Conventional Values In Beowulf

“[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.

The historical document of Beowulf, which also shows the importance of literature, reveals the important cultural values of the warrior society. The epic poem, set in Sweden during the 6th Century, tells the story of a warrior named Beowulf. Scops, or storytellers, keepers of an oral tradition, told stories of heroes and culture from their times. They performed and told the tale of a great thane, finally writing it down sometime around the 8th Century; the only surviving epic poem from this time. As a great piece of literature, this poem follows the life of Beowulf from that of a young and loyal thane who becomes a great respected king and dies proudly, as a warrior. The warrior culture at this time reflects the values of the society of

Each individual culture has many cultural truths that a group of people follow and believe in. Cultural truths are principles, values, or standards important to a group of people, which display moral behaviors that are respected and immoral actions that are scorned at. Also, cultural truths are norms in a society that you are born into and are expected to do daily because they shape the lifestyle of a group. For example, during the Anglo-Saxon period, there were a number of cultural truths that were applied to everyday actions and attitudes. An epic poem, composed based on the Anglo-Saxon period called Beowulf, written by an unknown author translated by Seamus Heaney, depicts many of the cultural values of the time period. In the poem, is it revealed that all the cultural values in the Anglo-Saxon culture are developed from the idea of a warrior culture. The epic poem is about a hero named Beowulf from the Geats tribe who goes off and helps Hrothgar and the Danes defeat a monster, Grendel, who attacks their mead hall. Before Beowulf meets his fate he fights three monsters, which includes Grendel, to protect the lives of people in two different tribes. Within the epic poem Beowulf, there are several of cultural values presented and focused on such as, courage in battle, fidelity to one’s word, and loyalty to kinsmen, which are all demonstrated by Beowulf.

The oldest recorded english text, Beowulf, is an epic Anglo-Saxon tale of a man named Beowulf who was greater and stronger than anyone anywhere in the world. Throughout this tale the key virtues of Anglo-Saxon life: bravery, loyalty, generosity, and friendship are shown. These virtues are illustrated through the following evidence from the tale.

Anglo Saxon values are portrayed throughout Beouwulf and allows reeaders to understand the concept of a hero. The warrior Beowulf is introduced as “Higlacs / follower and the strongest of the Geats” (ll. 109-110). To quench his thirst for fame and an epic quest, he sets sail to honor a favor. Because of Beowulf’s great strength and noble birth, he is able to complete his quest which in turn makes him and epic hero.

The epic poem Beowulf established a moral code for the English speaking hundreds or yeas ago, and those codes still resonate with modern English and American ideals. The Anglo-Saxon classic Beowulf encompasses the motivations of respect, heroism, and fame in their epic hero Beowulf. Beowulf’s first and foremost concern is earning the respect of his people. This text establishes the thought that respect is a virtue that is earned rather than given.

In today’s society, some people have the characteristics of untrustworthiness and cowardliness. However, others choose to have personalities seeded in loyalty and confidence. The story of Beowulf shows these positive attributes through warrior’s loyalty and Beowulf’s bravery. Also, today’s society opts in equality for women, as women have strong and independent traits. Beowulf presents a strong woman figure, Grendel’s mother, as Beowulf not only struggled against her, but she showed the motherly aspects of wanting to fight in anger for Beowulf murdering her son. These traits of loyalty, bravery, and strength were important in the Anglo-Saxon culture, and in essence, still relate to society today as many people want these characteristics in their relationships and movements.

One thing the Anglo-Saxons highly value is pride and glory. They take pride in where they come from; therefore, these individuals are hard-working, blue collar people who are willing to do whatever it takes to become successful, whether it’s at work or on the battle field. An example of pride from Beowulf is “Too, that the monster’s scorn

Loyalty, bravery, friendship, and generosity are the key values that were dominant in the Anglo Saxon period. All of these are present in Beowulf as well, displayed through him and the monsters. The hero Beowulf displays bravery and loyalty the most, and the monsters in the poem display loyalty as well. Grendel and his mother are prime examples of loyalty shown in monsters. When Grendel was killed, his mother went to avenge his death by killing more of Hrothgar’s men, and eventually facing on the killer of her son as well. Loyalty was so prevalent that it was apart of the Anglo Saxon governing system, “It shaped the very tribal culture in which they lived.”

The Anglo-Saxon Values Students read Beowulf in highschool to further understand Anglo-Saxon culture. Why would Anglo-Saxons be relevant to today’s culture? Anglo saxons valued loyalty, bravery, and honor. Today, we still feel the need to have loyalty to our peers, have courage in the tasks we do, and honor each other when we feel deserved. A large part of anglo saxon culture was loyalty to your lord or king.

What values does the poem Beowulf promote? In the poem Beowulf we can find that there are a lot of values mentioned. Beowulf is a man who leads a group of geats to fight and defend the Dane people and the king. Beowulf was a man seeking adventure and glory; he was famous known as the strongest man alive.

Monsters reinforce the heroic code by challenging the values of the heroic code, they show the relationship against good and evil, and are a challenge for Beowulf. During the Anglo-Saxon age where good and evil clashed in battle, there was a brave hero named Beowulf who fought many battles and who led monsters to their doom. With fate and strength by his side nothing could stop him. There were two kingdoms in this story that were overcome by evil. The People tried to fight back but it was no match for such an evil. The attitudes and actions between various monsters and humans show that Beowulf is a story comprised of battles putting good against evil.

Many cultures have their own way of determining the status of a person by a value system. Although, the value system of the Anglo-Saxons in the Middle Ages is quite different than the value systems of today. The value systems, most people know, determine status by how much money or how accomplished an individual is. This is similar to the value system explained in the epic poem, but there are just a few differences. The value system is determined mostly by the heroic code, in which the main character in the epic poem, Beowulf, shows many of those characteristics of the heroic code that a warrior knight, of that time, followed. The heroic code also helps exemplify the culture of the Anglo-Saxon in the Middle Ages by

Anglo-Saxon Values Essay Riddle and Epic story telling were introduced to the medieval culture by the Anglo-Saxon tribes. Generally the stories were passed down by word of mouth and were rarely written down. One of their famous tales was the story of Beowulf. The story consists of an epic hero who is asked by the Danes to defeat Grendel, a sin-stained demon who is terrorizing the town of Herot.

Culture and Values: An Analyzation of the Beowulf Epic and the Beowulf and Grendel Film