Examples Of Wiglaf's Loyalty In Beowulf

Seemingly minor character Wiglaf plays a central role in the conclusion of Beowulf. A young knight who has never before seen battle, Wiglaf steps forward to help his lord, hero, and cousin Beowulf in a time of peril. With his failure in battle and resulting death, the narrator shows that Beowulf is, after all, a prideful and mortal being; thus begins the transfer of heroic status from the old king to the young knight. The narrator argues that Wiglaf is worthy of his abruptly acquired status even though his intentions may seem questionable. The end of the poem devotes a significant amount of lines to dialogue spoken by Wiglaf, signifying his newly crucial role in his kingdom and in the story.

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.

Burton Raffel wrote a heroic poem called ‘Beowulf’. Beowulf is a heroic poem about Good versus Evil and Beowulf is the hero. In the heroic poem, Beowulf’s wyrd (fate) is to defeat monsters and save lives and with that brings lof (fame), sometimes to believe in yourself you got to have others to believe in you too, Beowulf and Wiglaf have a comitatus that's hard to break.

    Wiglaf was the last of Beowulf’s family and was the only person who helped him in the battle that took his life, the only one to witness Beowulf’s death after a grueling battle with a fire breathing behemoth who hoarded treasure like there was a sale on food and there was a

This murder was also justified. The dragon’s murder started because of the way the dragon reacted when a young slave stole one golden cup from the dragon’s tower. When that golden cup was stolen the dragon reacted violently by terrorizing the Geats. The dragon is described as a beast that streams murderous flames from its mouth. Beowulf, seeing how dangerous the dragon is to his own citizens wanted to help by slaying the dragon. At this time in the story, Beowulf is an old man who is not as strong as he once was, but still decides to try to slay the dragon because he sees the importance of saving his own people. Beowulf comes with many soldiers to try to kill the dragon, but because of the strength the dragon showed, most of the soldiers leave in fear. Wiglaf in the only soldier that stays to help Beowulf because he realizes the importance of being loyal to Beowulf because Beowulf has always been loyal to him. Wiglaf sees Beowulf as the hero he truly is. Once the dragon was dead, the soldiers that left were ashamed because they knew they should have been more loyal to Beowulf. Beowulf and the dragon die during this battle, but only Beowulf’s death was viewed in

However, Beowulf shows his loyalty by turning down her offer. He becomes king when Heardred dies. After ruling the Geats for 50 years, Beowulf decides to fight the terrible dragon. He brings eleven warriors with him. While Beowulf struggles fighting the dragon, his warriors hide except for one loyal thane named Wiglaf. Wiglaf tells Beowulf, “’Now, great spirited noble, brave of deeds, you must protect your life with all your might, I shall help you’”(47). He has remained loyal to his king so Beowulf decides to make Wiglaf the king. This gesture again shows how the value of loyalty to one’s king and kingdom will benefit and reward those who are loyal and give them better reputations.

Courage is also a theme seen throughout the whole poem and specifically in this extract through Wiglauf’s speech, action and also Beowulf’s action. The speech as a whole shows that Wiglauf is willing to courageously fight with Beowulf even if it meant he would die. The line ‘I shall stand by you’ in line 2668 not only displays Wiglauf’s loyalty towards Beowulf but also the courage bestowed upon Wiglauf. The contrast between Beowulf’s companions leaving and Wiglauf staying to fight with Beowulf also presents to us the loyalty and bravery Wiglauf has in his character. During the fight, Wiglaf’s body armor was ‘useless to him’ as the fire from the dragon was too powerful, nevertheless, Wiglaf did not retreat. Instead, it is seen in line 2675 that ‘Wiglaf did well under the wide rim’ showing that even though the body armor that protects Wiglaf from harm’s way wasn’t up to par, he did not cower, rather fought bravely side by side with Beowulf to defeat the dragon.

A hero is one who is not only strong, but one who uses his strength to uphold others. A hero is humble, philanthropic, magnanimous and selfless, a humanitarian at best. In the unprecedented epic Beowulf, the tale’s namesake exemplifies every characteristic befitting an Anglo-Saxon hero. He is honest, loyal, and courageous. He portrays these characteristics in the battle against Grendel, the affray with Grendel’s mother, and the fight against the dragon that inevitably ended his life.

