Beowulf Young and Old Essay

Beowulf proclaims “In the blackness of night, hunting monsters out of the ocean, and killing them one by one; death was my errand and the fate they had earned. Now Grendel and I are called together” (liens 156-160). Beowulf claims that he must go to defeat Grendel, as it was his errand, or his duty, and his fate. This speech he makes to King Hrothgar reinforces his true reason to come to the King, not for any pride. Another vow Beowulf makes is when he says “That this is one favor you should not refuse me—That I, alone and with the help of my men, many purge all evil form this hall” (lines 163-166). In this line, Beowulf is pleading for the King to do one thing, which is to give him the permission for him and his men to go and fight Grendel, what Beowulf had arrived for. The fact that Beowulf asks the king for only one thing, which is to fight Grendel, shows Beowulf’s selflessness and concern for the safety of others. At no part does he ask for a reward, but even says that if fate is in favor of Grendel to give his armor back to his family. These words help paint the image of Beowulf being concerned for others, not for his

He showed courage by risking his own life to help Hrothgar and the people of Herot by volunteering to fight Grendel. Beowulf states “That I alone, and with the help of my men, may purge all the evil from this hall” (pg.48). He also showed courage by fighting the dragon, even though he was getting too old, he still wanted to help and fight the dragon. He stated “I am old, now, but I will fight again, seek fame still, if the dragon hiding in his tower dares to face me” (pg.56-57). Beowulf exemplified having courage by putting down his weapons and armor in the battle between him and Grendel, he wanted to fight him equally considering Grendel had no weapons. He made it a battle of strength and he displayed courage by believing in himself and taking a risk in fighting against Grendel. Beowulf was very full of courage, which he proved by fighting in his battles and risking his life for the sake of others.

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’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.

The most heroic of traits within Beowulf is that he is not afraid to die. He always explains his death wishes before going into battle and requests to have any assets delivered to his people. “…and if death takes me…send to Hyglac the best of war clothes that protects my breasts, finest of male shirts. It is a legacy of Hrethel, the works of Weland. Fate always goes as it must.” He is aware of the heroic paradox; he will be glorified in life or death for his actions. He knows that when he fights an enemy like Grendel or Grendel’s mother he will achieve immortality as the victor or the loser. “I resolved when I sat down in the sea-boat with my men, that I should fulfill the will of your people or else fall in slaughter. I shall achieve a dead of manly

As a matter of fact, Beowulf is a strong man who takes it upon himself to protect others and commit many acts of courage, bravery, and pride. At the same time,

On the contrary, people might describe Beowulf as pompous and conceited because of his long speeches of pride. Yes, these speeches do stroke his ego, but his egotistical mindset is no match for 3 monsters, his ego did not beat those monsters he did. His pride comes from a place of fear and weakness and in order to show the people that he has proof of strength, he must show them through pride. These long speeches of pride do not make him stronger, they only make him more right, “no strength is a match for mine” he said while describing his “battle” with Brecca (267). When Beowulf arrives he is an outsider who has come to save them, and only cares about the betterment of people. This kind of thinking is what drives the plot forward, Beowulf's ability to block out the things that make him weak (everybody drowning in his debt) is very powerful, filtering the comments to aid him instead of go to far and make him weak.

Beowulf’s most seen quality in this epic is his confidence. The scene that most directly shows his confidence is his famous boast. “So, every elder and experienced councilman/ among my people supported my resolve/ to come here to you, King Hrothgar, / because all knew of my awesome strength. / They had seen me boltered in the blood of enemies/ when I battled and bound five beasts, / raided a troll-nest and in the night-sea/ slaughtered sea-brutes…” (Heaney lines 415-422). Beowulf’s boast is said publically, which shows an inspirational sense of confidence to defeat Grendel. The boast also demonstrates Beowulf’s courage and brave characteristics that makes him appear very heroic. Furthermore, Beowulf’s promise to kill Grendel to the Danes is a confident and risky thing to do, but Beowulf is able to pull it off. In Forbes article, it states that good leaders need to “deliver on [their] promises. Which our hero does that very night, killing the beast by ripping him apart ‘The monster’s whole/ body was in pain, a tremendous wound/ appeared on his shoulder’” (Forbes).

