Personal Narrative On Beowulf

Beowulf-A New Telling by Robert Nye has a theme that runs deep in the blood of fantasy works:The millenia old battle between light and darkness. Although not directly mentioned, in many books including this one, Darkness and Light are portrayed as physical, however rather explaining conflict within humans, or even conflict between humanity and the mysterious outside. Robert Nye does amazingly well portraying this through many events and physical objects.

What is a hero to you? Is it someone who wears a cape and runs around saving people from the “bad guys”? A Hero’s Journey is the form Joseph Campbell created from his book The Hero With A Thousand Faces it is a more detailed transformation or inner journey of a character throughout a story. A hero in an epic which is a long, narrative poem from ancient oral telling. In the epic “Beowulf”, Beowulf is the epic hero. He performed many heroic deeds during his life including the killing of Grendel and his mother, he did what many were not willing to take on. Beowulf takes on a Hero’s Journey by having encounters in the Ordinary World, Special World, and back into his Ordinary World. The Hero’s Journey is prevalent in anybody’s life you don’t

Joseph Campbell’s term monomyth can be described as a hero’s journey. Many heroic characters follow the monomyth, no matter the time period or culture the literature was created in. The poem Beowulf is known to follow the adventure of the hero described in Campbell’s monomyth . The hero’s journey consists of three rites of passages: separation, initiation, and return. Beowulf endures each of these stages throughout the epic poem, so his journey does follow Campbell’s monomyth.

Being a hero can be defined many different ways. Several qualities like courage, respect, and strength can define heroism. A hero is noted for his or her actions for being brave, powerful, and acting with honor. In the epic poem, Beowulf, the main character Beowulf shows all of these characteristics by defending the Danish king, Hrothgar, and his people. He is a true hero by honoring his country and exerting his power and strength to protect others. Beowulf embodies the qualities of bravery, being powerful, and demonstrating his honor; therefore, he can be considered a true hero.

Beowulf: A New Telling by Robert Nye is about a character named Beowulf who has to fight evil by using strength, but by also using cleverness. Beowulf’s name means “bee hunter” and Beowulf loved bees. In the story a hall is built it is called Hall Heorot. “By day it towered above men’s heads like a second sun, so bright were it’s walls and roofs”(p. 5). Once the hall is made, a monster comes and eats people at night.

In the morning, warriors look for the body of Grendel by following his bloody trail. They cannot find his body and turn back. Hrothgar’s men finally think that they no longer will be plagued with the presence of the monster and that now they can sleep in peace.

Grendel made his way to mead hall of Hrothgar, blood thirsty and ready to kill. A creature that seemed to come from “Hell, Not Hell but Earth” (24). His eyes were filled with an intense villainous fire that it was as if you were staring at the Devil himself. He approached the hall with a hefty stride, his calloused feet caused the ground beneath them to shake. The green slime, that he had collected on his body from the marshes and the moors that he had spent countless of years, isolated, created a path such as a slug. He had arrived at the hall and before he had even reached out for the handle on the oak wood door, there was an aroma of alcohol that would make any sober man sick to his stomach. Grendel thought to himself

On this day I had to fight. Those who knew that I was here to fight the beast did not believe that I could defeat him. I had boasted that I could defeat him for I am a well known fighter. I believed that I could conquer him with my bare hands, seeing as nothing else could hurt him. Everyone who has attempted to attack the beast has lost and lost horribly. Tonight is the night that he chose to attack. Grendel tore through the doors and devoured one of the men. He tore threw him like it was nothing he had not done a million times. I knew that he was a beast and I knew that he had murdered, but this was worse than anything my mind could conjour up. He intended for me to be his next victim. I though, had other plans. With every ounce of strength

A long time ago, when I was born, I was left by myself. My mother left me all alone in the marshes to die. She never liked me because of the way I look. She thought that I was scary. I am very big. I have big ears, eyes, nose, and mouth. I don’t know nothing about my dad, I guess he left because he knew how I was going to come out. They both just left me here, all alone, without any type of care. Ever since I was born, I have not met them and I've been alone my entire life.

