Symbolism In Beowulf

Beowulf, a man of God who goes through trials that make him braver than any other. The epic of Beowulf, author unknown and translated by Burton Raffel, tells of the hardships throughout battles that a Geat prince goes through. With battles between a monster, the monster's mother, and a dragon, Beowulf is put to the ultimate test involving God’s helping hand in winning the battles. Within this time frame, most people live by the pagan religion. This changes when people begin to adapt to the newest religion of all mankind, Christianity. The religious symbolism throughout Beowulf is portrayed through Beowulf’s legacy.

This fight was against grendel's mom in which she was angry because of her son’s death. He puts on his armor and took his sword along with him to fight Grendel’s mother. With beowulf putting his armor on is a way of showing that this fight is going to be tuff. When beowulf arrives at grendel's moms lair he describes it as a hellish turn hole. The location of this fight was in a great hall, it went from a place of joy to a place of hell. Grendel’s mom begins to jump at beowulf and grabbed him. Beowulf could hardly escape from her grip, which shows how much harder this fight is going to be. In the first fight beowulf grabbed Grendel and Grendel struggled to escape from beowulf’s grip. In this fight it was the exact opposite and thats one of the reasons that this fight is going to be alot harder. In the end of the fight beowulf struggles he swings his sword at her and the sword didnt have an impact on her, it just bounced off. Then he finds a giant sword and kills her with the sword this fight was alot harder and shows beowulfs

Beowulf faced an overwhelming obstacle when he faced Grendel. Beowulf faces Grendel in the hall Heorot. Grendel is a man eating monster that killed many people in the nights before. Grendel is an overwhelming obstacle because he wasn’t able to be defeated even by groups of elite soldiers and Hrothgar combined. Also, Grendel was capable of committing mass murders in minutes. He fought with Grendel one night without a sword. Grendel ate a guard during that

Beowulf’s strength is exemplified many times in the story. Beowulf was said to have “the strength of thirty men in his mighty handgrip.” He fought in numerous battles and returned victorious from all but his last. In his argument with Unferth, Beowulf explains the reason he lost a swimming match with his opponent Brecca. Not only had Beowulf been swimming for seven nights, he had also stopped to kill nine sea creatures in the depths of the ocean. Beowulf is also strong enough to kill the monster Grendel with his bare hands by ripping off his arm. When Beowulf is fighting Grendel’s mother, he is able to slay her by slashing the monster’s neck with a giant sword that can only be lifted by a person as strong as Beowulf. When he chops off her head, he carries it from the ocean with no difficulty, but it takes four men to lift and carry it back to Heorot. This strength is a key trait of Beowulf’s heroism.

Beowulf demonstrates a supernatural amount of strength throughout the epic. Beowulf defeats many monsters with his strength. “The tears torn out of Grendel’s / taunt throat, hell’s captive caught in the arms / of him who all of the men on earth / was the strongest” (Beowulf 469-472). This quote demonstrates that Beowulf is able to out power any monster

Symbolism is the practice of representing things by means of symbols or of attributing symbolic meanings or significance to objects, events, or ideas. Symbolism is one of the most common practices of writing, and has been used for centuries. Symbols can often tell a story better than a human can because of there deeper meaning. When epic poems became popular during the Anglo-Saxon period they were filled with harrowing tales of bravery, and courage. Epic poems are long narrative poems that often have characters facing impossible tasks and still finding courage to defeat them. While many marvel at the original Anglo-Saxon dialect of Beowulf, Seamus Heany's modern English translation allows all readers to enjoy this tale.

Although the author of Beowulf is unknown, his ability to reveal an eternal truth is undeniable. The author uses literary elements such as theme, points-of-view, and symbolism to portray his purpose. Countries and world leaders still struggle with the concepts in Beowulf. Analyzing the deeper meaning of Beowulf will reveal the truth behind the reason for war and conflict.

