Examples Of Revenge In Beowulf

There is a sense of satisfaction that goes along with it, but there is also a sense of grief. It is what fuels the want for vengeance. There is a need for the person to fight back no matter what the circumstances are. Grendel’s mother knew Beowulf was powerful but she still tried to kill him.

Revenge causes many of the acts of characters in Beowulf. It is a prominent theme throughout the book. Most of the acts revenge causes are battles between two characters, resulting in a death. These events include Grendel attacking Heorot, Beowulf killing Grendel, Grendel’s mother killing Aschere, and Beowulf attacking Grendel’s mother. Revenge in Beowulf helps provide context for the fighting and killing throughout the book.

Beowulf faces the internal conflicts, self concern and betrayal, when he is much older and king. Even though he was much older he decided to battle a fire dragon because he was his people’s hero. Though Beowulf had helped so many people when he was young and strong, none of his comrades came to help him. Instead, they ran for their lives. “And only one of them remained, stood there, miserable, remembering as a good man must, what kinship should mean.” (Beowulf 43) Beowulf and his one comrade, Wiglaf, kill the dragon, but Beowulf is injured and soon dies. The last internal conflict Beowulf has before he dies is the betrayal of his people.

Beowulf’s wrath is swift and justified. He plays no games with his opponents. Beowulf even shows respect to his foe and honorably faces them with no undue advantage. A classic example of the honor usually associated with heroes lies in Beowulf’s decision to use neither sword nor armor when facing the monster Grendel in Heorot. Beowulf instead opted, in the name of fair play, to fight the monster on it’s own terms. Unsurprisingly Beowulf conquered his foe in true idolic form, tearing Grendel’s arm from his torso with only the strength of his grip and the power of his arms. This is what we cheer for in such stories, this is the satisfying victory over evil by the true embodiment of good: the hero.

Eventually, at a ripe old age, Beowulf finally suffers the wrath of the dragon. He epitomizes the values of a warrior society which include bravery, loyalty, and prowess in battle.

The concept of institutional revenge has existed almost as long as institutions themselves. The common saying “an eye for an eye” is, in fact, a paraphrasing of one of the first sets of written laws ever to have existed: Hammurabi's Code, a group of laws used in ancient Babylon. Societal constructs of Beowulf's time had a significant basis in this set of ideals. It was the aforementioned societal constructs that lead Beowulf to greatness, kingship, arrogance, and death.

After the dragon attacks the Geats, Beowulf decides to go after it and seeks revenge for his people. Like before, for him killing this monster is the way to make justice. When he does end up defeating the dragon, he believes he has served justice for the people that he is responsible for and cares about. On page 92 lines 2335-2337 the author says what Beowulf was thinking, “The Geats deserved revenge; Beowulf, their leader and lord, began to plan it…” When this is said, it means that Beowulf is determined to get justice for

Grendel’s mother is saddened and angered when she finds out her son is dead and proceeds to Herot: “But a monster still lived, and meant revenge.”(Beowulf, page 56). Vengeance is the cause of destruction and that is what Grendel’s mother wants to do to the men of

“Something of vengeance I had tasted for the first time; as aromatic wine it seemed, on swallowing, warm and racy: its after-flavour, metallic and corroding, gave me a sensation as if I had been poisoned”(Bronte). Revenge in this society is common amongst all people because it symbolizes the malicious quest you adhere into depriving the same being who inimically elicit incitement towards your emotions. In the epic poem of Beowulf, symbolism is used to show how resisting the quest for revenge results in self-respect, rather than hatred and violence. In Beowulf, seeking vengeance is the catalyst due to its magniloquent meaning.

Revenge is presented both as an honest motive and a rhetorical tactic in Beowulf. For Beowulf himself, reprisal of

Though Beowulf was god-like and he was able to be successful when faced with decisions and adversity, he eventually succumbed to the destructive forces of nature and threw his nation into conflict. As aforementioned, Beowulf’s battle with the dragon depicts unpreventable death and destruction that afflicts everybody, his last battle also symbolizes that even the most seemingly perfect people are chained to hostile acts of nature and fate. Beowulf’s death is not a product of pride, it was a result of his altruistic nature to do good, however, his death forecasts war in his country as described by Wiglaf when ordering a messenger to tell the Geats of Beowulf’s death, “And this people can expect fighting, once/ The Franks, and the Frisians, have heard that our king/ Lies dead.” (Beowulf 2910-2913). Beowulf’s main purpose was to do good, and though killing the dragon was an act of goodness, he traded in his life for an act of good, however his death brought the large possibility of war to his

When Boewulf faces off against Grendel’s mother, and later when he fights the dragon it is revenge that he is after.

The second character did revenge is Grendel’s mother.They are master and they kill people and do lots of bad things for people.But in their living environment they have to do that, then they can survive. After Beowulf killed Grendel.she has taken up the feud because of last night, when you killed Grendel, wrestled and racked him in ruinous combat since for too long he had terrorized us with his depredations “He died in battle, paid with his life; and now this powerful other one arrives, this force for evil driven to avenge her kinsman's death. Or so it seems to thanes in their grief, in the anguish every thane endures at the loss of a ring-giver, now that the hand that bestowed so richly has been stilled in death." (1333-1344)”This quote shows people how mad and sad is the mother.She loves his son but Grendel still got killed by Beowulf.Her revenge was started after the celebration for Beowulf.Everyone went to sleep, Grendel’s mother started revenge she could not control herself and she took Beowulf’s friend which is Beowulf’s love.That was her way to revenge for her son as a mother.” In the old time of China.There are lots of village men that cannot marry with girls because the girls do not

While both blood feuds and wergild deal with murder, a blood feud requires a death for a death, while wergild uses gold to make amends. When looking at this in a biblical perspective, it is important to understand how these relate to justice. Biblical justice is a far cry from revenge. Vengeance, however, takes the shape of both blood feuds and wergild, and while blood feuds are fueled by revenge, wergild is important to bring justice in Beowulf’s society. Vengeance in Beowulf takes two main forms: the blood feuds, such as that of Grendel’s mother, and the concept of wergild; only wergild, however, conforms to the biblical definition of justice.

The historical poem of Beowulf not only reveals to us the importance cultural values of the warrior society, but also the importance of literature. The warrior culture at this time reflects the values of the society of the 6th century. There are a couple of key features of Beowulf’s characterization that reflect what was important in Anglo-Saxon society. For example. Beowulf comes across as arrogant and bigheaded, but Anglo-Saxon society valued the daring and confident young man who was proud of his actions and could use his past experiences and journeys to motivate himself toward future success. Our modern world leans towards modesty rather than arrogance. Anglo-Saxon society also believed in a concept of revenge that resulted in a vicious cycle. If someone killed one of your men, you were obligated to avenge their death, but then that group could come back and avenge that death and so on. This is shown in Beowulf by the killing of Grendel and then Grendel’s mother seeking revenge. The only reason this cycle was broken is because there wasn’t anyone else to