Summary Of Heaney And Beowulf

Loyalty and bravery are themes that are often found in literature, and Beowulf is no exception. It is one of the reasons I find this poem so interesting. Beowulf is the hero of the poem who decides to sail to Denmark with hope of protecting the Danish people from a creature known as Grendel, who has attacked and devoured many of King Hrothgar’s warriors while they were asleep. Like all heroes, Beowulf exhibits true bravery, courage, and puts the people before himself, which makes him a very likely candidate for king. Even before he faces the terrifying monster, Grendel, Beowulf renounces the uses of weapons when he says “Soon I shall sink him into death-sleep, not with my sword but solely by strength. He is unschooled in skills to strike against

Beowulf is a story of great courage and triumph over adversity. But over the whole story there is a hanging sense of dread and impending death. This is shown by the sense of impending death, the strong sense of doom, and the nature of luck throughout the story. These play a mojo role in shaping how the story

Beowulf is an epic poem that, above all, gives the reader an idea of a time long past; a time when the most important values were courage and integrity. The only factors that could bestow shower fame upon a person were heroic deeds and family lineage. Beowulf, as the paradigm of pagan heroes, exhibited his desire to amass fame and fortune; the only way to do so was to avenge the death of others. This theme of retribution that is ever present throughout the poem seems to color the identities of its characters.

Death perception is what sets apart the wise from the foolish and the sensitive from the weak minded; this statement is both true within life and the epic poem Beowulf. Many statements within the spectrum of death in the current world relates and dates back to this one poem, even more so now through the translation of Seamus Heaney. Passed along as a folk tale from as early as the 5th century to the 9th century, and then composed in about the 10th century, Beowulf creates a solid base for many of today’s present and worldly ideals. Countless themes are taken from this poem, but one theme that many people may glaze over is the extremely morbid tone of death and its purpose. Used as an archetype for the audience, the purpose of this morbid theme of death is to help understand and cope with mortality, especially during that time period. Accepting/ understanding is wiser than foolishly attempting to escape or cheat death as the poem blatantly proves after closely analyzing its purpose of discussing fate and death before the battles; choosing to always stand by good morals and actions; and the major significance of the main character’s death along with a couple counterarguments. By examining each aspect, the reader will gain the realization as to why Seamus Heaney decided to create this theme that he did with the direction from “The Beowulf poet [that] was captivated by the imagery of death” (Tanke 356).

as the only human hero in the story, Beowulf fits into a conventional hero schema; however, the several monstrous qualities that

In Heaney’s Beowulf, Beowulf is an epic hero because he is on a journey to find self-knowledge.

Beowulf’s portrayal of death and violence may be a reflection of the violence in war, more thoroughly derived from, “And he fell as fate ordained the first to perish, rigged out for combat. A comrade from our ranks had come to grief in Grendel’s maw: He ate up the entire body. There was blood on his teeth, he was bloated and furious…” (2077-2081). Given that, the poem is littered with multiple other examples of brothers in arms fighting for the same noble cause; they faced tragedies and utterly gruesome violence as soldiers would. The audience of the time frame can relate to action scenes of war making them that more prideful of their own victories in battle. Consequently, Beowulf’s action would quickly engulf the Anglo-Saxon troops with excitement, and then war would be the demise of an enemy courageous enough to challenge such rallied

Beowulf’s wrath is swift and justified. He plays no games with his opponents. Beowulf even shows respect to his foe and honorably faces them with no undue advantage. A classic example of the honor usually associated with heroes lies in Beowulf’s decision to use neither sword nor armor when facing the monster Grendel in Heorot. Beowulf instead opted, in the name of fair play, to fight the monster on it’s own terms. Unsurprisingly Beowulf conquered his foe in true idolic form, tearing Grendel’s arm from his torso with only the strength of his grip and the power of his arms. This is what we cheer for in such stories, this is the satisfying victory over evil by the true embodiment of good: the hero.

People everyday struggle with problems comparable to the ones in Beowulf. That is one of the reasons why this poem is still so popular even one thousand years after its release. It has been translated into many different languages and by many different people throughout the years because of this reason. It also shows that people back then dealt with the same problems people still deal with today. Whether it is lust, greed, fame, fortune, arrogance, or even sticking to your own customs and tradition, people have dealt with these problems long before my time and will deal with them long after.

In the poem it says, “ … there was no way the weekend nation could get Beowulf to given and agree to be elevated over Heardred as his lord or to take office of his kingship.” Beowulf would rather have lower status and fight with his people supporting the crown without carrying. He would rather have respect of the people over power over them. When beowulf would go into a battle and come out the victor he would recieve praise and honor from the people of the town he just saved. The honor and respect he got with this is what kept beowulf from the throne.

While fighting in the battles with his arch enemies he knows that he may have a chance of dying. Beowulf would rather die as a hero than to let his society down. Beowulf believes that saving his society is everything and he must do everything to accomplish his goal. Beowulf’s culture deserves a great king like him that gives them great loyalty. The poem supports heavy evidence on the relationship between Beowulf and his society giving them everything by supporting them and defending them in every way

With a great and horrendous monster like Grendel, one would think that the author would describe the onset fear he produces onto his victims. However, when Grendel and Beowulf commence their battle, there is an immediate change of tone and diction that visibly illustrates a fear of Beowulf and his strength. From “The captain of evil discovered himself in a handgrip harder than anything he had ever encountered in any man on the face of the Earth.” (lines 749-752) to “It was the worst trip the terror-monger had taken to Heorot.”(lines 764-765). If the poet were to omit the nouns used to entitle Grendel(captain of evil and terror-monger), with that of his actual name, one could not help but sympathize with his pain. The climax of his fear ends with “Then an extraordinary wail arose, and bewildering fear came over the Danes.” (lines 781-783). It is interesting to see that the Danes is described as in fear, once Grendel has cried out in explicit pain due to his defeat. This ties back to the roles and relationship of Heroes and Monsters.

Beowulf believes that he is the one that have to save them from Grendel which represented evil at this time, Beowulf use weapons but he does not rely on them; his strength was his main power, this shows that Beowulf was a paganist. A lot of pagan influences are in the poem however Christian influences override them. He also refuses to use a weapon against Grendel and that shows a fair attitude. Grendel was a monster who eats men, likes destruction and murderer. Grendel was far away from mankind because his crime, He also hates when people happy; Grendel could be an image of Satan who tries to destroy happiness and well doing.

Throughout Beowulf’s life he engages in threats that many individuals cannot even accept. He lives by honor and glory and desires power in anyone thing he accomplishes. The most abundant respect to Beowulf was to sacrifice his life in a chivalrous attack. He fought with brutality, unconcerned if he lives or dies. “Behavior that is admired is the path to power among people everywhere” (line 25). Admiration of Beowulf’s victory has reached throughout all territories, and the public admired him everywhere. These great successful battles he has been through won him strong attention, and also made him have plenty of pride, which made him very confident.

In the poem, Beowulf, by an unknown poet, as translated by Seamus Heaney, we see many monstrous behaviors. A few of the examples stand out more than the rest: wanton destruction, a woman acting as a man, and the act of killing one’s kin.