Throughout the entirety of Beowulf, Beowulf goes from being a young, nimble warrior to being a hardened and respected King of his own kingdom. When Beowulf was younger in the first part of Beowulf he was sort of cocky in a way. He knew that he would always defeat whatever he was to be up against without any hesitation. He knew this because he would pray to God for guidance before every fight. At this point in Beowulf’s life, he was not noble in the sense of character. It was not until Beowulf grew older until he realized the hardships of living during the Anglo-Saxon era. Beowulf recognizes these hardships in the wake of the time jump of fifty years: “A lot was to happen in later days in the fury of battle. Hygelac fell and the shelter of Heardred’s shield proved useless against the fierce aggression of the Shylfings: ruthless swordsmen, seasoned campaigners, they came against him and his conquering nation, and with cruel force cut him down so that afterwards the wide kingdom reverted to Beowulf. He ruled it well for fifty winters, grew old and wise as warden of the land--,” (Beowulf, 77). During these fifty winters Beowulf sees the fall of a kingdom, and he rises in order to become the king of the very same kingdom that fell. Even now, Beowulf must defeat a dragon that has awoken near his kingdom. Going into the battle, Beowulf knows that he will not come out alive. Beowulf sacrifices himself in order to

His transition demonstrates that a different set of values accompanies each of his two roles. The difference between these two sets of values are clear early on in the outlooks of Beowulf and King Hrothgar. The young Beowulf, having nothing to lose wants glory, while the older Hrothgar, who has a lot to lose, seeks protection for his people. Though these two outlooks are somewhat conflicting, each character tries to act like society indicates he should given his particular role in society.

In historic times, it had been said that a “lord led warriors; warriors fought for his lord.” Beowulf is essentially a warrior and Hrothgar is his lord. Even though Beowulf is from another land, he still had to be granted permission from Hrothgar in order to kill Grendel. Beowulf states, “grant me, then, lord and protector of this noble place, A single request!”(160). With the permission from Hrothgar, Beowulf follows forward with killing Grendel.

the traits of a “good king”. He was a warrior with extraordinary abilities which made him seem

Beowulf consciously chooses to act in a superhuman manner: “I shall perform the deeds of a hero or I have passed my last day in this mead hall.” Even Grendel recognizes the hero’s superior strength: “The criminal knew he had not met in this middle-earth another with such a grip.” Other warriors when thinking of Beowulf “would quickly compose a skillful tale in words.” Hrothgar refers to Beowulf as “the best of warriors.”  The Danish queen Wealhtheow compliments after Grendel’s defeat, “You have earned forever the praise of men from near and far.” Hrothgar expounds on good warriors: “This is the best-born man – my friend Beowulf … the best of warriors.” When the dragon burns the mead hall of the Geats and Beowulf prepares to retaliate, he “scorned a host, a large army … he didn’t fear the dragon’s war …” Beowulf is also superior in a moral sense: When Hygelac’s wife Hygd previously offered Beowulf the kingdom, he declined to accept because there was a legitimate heir to the throne. Beowulf’s example of extreme heroism motivates others to extraordinary deeds: Wiglaf, seeing Beowulf’s strength compromised by the dragon’s fire, risks his life to aid Beowulf in his final battle. It is obvious that the hero possesses superhuman qualities. As

Beowulf is always seeking to help his enrich his image. This flaw in his character, as well as his feeling of invincibility leads to his downfall later in life. “Again and again the angry monsters made fierce attacks, I served them well with my noble blade, as was only fitting. Small pleasure they had in such a sword-feast, dark things in the sea that meant to eat me, …I had chanced to kill some nine sea-beasts. I never have heard of a harder night-fight under heaven’s vault, or a man more oppressed on the ocean streams.”(Beowulf p83) It is very apparent here that Beowulf is extremely proud of what he had accomplished, and was not going to let some other person who had done no major heroic deed try to put him down. In fact, he goes on to say that no one in the world has fought such a hard fight as he did that night.

Beowulf represented an epic hero to the Anglo-saxon’s because he is known to be the strongest man alive “My people have said, the wisest, most knowing And best of them, that duty was to go to the Danes’ Great King” (ll 228-230). Beowulf has set out with the best warriors of his people to defeat the monster that has ruined King Hrothgar's kingdom. “. . . chosen warrior who bravely does battle with the creature Haunting our people. . .” (ll 194-195). While talking to King Hrothgar, and Beowulf ask if Hrothgar can depend on Beowulf to save his kingdom. “A single request! . . . Oh shelterer of warriors and your people’s loved friends . . . ” (ll 241-242).