Epic Of Beowulf Essay

One of the strongest men on the face of Earth was Beowulf—savior of souls, and annihilator of evil. Beowulf is an epic poem that originated in the Anglo-Saxon period, told in Anglo-Saxon English. The poem depicts the odyssey of a man, Beowulf, who comes from the land of Geats to defeat a hellish creature, Grendel, which has been spawning terror upon King Hrothgar and his men, who live in the land of the Danes. On the way to King Hrothgar’s land, Beowulf encounters many monsters, and upon his arrival to the land of Danes, Beowulf vows to destroy Grendel in order to return peace and safety to King Hrothgar and his men. The poem often characterizes Beowulf with two distinct traits: pride and selflessness. Beowulf shows several moments of motivation

Beowulf sees Grendel's mother in a cave. He tries to hit her with his sword, Unferth's Hrunting, but it fails to pierce her skin. So he throws the sword away and attacks the mother with his bare hands. He trusts "in his strength, his mighty hand-grip." Beowulf manages to throw Grendel's mother down; however, she quickly retaliates and is soon sitting on top of him. She tries to kill him with a dagger, but Beowulf's armor protects him this time. Beowulf managed to throw her off of himself and sees a sword of enormous size, which he immediately grabs.

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 shows his wisdom in two other ways in this same battle with Grendel. For instance, Beowulf fights with only his hands (Beowulf 48). Countless warriors have tried to defend themselves against Grendel with swords and shields. Beowulf knows this and knows that not once has Grendel been touched by a blade. So, Beowulf fights with only his hands in this great and terrible battle. Beowulf does not rely on any weapon or anyone besides himself and it works wonders for him. Beowulf also makes another strong strategic decision. He never releases Grendel’s arm (Beowulf 48). If Beowulf had released the monster’s arm there is no doubt he would have died. Beowulf would have been ripped apart by Grendel’s sharp claws. Instead, Beowulf proves his battle wisdom and never lets his grip slip off of that arm until it is severed from Grendel’s body. Beowulf shows that he has that trait of being able to use his wisdom in battle during his fight with Grendel.

To begin, Beowulf has a complex motivation for fighting the monster Grendel. His first motivation is duty which is part of the Anglo-Saxon code he’s obligated to go and kill Grendel. His people told him so go and do it so he does duty comes first and personal choice comes second. On page 47 lines 244-246 Beowulf says, “My people have said, the wisest, most knowing And best of them, that my duty was to go to the Danes’ Great king.”

Though the jaunt was difficult, Beowulf was relentless in his pursuit. When he reached Grendel’s mother, the battle was long and hard, but the hero refused to surrender. He fought until the disconcerted mother gave up and died. As a token of his feat, Beowulf took a jewel-studded sword from the cave. To further celebrate his heroic feat, he decapitated Grendel and kept his head as a souvenir of his triumph.

Beowulf could not defeat the dragon on his own and received help from that ancient sword of Grendel’s mother and a loyal warrior named Wiglaf. Beowulf could not win this battle as he grew weak after the dragon bit into his flesh. As Beowulf was close to death, the dragon passed sooner than him. When the hero finally took his last breath, Wiglaf ordered the kingdom to bury all of the found treasure with Beowulf in order to show their mournfulness and regret for not being able to save their King. The treasure was burned with Beowulf’s body in order to prevent those full of greed from taking the treasure and distributing it unfairly causing abuse and imbalance of power by those who did not deserve that treasure in the first

However, their sleep did not last long. During the night, Grendel’s mother came to avenge her son’s death. She enters the hall and grabs Aeschere and her son’s arm. Beowulf goes to follow her and swims for an entire day in her pool before he sees the bottom of the mere. When Beowulf descends into Grendel’s mere, he loses ground as the fight progresses. It is then assumed that Beowulf is fighting desperately for his life. Then, the water closed over him. It was “the space of a day,” before he could see the bottom of the mere (Burlin 121). The hero’s physical powers grow far beyond human dimensions. Beowulf is about to attempt to use a weapon although they were useless against her; “then he saw, hanging on the wall, a heavy sword...but so massive that no ordinary man could life its carved and decorated length” (72). Once he is in Grendel’s mother’s mere, Beowulf remains underwater for more than a day (Burlin 120). Finally, Beowulf kills Grendel’s mother, and her blood melts his sword (Bloom 16).

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.

Now I am old, but King of the people I shall pursue this fight for the glory of winning, if evil one will only abandon his earth-fort and face me in the open.”(168) This suggests that Beowulf is ready for anything, young or old; he must do right by his people and as King. Beowulf had been hurt during the battle with the Dragon, but that did not stop him gather his strength and take a sharp knife that was on his belt and stab the Dragon’s flank. The bite from the Dragon that Beowulf received had venom in it. Beowulf spoke; “I want to examine that ancient gold, gaze my fill on those garnered jewels; my going will be easier for having seen the treasure, a less troubled letting-go of the life and lordship I have long maintained.” (173) He sees all of that treasure as a win for his people and he can go in peace knowing all that he did for his people and the name he made for himself. Make Beowulf orders that there be a barrow in his name and then names Wiglaf the new King of the

In his three major battles, Beowulf fights for many different reasons. His motivation varies, and as he grows older and wiser his attitude toward these battles also changes. Throughout the epic, Beowulf bradoshously beats Grendel, then more methodically murders Grendel’s mother, and with his last breathes humbly hollers for help to slay the dragon. This shows that Beowulf’s early focuses of glory and riches changes as he becomes a weathered warrior acknowledges that he cannot defeat his enemies alone and must utilize the resources provided to him such as armor, magical items, and companions.

This is an action that none of the Danes have seen before, and an action that is extremely dangerous, a life or death situation. Beowulf shows his confidence in himself, sticks through his promise and kills Grendel in a fair fight with only his strength and strategy to help him. As a result Beowulf shows his great promise that seemed impossible for any human being to accomplish and how he falls through with

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.

Later in his life, Beowulf is himself king of the Geats, and finds his realm terrorised by a dragon whose treasure had been stolen from his hoard in a burial mound. He attacks the dragon with the help of his thegns or servants, but they do not succeed. Beowulf decides to follow the dragon into its lair, at Earnanæs, but only his young Swedish relative Wiglaf dares join him. Beowulf finally slays the dragon, but is mortally

Beowulf could not defeat the dragon on his own and received help from that ancient sword of Grendel’s mother and a loyal warrior named Wiglaf. Beowulf could not win this battle as he grew weak after the dragon bit into his flesh. As Beowulf was close to death, the dragon passed sooner than him. When the hero finally took his last breath, Wiglaf ordered the kingdom to bury all of the found treasure with Beowulf in order to show their mournfulness and regret for not being able to save their King. The treasure was burned with Beowulf’s body in order to prevent those full of greed from taking the treasure and distributing it unfairly causing abuse and imbalance of power by those who did not deserve that treasure in the first