Reason In Beowulf

Beowulf proclaims “In the blackness of night, hunting monsters out of the ocean, and killing them one by one; death was my errand and the fate they had earned. Now Grendel and I are called together” (liens 156-160). Beowulf claims that he must go to defeat Grendel, as it was his errand, or his duty, and his fate. This speech he makes to King Hrothgar reinforces his true reason to come to the King, not for any pride. Another vow Beowulf makes is when he says “That this is one favor you should not refuse me—That I, alone and with the help of my men, many purge all evil form this hall” (lines 163-166). In this line, Beowulf is pleading for the King to do one thing, which is to give him the permission for him and his men to go and fight Grendel, what Beowulf had arrived for. The fact that Beowulf asks the king for only one thing, which is to fight Grendel, shows Beowulf’s selflessness and concern for the safety of others. At no part does he ask for a reward, but even says that if fate is in favor of Grendel to give his armor back to his family. These words help paint the image of Beowulf being concerned for others, not for his

As we pick up the story of Beowulf in the textbook, we find ourselves immediately questioning Beowulf’s personal motivations. To start the action, Beowulf travels from his homeland to Denmark where a kingdom is being plagued by an awful monster named Grendal. First and foremost, the important thing to note is that

Finally, after many years, Beowulf goes on to face his final opponent; the Dragon. After the Dragon has been set on a rampage against the Geats, Beowulf declares in his last boast that, selfishly, he will defeat the Dragon alone, “Beowulf spoke, made a formal boast for the last time: I risked my life often when I was young. Now I am old, but as king of the people I shall pursue this fight for the glory of winning” (2510-14). Beowulf’s emphasis in his formal boast is about “the glory of winning” instead of expressing concern for his people. Beowulf, this entire time, has not been fighting monsters for the Geats or to help others. In this formal boast he directly reveals his true intentions of gaining glory. He even states right afterwards that if he were stronger he would fight the dragon without a weapon, just as he did Grendel, “I would rather not use a weapon if I knew any other way” (2518-19), but alas he has grown old and realizes he needs the help of a blade to slay the Dragon. Then he speaks to his comrades about the battle, stating that he alone will fight the Dragon and must either win the fight with courage or

His primary motive behind going into battle is his desire to boast of his accomplishments and make a name for himself. A key point in the story where Beowulf discusses the importance of glory in life is after the loss of Esher. “Each of us will come to the end of this life on Earth; he who can earn it should fight for the glory of his name; fame after death is the noblest of goals.” To Beowulf, creating a reputation for himself of bravery and success was the best way to prove his character. Also, the idea of leaving a legacy behind after death was a priority for him, so it affected his reasoning as a warrior and as a king. He values glory so greatly that he chooses to fight the dragon even in his old age, because he feels that even if he dies this way, he will be remembered as a noble warrior, who died for his country. Since he is king, and has chosen to risk abandoning his people completely, with no heir to the throne, his character becomes questionable. It seems as if the author wants the reader to question Beowulf’s motives, and realize that he is more concerned with his legacy than with the wellbeing of the

When Beowulf fights the dragon, he doesn’t think of it as being a dragon. All Beowulf can think of is gaining a bigger ego to match his heroics. But, one must praise Beowulf for doing what Hrothgar could not; protect his kingdom. Beowulf tried to defeat the dragon to be able to have the dragons hoard. What Beowulf leaves when he dies is his identity, his monstrous identity of not following the heroic code. In all rights, Beowulf is an old king and he doesn’t need the dragon’s hoard, but because he is a selfish individual and prides himself on heroics, he goes and tries to defeat the dragon. This leaves the Geats kingless and now he has ultimately ruined his and everyone’s life that he worked to build up over his 50 years of being king. Instead of defeating the dragon he should have focused on other problems. He was a good king, but he was selfish ultimately, and selfishness was not part of the heroic code that he prided himself on. He defeated one monster only to become even more of one.

While Beowulf has not defeated Grendel yet, Hrothgar warmly welcomes Beowulf and makes him as comfortable as possible to prepare his fight with Grendel, because Hrothgar understands clearly that without Beowulf’s help, he cannot protect his people.

