Fear In Beowulf

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.

In today’s society, we see violence as a way to cope with all types problems. Humans have used violence as a way to resolve issues since ancient times. The poem “Beowulf” was written between the eighth and eleventh century by an anonymous author. The poem recounts the story of a brave warrior, named Beowulf, who battles three great monsters. Two of the monsters, Grendel and Grendel’s Mother, terrorize the people of Daneland and the third monster, the Dragon, lives in Beowulf's homeland. The epic poem “Beowulf” illustrates and normalizes the idea of violence within the Pagan Warrior Culture.

In the poem Beowulf, by Seamus Heaney, Beowulf shows his courage throughout the story as he faces challenges after challenges.

Last of all, Beowulf is not scared when his weapons break or they do not work on the monster. “The shining blade/ refused to bite. It spared her and failed/ the man in his need”(1523-1525). Even though the blade failed him he instanly throws it away continues to fight. Beowulf continuing to fight is showing that he has the courage not to give up.

Beowulf is called once again to prove his courage.In order to prove his courage, he must defeat the mother of Grendel. In the peom Beowulf shows off his courage by saying that it is always better to seek for revenge instead of being sorrow and depressed.”Wise sir, do not greive. It is always better/ to avenge dear ones than to indulge in the mourning” (1384-1385). Beowulf’s courage is too massive to be upset about the death of his friend and, he would rather seek for revenge to avenge the fallen friend. Secondly, Beowulf jumps right into the lake of the the mothers den. “He dived into the heaving/ depths of the lake” (1494-1495). Beowulf does not care if there is monster in the lake he is only seeking for revenge and nothing will stop him. Last of all, Beowulf is not scared when

Theme is the central topic of a given text. In Beowulf, war is the theme that is presented thrice within the progression of the story. The first of the three wars is with the monster, Grendel, the second is with the monster’s mother, and the final battle is with the dragon. Within each of these battles, the author subtly questions the reasons for each of them, and whether or not they are actually practical and necessary. The first of the monsters that Beowulf faced had his grievances plainly stated in lines 104 through 105 when it reveals that Grendel “had dwelt for a time in misery among the banished monsters.” This revelation, although it does neither condone nor justify his actions, provides his reasoning for feasting upon the sleeping men. Some may argue that Beowulf, himself possesses many undesirable qualities for a hero. Chih-chiao Joseph Yang addresses this argument in his essay entitled “Humanizing the monsters: a schematic reading of Beowulf” when he states that

Fear is a painful emotion excited by the expectation of evil. In “Beowulf”, translated by Charles W. Kennedy, fear is not an option, or emotion, nor does it even exist for the hero. The hero, Beowulf, is also given strength equivalent to thirty men. These things are demonstrated in the tale of the most celebrated hero of Anglo-Saxon times, Beowulf. A man, of which people loved and respected throughout the entire region where he lived. He made the people feel that they had someone to rely on through times in which failure seemed unavoidable. Beowulf, from the epic poem “Beowulf”, is an extremely courageous hero and confronts his many difficult battles without fear.

When looking at the universal theme Gilgamesh and Beowulf, the thematic concept is fear. The thematic statement for this universal theme would be: In literature, as well as in real life, man often my come up against someone or something he fears and then must decide whether or not they will act in cowardly or courageous way . The thematic concept for Beowulf that is a non universal theme would be political generosity. The thematic statement would be that: In Beowulf, one can see how generosity and hospitality were considered very important to the Danish culture. However, this not considered a universal theme, because although generosity and hospitality may have been considered very important attributes at the time Beowulf was written, not every culture of the time considered these nicetes to be of the highest importance. The thematic

In the book, The Crucible by Arthur Miller, some examples of fear are, Abigail is scared of losing John Proctor so she starts accusing Elizabeth Proctor so she is taken to jail. Abigail thought by accusing someone as in Elizabeth, that she could get John to love her again. But little did she know that he was going to stick by his wife, because he has put her through enough.

Fear, the feeling of dread, apprehension or impending danger, it is a powerful emotion that most, if not all, feel. As a child fear may be of the dark, or as an elder it may be of death and the unknown after. A fear of something can come at any moment in time. It is easy to become afraid, but the hard part is learning to overcome it. As the main characters of the summer reading novels are put into fearful situations, they must learn to cope with it in order to help them survive their hardships.

In Seamus Heaney’s translation of Beowulf, courage is undoubtedly the most important trait a man could have. The Geats thrived for 50 years under the powerful and courageous reign of King Beowulf. However, the Danes suffered through twelve winters under Grendel because of King Hrothgar’s fear. The strength and bravery of a strong leader and warrior can lead many countries to peace and power. Throughout Beowulf, many characters exhibit courage, which increases their morale on the battlefield and leads to victory.

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.

In the Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, fear dominates within the character. It is caused by the belief that someone or something is a threat. Fear dreads within the weakest characters in the story as they fear in disappointment. Throughout Santiago’s journey he experiences different fears, for example his childhood fear of gypsies and believing in dreams. Another character that struggles with fear is the crystal merchant.

A characteristic of Beowulf is courageous. Courage is the ability to do something that frightens you. Beowulf wasn’t necessarily frightened, but he did do something that frightened the men of Hrothgar. Beowulf does many things to show his courage to the people of Hrothgar. One way he shows his courage is when he fights Grendel, the monster who was killing and eating the men of Hrothgar, without any

Washington Irving is known as the father of the American Short Story. Not only is he significant for the previous reason, but he is also famous for popularizing the Gothic Tale of Terror. In terms of “fear”, Washington Irving is one of the most famous authors one would think of when considering the term because his stories are set up quite literally to send chills down the reader’s spine as they read the story. Irving uses the literary device called “effect” to attain that reaction, illustrating the efficiency of “effect” throughout his works.