Part of the reason Beowulf is very well-known is that he has larger-than-life strength, more than that of any man. When he talks to King Hrothgar, he boasts: “They have seen my strength for themselves, have watched me rise from the darkness of war, dripping with my enemies’ blood. I drove five great giants into chains, chased all of that race from the earth. I swam 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.” (Unknown, 246-254) This shows that Beowulf has overcome many trials with his strength, and that unlike any other man, he has proven to be able to overcome the impossible. While Beowulf is fighting with Grendel the story says that Grendel “Twisted in

Since humans first emerged into the intellectual sphere of literature, extravagant tales of mystical lands, bloody wars, and gallant heroes spread far and wide. All treasured tales transpire time, From trespassing viking warlords, to poetic french vineyards, and indian tribes across the sea, each culture remains coated in these tales. In the twenty first century there is no need for memorizing stories, however in times gone by stories were circulated by tune or voice until christianity began to spread worldwide. Beowulf, written by an anonymous christian monk, possesses a timeless approach of a classic fight for love and glory; a case of do or die to audiences across the span of a lifetime with intricate tones,

To begin, one of the many ways that Beowulf was different than Grendel is that Beowulf was brave. Every night Grendel snuck into Herot Hall to destroy King Hrothgar’s men. He did this while hiding in the shadows, sneaking around in the dead of night, and attacking while the men we asleep and at there most vulnerable. These are not the characteristics the brave, these are the characteristics of a foul, loathsome, cowardly beast. Mean while, Beowulf liked to meet a problem head on, in this case the problem was Grendel himself. Determined Beowulf sailed to Denmark to defeat Grendel, telling Hrothgar that he will take Grendel’s life with his bare hands. As told in the story, “ That mighty protector of men/ Meant to hold the monster till it’s life/ leaped out” (Raffel, 1963, l. 366-368). And when Beowulf got the chance to do just that, Grendel took the cowards road, “Grendel’s one thought

Beowulf’s intelligence culminated with his strength helps set him apart from other strong warriors. Warriors are eager to go to risky lengths to discover chances for showing their physical might, from meaningless swimming competitions to getting rid of another country’s local threat. Beowulf exemplified his strength by defeating Grendel’s mother in battle. She was one of the mightiest of all monsters: “I have never seen so impressive or large an assembly of strangers. Stoutness of heart, bravery not banishment, must have brought you to Hrothgar” (Beowulf 337-339).

After defeating Grendel Beowulf enjoys the celebration and rewards that Hrothgar has treated him to. Beowulf earns the respect of the whole kingdom of Heorot. A few nights later Grendel’s mother learns that her son was killed by a human. She comes angrily back to the mead hall where she will take vengeance for her son. “But now his mother had sallied forth on a savage journey, grief-racked and ravenous, desperate for revenge” (pg. 89). Grendel’s mother is another stage in Beowulf’s step toward an older warrior. Before the great battle with Grendel’s mother, Beowulf was a little bit more mature and was not as confident. “Beowulf got ready, donned his war-gear, indifferent to death; his mighty, hand-forged, fine-webbed mail would soon meet with the menace underwater.” (pg. 101) He needed armor because he feels that it wasn’t the kind of battle he would face without his necessity to survive. After a long fight Beowulf finds the strength in him to grab the weapon that would kill Grendel’s mother. Once again good has defeated evil. Beowulf comes through as a hero one more time before his departure from Heorot.

So she comes to the kingdom in the middle of the night and takes Hrothgar’s right hand man and kills him in at the swamps. Beowulf , Beowulf’s men, and Hrothgar’s men go to the swamps. It takes Beowulf nine hours to swim to the cave where Grendel’s mother was. They start to fight and at first Beowulf was not succeeding. Grendel’s mother had a hold of him and Beowulf’s sword was useless.

Beowulf is an epic story that relates well to the time that it was introduced by having the stories of the epic battles and the defeats of the treacherous monsters that kept everyone entertained during this era. Not only does Beowulf represent the era well, but it also has very interesting characters, themes and symbols that help teach us lessons that are very much so needed in today's society.

In the epic poem Beowulf, Grendel who is the first monster Beowulf battles snatched up 30 men and it is to be said that beowulf has the strength of 30 men. Beowulf is an epic poem translated by Burton Raffel. In Beowulf there is three battles with three different monsters, Grendel, Grendel's mother, and a dragon. The three battles have a symbolic meaning throughout the whole book. The three battles in the epic poem represent more than just two enemies fighting for victory, they are battles between the internal good and monster who embody evil.