Beowulf showed his honor as he traveled from his homeland to battle the vicious monster Grendel, who was terrorizing the Danes. Grendel “Raided and ravaged” the mead hall, showing no honor by killing intoxicated men in their sleep. Beowulf knows that there is a chance that he may die in his great battle against Grendel when he says, “If death does take me, send the hammered mail of my armor to Higlac…”, yet he is still willing to attempt to defeat Grendel. A hero in the Anglo-Saxon time is always very confident, as well he should be. It would serve no purpose to face battle with doubt of ones ability to do so, and with fear of all that awaits him. Beowulf’s morality came also in the form of loyalty to people and his word. Promises by Beowulf were kept . Acceptance of death, and care for the welfare of his people were Beowulf’s greatest virtues. His

Beowulf has come because he has heard the stories of Grendel taking over Herot at its weakest, at night. His people have said, for him to go to the Danes Great king because they know about his battles. His battles being he captured five great giants into chains, and at the darkest of the night he would swim and hunt monster out of the ocean. So now that Beowulf has told his accomplishments his single request was to make him Lord and protector of the Danes, and with him and the help of his men they would eliminate all evil from that hall. Beowulf has now decided that he would fight Grendel with no weapons, and Higlac would think less of him if did, he would leave it up to God to decided who would die in that battle. Beowulf’s is thinking of

He often stated that the events in his life were driven by fate and that he understood that he simply had to face these events head on. He explains that fate was one of the reasons that he was compelled to come help in the land of the Danes. “Now Grendel and I are called together, and I’ve come.” (Pg. 48) Upon hearing of Grendel and the destruction that he continued to wreck upon the Danes, Beowulf knew that it was his fate to fight Grendel. He knew that he and only he would be able to defeat the horrible monster.

There is always a reason as to why people do what they do. This is called motivations. Motivations is the reason or reasons one has for acting or behaving in a particular way. Beowulf form Beowulf fights three monsters for three different motivations. “When Beowulf was composed, England was changing from a pagan to a Christian culture. Pagan Anglo-Saxons told grim tales of life ruled by fate, tales in which people struggled against monsters for their place in the world. The missionaries who converted them to Christianity taught then that human being and their choices of good or evil were at the center of creation. Beowulf reflects both pagan and Christian traditions. The selection opens during an evening of celebration at Herot, the banquet hall of the Danish king Hrothgar. Outside in the darkness, however, lurks the murderous monster Grendel.”

The author of Beowulf portrays the character Beowulf as heroic and honorable by the actions of his character, and his feelings towards the events that occur in the text. While the Author of Grendel attempts to make the main character Grendel seem misunderstood and good at heart he fails to do so by the actions of its character being contradictory to what he thinks, and the way his character progresses. The character Beowulf is best represented in his respective story as it makes a more successful argument for its main character, while in Grendel the main character is contradictory and ends up looking evil rather than misunderstood.

Beowulf is one of the oldest epics around. It has had an unimaginable amount of influence of generations including our own. Beowulf is one of the first heroes recorded. His tale is a classic of upright vs. evil, full of excitement, suspense, and heroism. It’s mixed with bits of Christian values as well as demonstrates a clear blueprint of Anglo-Saxon values. But a question remains, why does Beowulf do what he does? He sails to a land he’s not once been to, to slay the most spiteful monster around, Grendel. Why danger his life for people he isn’t even acquainted with. Well, to start with, he had no choice. The epic hero Beowulf’s motivations can be elucidated by three things.

By facing the dragon alone, he is willing to sacrifice his life to prove that he will not let an obstacle stop him from becoming a legend. However, when further explored in context, Beowulf is also trying to persuade his comrades into believing that a person should create their own fate when people tell them otherwise. As previously mentioned, his comrades knew that he was going to lose this fight not only because he was doing it alone, but also because time always wins in the end. At this point in Beowulf’s life, he is an old man who has slain many beasts including the demonic Grendel and Grendel’s mother. He has become the leader of his people, which in return, would take a lot out of him because he has to rule an entire nation; he is becoming less and less the person he was before, even though his personality is still the same.

He took a chance with his own life, to face this beast that would decimate any human in a matter of seconds. Beowulf isn 't only any ordinary human, he has the quality of 30 men in every hand. He is "the Prince of goodness"(46). He has been sent down from paradise to shield the earth from wickedness, for example, Grendel. As should be obvious plainly by the way that he is called "The Prince of goodness" he is the "great gentleman" in the story (46). He has been decided to shield the world from malevolence. At the

Beowulf possesses unnatural strength and is not afraid of anything. He hears of Grendel plaguing Hrothgar’s kingdom and people and he volunteers to travel across the sea to the land of the Danes to find Grendel and stop his reign of terror. He proves his bravery when he declares that he will travel across the sea to fight Grendel. “In his far-off home Beowulf, Higlac’s Follower and the strongest of the Geats-greater and stronger than anyone anywhere in this world-Heard how Grendel filled nights with horror And quickly commanded a boat be fitted out, Proclaiming that he’d go to that famous king. Would sail across the sea to Hrothgar.” (Lines 99-115) Beowulf says that he will go to a country where he has never been and has no ties to just to rid them of a monster that was causing them trouble. And none of his people object to this decision because they know that he will erase Grendel and have no problem doing it. The creators of this story place