Hrothgar's Construction Of Heorot In The Epic Of Beowulf

Beowulf, king of the Geats, engages in battles in order to protect his community from physical creatures while King Arthur’s knights engage in spiritual battles against evil temptation which lurks around every corner. Beowulf proudly displays his prowess before he must confront Grendel, the “God-cursed brute” when he declares with bold confidence that he “can calm the turmoil” (Heaney 11, 21). Beowulf boasts of his strength, pledging to kill Grendel with his bare hands. Grendel, the cursed descendant of Cain, enjoys death and destruction, ruining Hrothgar’s reputation with every attack on his kingdom. The monster kills one of his men, angering the Thanes and encouraging them to fight

Hrothgar, the king of the Danes is faced with the issue of a horrible monster, Grendel tearing apart his soldiers and causing bloodshed. This is where Beowulf comes along, he is prepared with his men to defeat this monster and when the time comes Beowulf is more than ready to face him. Beowulf

The Battle of Grendel was Beowulf’s first battle to protect the Danes from Grendel’s murdering rampage every night for 12 winters. The

In the fantasy world found within the story of Beowulf; Hrothgar, the wise king of the Danes, offers Beowulf some important lessons of leadership. Hrothgar, recognizing Beowulf’s nobility and strength, talks to him about how he should act to be a good ruler when he becomes king. The characteristics of good leadership that Hrothgar mentions still hold true today, through people like politicians, and business executives. Hrothgar’s sermon not only provides an insight into what leaders like these should do, it aims to bring to light what leaders should not do.

As a “bloodthirsty fiend,” Grendel was the first of the foes Beowulf battles. (line 407) He is “a powerful monster,” who “was spawned in... slime.” (lines 1, 19) He is a descendant of Cain, and chose to sacrifice the Danes to no one but himself. Grendel is “set on murder.”(49-50) Nothing can “quench his thirst for evil. (lines 52-53) Grendel stalked Herot and set his wrath loose on all who came to the hall. His mother, the “she-wolf” lived in an underwater cavern. (line 572) She is the “water witch,” one that no one’s “sword could slice her evil skin.” (lines 493, 496-497) Both characters are demons living only to hate, and cause terror in the hearts of those who know of them. The third villain comes much later than the first two. The dragon is Beowulf’s last enemy, and last battle. The beast poured out fire and smoke, and was one who “coiled and uncoiled” at the sight of a human. (line 673) The dragon menaces Beowulf’s kingdom and as an old man he is forced to fight the beast. The antagonists are evil and uncaring of human life, each choosing to end it when they please. They are bad and it shows.

The poem does not give this insight of what happens before, or from Grendel's point of view. Seeing this scene in the movie gives the audience a better understanding of why Grendel and also his mother attack the Danes. Later in the movie Beowulf says, "He's no more human than you and I", which is true. If the Danes didn’t kill Grendel's father, the outcome of the story could have possibly been changed because Grendel would have had a different life and not seek revenge on the Danes, specifically the one who Grendel had seen kill his father. In the poem Grendel fights Beowulf, rather than avoiding Beowulf most of the time in the movie. In the poem, Grendel is seen as an evil monster that kills and eats the Hrothgar warriors and cannot be penetrated by weapons, rather than just human, or troll, like the movie. When the battle with Grendel occurs in the poem, it is said that Beowulf had cut off his arm to defeat him. While in the movie, Grendel finds himself stuck hanging, and must cut off his own arm to escape from Beowulf and his men. Both the movie and poem result in the death of Grendel, eventually leading to the revenge of his mother.

Beowulf’s first battle is against Grendel in an attempt to help King Hrothgar of Denmark and the Danes. The king builds a great mead-hall known as Heorot, where his warriors can gather to drink, receive gifts from their lord, and listen to stories sung by the bards. All the noise and commotion angers Grendel, who is a horrible demon that lives in the swamplands of the king’s kingdom. Grendel is an outcast who desperately wants to be a part of the Danes. He is bitter about being excluded from the mead-hall festivities. As a result of his jealousy and loneliness, Grendel terrorizes the Danes every night, killing them and defeating their efforts to fight back. The Danes live in fear, danger, and suffer death from Grendel for many, many years. Eventually, word of the kingdom’s suffering at the hands of Grendel reaches Beowulf. He feels inspired by the challenge of defeating the monster and decides to help the Danes. The king holds a big feast to celebrate Beowulf’s help,

Beowulf appeared to fight the monsters purely to protect the Danes and Geats from further attacks. However upon closer inspection, Beowulf saw the fights against the monsters as an opportunity to gain a larger repertoire for himself. Grendel, the evil monster, had been savagely attacking the people under Hrothgar’s rule in Denmark because they built their banquet hall, Heorot, on top of Grendel’s underground home. The sounds from Heorot during feasts would be very loud and excruciatingly

Hrothgar’s courage and strength diminishes as he moves out of Heorot into huts sitting outside his grand hall. He no longer feels like the king he once was because he cannot protect his kingdom. Even Hrothgar’s men lose their courage and faith that Beowulf will triumph over Grendel’s mother. When Beowulf is fighting Grendel’s Mother, the Danes retreat in fear:

Beowulf begins with a conflict that symbolizes the hostility of nature, Grendel’s acts of terror are

This third comparison will focus on the most famous passage of the poem, which is the culmination of a Hrothgar’s long speech to Beowulf. The main themes are the importance of strength and pride in life, the fragility of life and for the first time, Beowulf is seen here as a human warrior and not for his heroic and divine deeds (lines 1758-1768 in Heaney’s, 1476-1484 in Tolkien’s).

This epic poem written by an anonymous writer takes places during the medieval times in Heorot. The town of heorot is being troubled every night by a gruesome appearing creature by the name of Grendel. Grendel raids the mead hall of the Danish warriors and brutally kills them. Beowulf is called upon by the king of heorot, Hrothgar, to fight Grendel and save the Danish people from any more destruction. Beowulf, along with his following warriors, travel overseas to help the town. He ultimately wins however the battle is not yet over. After defeating Grendel Beowulf then has to face his overprotecting mother which he also defats later on in the story in her cave under a nearby lake. After this battle,

Grendel is a horrible beast who massacres king Hrothgar’s people, but he does respect his ability to command his people. Hrothgar is an older man who has grown his empire's wealth and its military. He has no eligible successors and so he must maintain his throne until his two sons Unferth and Hrethric are of age. Hrothgar does this with several methods like marriage, ring-giving, and Beowulf. The choices Hrothgar makes is the reason he is seen as good king and that is why Grendel despises him enough to murder.

The story of Beowulf begins with his quest to aid the kind of the Danes. Hrothgar built the great mead-hall called Heorot. The mead-hall represents Hrothgar’s success in building a powerful military and social entity. The mead-hall” Meant to be a wonder of the world forever;” (Beowulf.69-71) a place of light and warmth during the cold winter was attacked by a powerful demon called Grendel. Grendel resented the happiness of his neighbors and attacked Heorot for twelve winters leaving the hall empty for years. Once Beowulf learns of Hrothgar’s problem with Grendel he

The main protagonist, Beowulf, a hero of the Geats, comes to the aid of Hrothgar, the king of the Danes, whose great hall, Heorot, is plagued by the monster Grendel. Beowulf kills Grendel with his bare hands and Grendel's mother with a sword, which giants once used, that Beowulf found in Grendel's mother's lair.