of the Geats for fifty years, he goes to battle one last time to fight a horrible dragon whom is frightening all of his people. Beowulf is old and tired but he fights the dragon in order to protect his people. Even in death he wished to secure safety for the Geats so a tall lighthouse is built in order to help the people find there way back from sea.
Beowulf’s virtues of courage and strength appear throughout the poem during his life as a warrior and as a king. He begins the story with courage and “the strength of thirty / in the grip of each hand” (380-381), which are vital to his accomplishments as a warrior. His courage and strength are apparent when he fights Grendel without the use of weapons. Both virtues are crucial to his success in that battle and lead him to become a leader of wisdom and stature. As king of Heorot he uses his courage and strength in the battle against the dragon. Before the fight he has a feeling of uncertainty and it is stated “He was sad at heart / unsettled yet ready, sensing his death. / His fate hovered near, unknowing but certain: / It would soon claim his coffered soul.” (2419-2424). His sense of forthcoming death may illustrates a lack of confidence in his ability to slay the dragon; however, it also shows tremendous courage by involving himself in an unevenly matched fight. Although his physical strength may have abandoned him in his last fight against the dragon, his courage and wisdom intensified his glory beyond his death.
Every man must expose himself to the reality that death is unescapable. There is no amount of human strength, shiny armor nor treasured sword that can always prevent the inevitable. Any character in literature that is being portrayed immortal is fiction. Beowulf as often as not regards himself as the one who can conquer all. Beowulf like others is ignorant towards his own mortality. Even though, Beowulf is successful in his earliest battles he still remains careless to the understanding that he will die. The concept of mortality was something Beowulf was faced with time and time again. Beowulf had to discover how accepting one’s fate can later become the most rewarding.
A true hero does not fear death or, but instead risks all that he is for what he believes to be right, moral, and just. Beowulf is an epic and tells the story of a legendary hero, conquering all obstacles as if he was immortal. Up until the end of Beowulf’s life he was constantly looking to be the hero. However, his humanity is exposed by his death. Heroes all share the characteristic of their willingness to die in their effort to accomplish their heroic act, thus making the act in itself heroic. Throughout the epic, Beowulf in many ways exhibited all the qualities and characteristics needed to be a true hero.
Beowulf. Beowulf killed Grendel and then he would have to kill Grendel’s mother who was
In this article I will be discussing if Beowulf is an epic or not. I think Beowulf is an epic. Epics usually focus on a single heroic figure. Epics often deal with war and or battles. Epic poems often feature tragic deaths.
An essential part of epic poems is the presence of an epic hero who is a larger that life character and loved by his people. Burton Raffel’s translated version of the epic poem, Beowulf is about the battles of a Geatish warrior named Beowulf. Beowulf defeats multiple grotesque monsters, some of which afflict pain on humans and kill them. In his final battle with a dragon, Beowulf dies, but he ends up earning a great amount of glory and honor. Throughout the story, people see Beowulf as savior from vicious beasts. The poem Beowulf contains an epic hero, Beowulf, whose personality and actions reflect the characteristics of an epic hero because he is a braggadocio and exhibits superhuman strength and courage.
In Beowulf the classic epic, Beowulf, the hero of the epic, and other major characters reflect heroic ideals and beliefs of courage, generosity, unquestioning loyalty and devotion. Courage is most evident throughout Beowulf Beowulf does not back down from any challenge that stands in his way whether it be Grendel, Grendel’s mother, or the dragon. His bravery is most evident in his preparation for his fight with Grendel, Beowulf, “took off his shirt of armour, the helmet from his head, handed his embellished sword, best of irons to an attendant,…” He chose to bravely fight his foe, man to beast without weaponery for he knew it would be “cowardly” to defeat Grendel with a sword and armor when Grendel himself had none. Even in his
Some great literary scholars think that the poem is an heroic elegy, celebrating the fantastic achievements of its great hero, and also expressing sorrow or lamentation for the hero’s unfortunate death. In “Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics” Tolkien states:
9. BEOWULF is set in a male-dominated world full of violence and danger. What role does
An epic is a long, narrative poem that encompasses a hero or a heroine who is usually involved in an amazing battle between two forces. It includes forces that are not of the human world such as demons, angels, gods, and spirits. The epic of Beowulf is about a hero with superhuman strength that defeats the demon who torments the soldiers of the kingdom. In The Rape of the Lock, the heroine Belinda has a piece of her hair cut and stolen from her and the major battle is trying to get her lock of hair