In both articles “A Practical Guide to The Hero with a Thousand Faces “and “Heroic Narrative”, explained characteristics that develop a hero. It begins with the character going through stages starting with a new world introduced to them and ending with them returning back to their ordinary life. The constant idea in both articles is that the character grows throughout their whole journey. For example in the poem “Beowulf” by Saemus Heaney, Beowulf who “…is endowed with youth and superhuman strength, especially a mighty grip” (Heroic Narrative). First off he has a super strength which makes him different compared to other people. He is then sent on quests to slay certain monsters and save people. He leaves for a while and in the end always

The huge mans sudden move, and the loud pounding on the table startled Titus and all those sitting at the table. Reeling back from the table, Titus knocked over his high wooden chair. When it hit the floor, it made a loud noise that echoed through the large stonewalled room. Standing up and stretching to look as tall as he could. Titus said, “Thank you, your Highness, I shall do my best.”

The role the mead-hall plays in Anglo-Saxon warrior culture is an important one, for without such a hall, there is no such basis for a community. The mead-hall offers the security and stability that a warrior needs after a long day. Likewise, it is also the warrior culture’s ultimate vulnerability, “So times were pleasant for the people there until finally one, a fiend out of hell, began to work his evil in the world” (p1237). As presented in Beowulf, the mead-hall is the very reason he is given a chance to prove his extraordinary strength and power due to Grendal sneaking in the great hall at night to ravenously devour warriors one by one, “So, after nightfall, Grendal set out for the lofty house…there he came upon them, a company of the best asleep from their feasting, insensible to pain and human sorrow…he grabbed thirty men from their resting places and rushed to his lair” (p1238).

The project is was to use the Beowulf story for inspiration on a artistic project that would give depth or modernise the classic tale. Originally we planned on filming a modern take on the scene where Beowulf confronts and kills Grendel's Mother. We thought this was one of the easier projects to do, because it simply had to be a minute long film with a more modern perspective on the scene. I was to be in charge of the story board and the script while Alyssa did the paper. Unfortunately I was dissatisfied with multiple iterations of the script I eventually abandon it for our back up idea of the newspaper. This was your backup because Alyssa has experience with writing newspapers and neither one of us is artistic enough to do the any of the

Anyhow, the myth has been altered over the past generations but The Prince of Darkness has always been known by the name of Beowulf. Being that, Grendel with a child mindset grew up resolute to find Beowulf and seek revenge for King Aeron. As Grendel grew up, his parents always had doubtful feelings regarding Grendel’s success. His health conditions made him a setback in his family but he thought he was a hero, so he tried to be like one. Every night, Grendel would linger trails around the mountain in hopes to help a fellow monster. The trail was often rocky, with crowds of crows, consecutive cold winds, and distant sounds of thunder. One night, after a couple moments of sneaking through the dark, Grendel whiffed an aroma of blood. It is my chance to become the monster I need to be, he thought.

King Hrothgar of Denmark, who is a descendant of the great king Shield Sheafson, has a grand and mighty kingdom. This kingdom quickly became prosperous and so, the king builds a great mead-hall Heorot, where the warriors of his army can gather to drink, be granted gifts from their lord, and listen to stories and songs from the Bards. After time, however, this loud and frivolous noise from the hall angers Grendal, a horrible demon who dwells in the swamplands near Hrothgar’s kingdom. Grendal terrorizes the people every night, killing and destroying the villages. The Danes suffer these nights for many years. Eventually, however, a young Geat warrior named Beowulf hears of Hrothgar’s trouble. Loving the idea of a challenge, Beowulf sails to Denmark with a small group of men, determined to end Grendel’s reign of destruction. Hrothgar, who at one time had done a great favor for Beowulf’s father Ecgtheow, accepts the warrior’s offer to kill Grendal and holds a grand banquet in his name. During this feast,