After fifty years of what seems to be peace, the dragon appears to reign terror on Beowulf’s kingdom that he has taken power of. A robber had taken the dragon’s treasure that it was peacefully protecting prior to its terror. By this time, Beowulf is around ninety years of age. He knows it will be a tough fight, and therefore brings warriors along with him. After he calls the fierce dragon out of its cave, all but one of the warriors flee the scene. It is only Beowulf and a man named Wiglaf “Watching Beowulf, he could see How his king was suffering, burning. Remembering Everything his lord and cousin had given him,Armor and gold and the great estates Wexstan’s family enjoyed, Wiglaf’s Mind was made up”(Beowulf 107). Together, they slay the dragon, but Beowulf dies at the end too, making Wiglaf the king. The dragon was protecting the treasure and the thief did not steal for his own desire, it was for his masters in which he was beaten by “But the thief had not come to steal; he stole, And roused the dragon, not from desire But need, He was someone’s slave, had

Wiglaf is a good example of humility in the epic. This is shown when he is more worried about Beowulf than himself. This can be seen when he gives his speech to the other men. Wiglaf says “He picked us out/ from the army deliberately,...,although/ he wanted this challenge to be one he'd face/ by himself…[He] needs sound men,”(Heaney). This shows that Wiglaf respects and wants to help Beowulf. It says nothing of him wanting fame from it. He just wants to protect his King.

In which Beowulf was loaded up with gifts and he achieved full rank hero by being sung in heroic songs by Hrothgar?s bards or scops. Later on, he was to become king of the Geats and has protected his people very well. As he grew older, a dragon is awakened by a theft of a cup from his horde and he began to terrorize Beowulf?s people. So as an old man, Beowulf put his arm one more time, and went on to fight one last battle. In the fight, all his faithful warriors deserted him and ran away except one whose name was Wiglaf who stayed and helped him fight to the end. After a terrific struggle, they killed the dragon, but during the battle Beowulf is mortally wounded and he lived just long enough to see some of the treasures that he had won for his people ran out of the cave before he died. The poem ends with the Geats building a huge burial mount for Beowulf, and with the gloomy predictions about what would

Throughout their journey and various battles, Beowulf and Wiglaf remained loyal to their lords. While in Denmark, Beowulf remains loyal to his king, Higlac, and the other warriors remain loyal to Beowulf. During his formal boast, Beowulf told his men that “my hands shall fight for me” as “My lord Higlac, might think less of me” (246-270) if he fought with weapons. Beowulf wanted to impress his lord and not disappoint him in battle. He feared that he would bring shame to his lord if he fought with weapons or

In Anglo-Saxon Literature, the term Comitatus was used to describe a mutually beneficial relationship that compelled Kings to rule in consultation with their warriors called thanes. The code of Comitatus was an integral part of a Vikings culture and honor. The three main parts of Comitatus are kinship, oral tradition, and gift-giving. Beowulf lived and died by the unwritten code of Comitatus in order to maintain his status as hero. Beowulf’s social interactions and the fight with Grendel, Grendel’s mother, the dragon demonstrate the hero’s lust for maintaining a good reputation through the code of Comitatus.

The scene in Beowulf when main character Beowulf proclaims the reasonings he felt to go protect the Geats suggests among the Spear-Danes classification as a warrior related with proving loyalty in the form of self-sacrifice. Additionally, I will argue in what follows that other scenes in the poem, such as, Wiglaf giving the speech on what amounts of cowardice behavior proves respect came from an urgency for loyalty proven through self-sacrificing methods. However, I will argue on top of loyalty being expressed as important it was not matter of want for Beowulf to sacrifice himself but his understood purpose. Influentially, a tension is formed between how reputation and loyalty is defined throughout the poem. The passage I will analyze is when Beowulf is speaking in the mead hall about urgency to be loyal towards the Geats right before Grendel attacks the hall. Here in Beowulf dictates that in order to be a good warrior he knew it was necessary to go to sea to defend the Geats which would entail him having to go extremes to prove his loyalty. Beowulf’s urgency suggests the believable notion that loyalty is necessary to survive in this society even when it means a warrior would sacrifice his own life for others. This in makes it difficult to withstand the belief that reputation was as important as loyalty.

Beowulf’s men show unquestioning loyalty as they submit their lives to their lord. The night of Beowulf’s fight with Grendel, the men are told by Beowulf to sleep (in the mead hall) and they bravely do, showing immense trust and devotion as they are aware of that they could very well increase their chance of dying when Grendel attacks if they follow as Beowulf instructs (to sleep as opposed to standing guard through the night). Beowulf remains loyal to King Hrothgar and as he promised to purge the mead hall of its murderous foes, he fulfills his pledge by killing not only Grendel, but also Grendel’s mother. Beowulf in turn is also loyal to his men as he states to King Hrothgar, “…if I at your need I should go from life, you would always be in a father’s place for me when I am gone: be guardian of my young retainers, my companions, if battle should take me.” Nor does Beowulf forget his king as he also requests that Hrothgar send the rewarded treasures and gifts to Hygelac if Grendel’s mother defeats him. Wiglaf, portrayed as the only worthy one of Beowulf’s company that joined him at his battle with the dragon, also showed loyalty in his aiding his Beowulf in fighting the dragon (as others cowardly shy away from the fight) and followed Beowulf’s instructions for carrying out his funeral and other processions after Beowulf’s death, and in his speech to the people he