Beowulf Quotes

One example of Beowulf’s strengths was no other man could do the same tasks, and fight the battles he fought. Beowulf goes into many battles throughout his lifetime. Also, the quote in line 505-506 “If weapons were useless he’d use his hands, the strength in his fingers”. Beowulf also lifts the giant forged sword from the wall and swings it hard enough to cut of Grendel’s mothers head. A sword that is described as “so massive that no ordinary man could lift its carved and decorated lengths.

Beowulf, like many modern heroes such as the ones we see in movies and read about in comic books has an unnatural amount of strength. Take superman for example, he has superhuman strength. Although Beowulf does not have the same amount of strength as superman he still has more than the average human. This gives him a typical “hero” trait that many people are familiar with today.

Burton Raffel wrote a heroic poem called ‘Beowulf’. Beowulf is a heroic poem about Good versus Evil and Beowulf is the hero. In the heroic poem, Beowulf’s wyrd (fate) is to defeat monsters and save lives and with that brings lof (fame), sometimes to believe in yourself you got to have others to believe in you too, Beowulf and Wiglaf have a comitatus that's hard to break.

Beowulf’s strength is exemplified many times in the story. Beowulf was said to have “the strength of thirty men in his mighty handgrip.” He fought in numerous battles and returned victorious from all but his last. In his argument with Unferth, Beowulf explains the reason he lost a swimming match with his opponent Brecca. Not only had Beowulf been swimming for seven nights, he had also stopped to kill nine sea creatures in the depths of the ocean. Beowulf is also strong enough to kill the monster Grendel with his bare hands by ripping off his arm. When Beowulf is fighting Grendel’s mother, he is able to slay her by slashing the monster’s neck with a giant sword that can only be lifted by a person as strong as Beowulf. When he chops off her head, he carries it from the ocean with no difficulty, but it takes four men to lift and carry it back to Heorot. This strength is a key trait of Beowulf’s heroism.

Beowulf demonstrates a supernatural amount of strength throughout the epic. Beowulf defeats many monsters with his strength. “The tears torn out of Grendel’s / taunt throat, hell’s captive caught in the arms / of him who all of the men on earth / was the strongest” (Beowulf 469-472). This quote demonstrates that Beowulf is able to out power any monster

Beowulf was a hero not only because of his physical strength, but also for his concern for other people. “The hero must move beyond human limits in order to have the capacity to combat the monstrous forces that threaten the social order;” (Sharma 264) Beowulf has been deemed by most to have superhuman strength, but his superhuman strength alone does not make Beowulf any more a hero than Grendel’s strength makes him a hero. Beowulf rises above the limits of a regular human being

In the 21st century, there are several key points in which our society believe masculinity stands for some would include being active, non-emotional, and independent. Although this may be the case for our people today it doesn’t for Beowulf. In Beowulf a man has to prove himself as masculine to earn others respect and to be looked up upon. It also seems to be a disgrace to the individual and the community if you can not prove that you have conformed to the standards that society has settled upon. To be a man is to be accountable for everything that he does. Beowulf represents, for this text, the ideal of what a man should be. The reader can see through his actions what traits the author believes a man should have to prove their masculinity. Thus, based off of Beowulf, masculinity is represented through actions, weaponry, and bravery. These different factors that define masculinity in beowulf are not bad however, they can be very limiting especially because everyone is born with a different built and different talents. With this said it can be assumed that the author purposely disregarded this fact. In Beowulf because of these limited views on what man should be there is a high chance of rebellion or some sort of revenge culture. If man can not conform to certain standards there is a way for them to prove everyone else that these so called traits to be a man is completely inaccurate, to prove this, revenge is a possibility. The non-masculine man would definitely take revenge

The night after the day of Grendel’s first attack, some of Hrothgar’s warriors fled Herot’s halls. The wisest fled-knowing that if they sought refuge someplace away from Herot,

unless the burning embrace of a fire engulf it in flame” (777-781). This shows his strength was outstanding when he fought with Grendel. Another example is when Beowulf’s duty is to fight in battles against people or creatures, he does not deny a challenge. In the poem, it states “Inspired again by the thought of glory, the war-king threw his whole strength behind a sword-stroke and connected with the skull” (2677-2680). This shows his strength and his values because Beowulf is keeping in mind that he has fame and glory to gain, so he fights every battle he is ordered.

In the epic poem Beowulf by Seamus Heaney, the main character Beowulf displays his courage throughout the whole story, defeating monsters left and right.

One quality that Beowulf possesses is unnatural strength, “He twisted in pain, and and the bleeding sinews deep in his shoulder snapped, muscle and bone split” (357). Beowulf displays this characteristic in the story in his

In the epic poem, Beowulf, by Heaney, Beowulf shows his courage throughout the story as he faces challenges after challenges.

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 the poem, Beowulf decides to fight Grendel without weapons and to only use his bare hands. “Behind some broad linden shield: my hands Alone shall fight for me, struggle for life against the monster” (267-269).Using only your hands to battle someone not only shows the bravery of him, but shows super strength because bare hands have a small strength to them unlike swords that have an amazing amount of strength. Beowulf decides to show the other Geats how it is really done. Within the battle with Grendel’s mother, Beowulf uses a sword to defeat her named Naegling. “Then he saw, hanging on the wall, a heavy sword, hammered by giants, strong and blessed with their the best of all weapons, but so massive that no ordinary man could lift its carved and decorated length. He drew it from its scabbard, broken the chain on its hilt, and then savage, now, angry and desperate, lifted it over his head and struck with all the strength head left, caught her in the neck and cut through”(530-539). Naegling is one of the most heaviest swords that needs a lot of power to hoist and obtain its strength. Beowulf used all of his might and God was able to give Beowulf the strength he needed to lift Naegling with its cover and use it against Grendel’s mother. Before even fighting in her lair, Beowulf uses his lung strength to stay underwater for hours while killing the other sea monsters. Normally, people cannot hold their breathe for so many hours underwater. Beowulf used his lungs which takes a lot of effort to hold his breathe and he was able to breathe successfully after he got out of the water once he defeated Grendel’s mother which proves that he has strength not only in his arms, but everywhere else in his

Strength is without a doubt one of the most important traits which a hero should possess and the Anglo-Saxon’s felt the same way. Beowulf’s strength can be compared to that of the American comic book heroes, Superman and Batman, for he is deemed the “strongest and greatest of the Geats”. The first time that his strength is witnessed, not just spoken of, is when he kills Grendel by ripping the monstrous villain’s arm off. But his most notable display of strength occurs when he enters into combat with Grendel’s mother. When everything seems to be going all wrong for Beowulf, he spies a “heavy” sword hanging on the wall of her lair. With all his power and might, Beowulf drew the sword, “hammered by giants...and….so massive that no ordinary man could life it”, from its scabbard. He “lifts it high over his head”, the sword clasped