Elegy In Beowulf

The concept of an epic hero ordains in most capacities to be born into their position, subsequently having to prove themselves worthy of said position, eventually excelling their birth circumstances and achieving greatness. This is true of most epic heroes, being either demigods, royalty, or both. Hercules is a demigod (explaining his astounding feats of strength and will), Aeneas is a demigod and of a royal bloodline, Odysseus is essentially blessed by the gods and king of Ithica. Those characters’ qualities of birth can be definitively classified as happenstantial luck. Yet, is it luck if one’s powers are inexplicably unique and inherent, not being bestowed? The most enigmatic, yet prominent epic hero who defies the trope of born luck seems to be the Anglo-Saxon character of Beowulf.

Imagine a slimy swamp like place where only the most horrid monsters with the most disgusting features live, this is the fen. Now imagine A wonderful bright beautiful hall that’s almost castle like, these are the two elements of the story Beowulf a New Telling.

Beowulf can be analyzed in an endless numbers of ways. There are different morals, themes, and meanings behind the story. A common meaning, maybe even the most important, is the dual ordeal in Beowulf. The dual ordeal is an external battle with vicious opponents and an internal battle with human tendencies of pride, greed, cowardice, betrayal, and self concern. Each external battle Beowulf wins, his internal battle grows.

Beowulf is a story of great courage and triumph over adversity. But over the whole story there is a hanging sense of dread and impending death. This is shown by the sense of impending death, the strong sense of doom, and the nature of luck throughout the story. These play a mojo role in shaping how the story

The concept of mixed messages is frustrating, as it can lead to inconsistencies, misunderstandings, and mistakes. However, they find their way into numerous cases anyway. In texting, Facebook status updates, meetings, and many other modern contexts, mixed messages are prevalent; however, we have the opportunity for clarification from others as to what is intended to be portrayed. We are not so lucky to have that luxury regarding classical literature. Many mixed messages are present in literature, forcing us to interpret the text to the best of our abilities, since we cannot ask the author or poet directly. This problem occurs in Beowulf, as the source of Beowulf’s strength is unclear to the audience. Beowulf defeats monsters and saves the day, yet it is unclear whether he is victorious due to his own strength and skill, or because of the intervention of God. However, we can use this unclear distinction to focus on the culture of the people during this time, whether these mixed messages are intentional, and what they can reveal. When Grendel’s mother attacks the mead hall in the night, Beowulf miraculously defends himself and survives. “The monster wretched and wrestled with him but Beowulf was mindful of his mighty strength, the wondrous gifts God had showered on him: He relied for help on the Lord of All, and His care and favour” (1269-1274). This contrast in strength or divine intervention reveals the importance of strength and skill in the society and the integration of

The theme of fate in Beowulf is ongoing and it manifests itself in the minds of the characters, especially Beowulf. The poem begins with an introduction from the narrator that hints at the events of misfortune that are coming in the future for the great hero Beowulf. The narrator says, “how could they know fate, the grim shape of things to come” (Beowulf, 1233-1234). The opening of the poem is of a funeral for the beloved leader Shield Sheafson. This foreshadows the death of Beowulf and in a sense presents the reader with the mentality of a connection between fate and death. Death is simply the end of a person’s life that is bound to happen, very much like the effect of fate on life. There is an ongoing conflict in the poem between the Anglo-Saxon idea of fate (wyrd) and the Christian God. This may have caused widespread tension among the readers and interpreters of the poem that lingers to this day.

Death perception is what sets apart the wise from the foolish and the sensitive from the weak minded; this statement is both true within life and the epic poem Beowulf. Many statements within the spectrum of death in the current world relates and dates back to this one poem, even more so now through the translation of Seamus Heaney. Passed along as a folk tale from as early as the 5th century to the 9th century, and then composed in about the 10th century, Beowulf creates a solid base for many of today’s present and worldly ideals. Countless themes are taken from this poem, but one theme that many people may glaze over is the extremely morbid tone of death and its purpose. Used as an archetype for the audience, the purpose of this morbid theme of death is to help understand and cope with mortality, especially during that time period. Accepting/ understanding is wiser than foolishly attempting to escape or cheat death as the poem blatantly proves after closely analyzing its purpose of discussing fate and death before the battles; choosing to always stand by good morals and actions; and the major significance of the main character’s death along with a couple counterarguments. By examining each aspect, the reader will gain the realization as to why Seamus Heaney decided to create this theme that he did with the direction from “The Beowulf poet [that] was captivated by the imagery of death” (Tanke 356).

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.

Beowulf is one of the greatest epics from early British literature history we have managed to salvage, and amidst the tales of brave heroes and mighty battles, there lies an interwoven theme of isolation and death. These two plagues to the human mind and body walk together in a correlated marriage within Beowulf’s many episodes. Death is an obvious theme; the alpha and omega of the poem are grandeur funerals (Beowulf, l. 26-52, 3114-3155) and loss is littered throughout Beowulf’s journey. Isolation, however, is a theme that is directly related to the death inside of Beowulf’s world, and needs further examination as to how and why. It seems that the evil creatures that fall to the hands of our mighty hero indulge this theory, but this thematic duo take more than just the lives of the monsters. Isolation followed by death sweeps up innocent characters as well, including Beowulf himself.

Although the ability to absorb and accept dissimilar cultures and groups of people constituted a significant strength of the Roman empire, the Roman need to protect its borders against invaders overshadowed its desire for growth. In Psychomachia, Prudentius’ battle between the clear-cut personifications of the vice Wrath and virtue Long-Suffering, better known as Patience, not only exemplifies the preferable way to act in the eyes of Christianity, but also reflects the clash between Roman and barbarian values as seen by Rome itself. Prudentius’ use of sharp, repulsive language coupled with animalistic imagery to characterize Wrathcontrasted with the elegant and effortlessly strong personification of Long-Suffering, directly parallels to the

Fate is often a topic of interest in many literary works, as it provides an insight to readers as to how a person’s success or demise can be credited to their own doing or to the world’s chaotic web of tragedy that afflicts those at random. In Beowulf, pagan belief describes fate as an affliction through unmerciful forces of death and destruction that befall people at random. Actions and events that occur around us are mainly out of our control, though we can influence them at times, yet, we are susceptible to the world’s destruction, death, and failure. For these reasons, I believe: nature is hostile and uncontrollable at times, and that Beowulf can be described as a failure due to his inability to prevent conflict that befalls his country after his death.

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?

1. Why does Beowulf begin and end with a funeral? What does this reveal about one of the themes of the myth? Throughout the course of the Beowulf’s tale there is an underlying theme of eventually having to meet with your inevitable demise. “The blessings of God, the King of glory, lead him to ignore the future and his inevitable fate. In the end, however, his body dies, and another king acquires his possessions.” At the beginning of the story it details another king whose live has come to an end and his possessions and kingdom have also been turned over to his successor.

Beowulf. Beowulf killed Grendel and then he would have to kill Grendel’s mother who was

     Some literary scholars maintain that Beowulf developed character flaws through the course of the long narrative poem, and that at the time of his death he was a victim of pride, avarice, selfishness and an inordinate craving for glory. The purpose of this essay is to show that he was a tremendous hero from beginning to end.