The Cruelty Of The Epic And What Cruelty Reveals About The Perpetrator / Victim

Every epic hero acquires certain heroic characteristics. The poem, “Beowulf, is about the most heroic man of the Anglo-Saxon period. Beowulf is a warrior from Geatland that comes to help Hrothgar, the king of Danes, defeat the monster Grendel who has been killing men in their kingdom. Beowulf defeats the unstoppable beast, Grendel. Then Grendel’s mother comes to try to avenge Grendel’s death, and Beowulf slaughters her in her underwater lair. After 50 peaceful years of ruling the Geats, Beowulf in his old age fights his last battle with a dragon. He defeats the dragon, with help from Wiglaf, but dies as a result. The main character, Beowulf exemplifies many characteristics that an epic hero possesses. Beowulf’s characteristics include

For example “I once saw one of thirteen beating his father because the latter had not made his bed properly.” (Pg 70) This shows how cruelty can affect people differently, just because all the prisoners were exposed to the same kinds of cruelty does not mean they will all react the same. The boy in this example killed his father because the hunger he felt changed how he acted. “The shadow threw itself upon him. Elled to the ground, stunned with blows...Meir. Meir, my boy!....I’m your father!....you’re killing your father!” (Pg 106) This is an example of self-preservation no matter what the cost is, this happened to people because survival instincts came into action.

Beowulf, the defender of Hrothgar and Heorot, exhibits far more complicated (and less sincere) shades of revenge than the Grendel’s mother. At the end of the day, Beowulf’s goal is to become the preeminent warrior in all the land. In his society, the only way to gain such widespread celebrity is through courageous and self-endangering acts. Beowulf masks these deeds with a façade of seeking revenge; he supposedly comes to Heorot to save the Danes from Grendel’s terror, but his true motives lie in becoming a hero. His reward is not the pride of doing a good deed; Beowulf is rewarded with lavish and expensive gifts.

Are men and women born with cruelty as a deep component of their nature? Is civilization largely a heroic struggle to build layer upon layer of varnish upon the rough and splintered raw material of humankind?

Phillip Hallie illustrates institutionalized cruelty as a cruelty that involves the undermining of dignity by perpetrating a false inequality of worth and power. By degrading the victim, the victimizer exalts his own perception of self-worth, but in reality becomes evil. In institutionalized cruelty, the victimizer feels that since they are superior, they deserve to do what they wish, deserve to these lower creatures under their control. Institutionalized cruelty is the worst kind of cruelty, because it devalues the victim. The victim is seen as lesser than a being; they are a creature that is worthless. This mentality prevents

There are extensive amounts of vile people in the world. An example is a man named general Zaroff who hunts humans in “The most Dangerous Game”. Animals gave bore to him, so he began to hunt humans as a sport. Zaroff purchased an island known

The poem Beowulf presents the transformation of Beowulf from a brave warrior to an honorable King. The evolution of Beowulf shows how he fulfills his obligations to the warrior’s heroic code and then transcends into a King who loyally protects his Kingdom. Beowulf’s transformation is shown through a progression of three increasingly more difficult conflicts he must overcome- first with Grendel, then Grendel’s mother and finally against the mighty dragon. These three events are seen "as the three agons in the hero 's life"(Chickering 64). Through these adverse events Beowulf will change from brave young warrior to noble King. This paper will examine the manifestation of heroism in the poem

Beowulf is an epic poem being cited as one of the most important works of Old English literature. Beowulf is an Old English epic poem. The poem is set in Scandinavia. Beowulf, a hero of Geats, comes to the aid of Hrothgar, the king of the Danes, whose mead hall in Herot has been under attack by a monster named Grendel. After Beowulf slays him, Grendel's mother attacks the hall and is then also defeated. Victorious, Beowulf goes home to Geatland and later becomes king of the Geats. After a period of fifty years has passed, Beowulf defeats a dragon, but is mortally wounded in the battle. After his death, his attendants cremate his body and erect a tower on a headland in his memory. Beowulf is clearly a hero because of his brave deeds, he is a strong and responsible leader, and his courage. Beowulf is a hero because of his brave deeds. Throughout Beowulf, Beowulf does many deeds which are considered to be brave during the Anglo-Saxon period.“Grendel is no braver, no stronger/Than I am! I could kill him with my sword; I shall not,Easy as it would be. This fiend is a bold And famous fighter, but his claws and teeth.../ Beating at my sword blade, would be helpless. I will meet him With my hands empty-unless his heart /Fails him, seeing a soldier waiting /Weaponless, unafraid. Let God in His wisdom /Extend His hand where He wills, reward /Whom he chooses!”. In his first battle, Beowulf fights Grendel. He fights without any armor. Also, Beowulf kills Grendel’s mother. He then

It is the innate darkness and leaning towards the evil that disposes us to committing acts of brutality and insensitivity.

The story of Beowulf is a heroic epic chronicling the illustrious deeds of the great Geatish warrior Beowulf, who voyages across the seas to rid the Danes of an evil monster, Grendel, who has been wreaking havoc and terrorizing the kingdom. Beowulf is glorified for his heroic deeds of ridding the land of a fiendish monster and halting its scourge of evil while the monster is portrayed as a repugnant creature who deserves to die because of its evil actions. In the epic poem, Beowulf the authors portrays Grendel as a cold-hearted beast who thrives on the pain of others. Many have disagreed with such a simplistic and biased representation of Grendel and his role in the epic poem. John Gardner in his book, Grendel set out to change the

This essay is a character analysis that compares and contrast the two main characters of the epic “Beowulf”. The essay informs the reader of the traits the two characters have in common including their cocky personalities and their impossible strength. It also mentions the many opposing characteristics of the two characters including how brave or cowardly they are, and weather or not they want to help or hurt people. Many direct quotes from the epic “Beowulf” are also within the essay to help support each allegation, giving proof to the characteristics identified.

Grendel terrorizes the humans until he is slain by someone who is equal in strength and superior in tactics, Beowulf. Beowulf is brute and his defeat of Grendel and Grendel’s mother validates his reputation for bravery and establishes him fully as a hero. Beowulf states his claim to fame very clearly as his persona is evident in the following:

Cruelty, just like a sadness, is one of "those" things that nearly everyone one can fall under the shade of, no matter which end of it they were/are at. Something that can be as simple as a few empty words can have such a venemous bite, sometimes even infectious. What is the root cause of cruelty though? Everything has a stem and cruelty, no doubt, is not a special circumstance. Desperation, hatred, anger, dangerous egos, everything on the left side of the spectrum seems to be more than just a recurring theme when it comes to cruelty, the same as primordial soup was the breeding ground for life, the aforementioned negative emotions seem to be a breeding ground for cruelty. In "To Kill A Mockingbird" by Harper Lee cruelty plays more than

     Some literary scholars maintain that Beowulf developed character flaws through the course of the long narrative poem, and that at the time of his death he was a victim of pride, avarice, selfishness and an inordinate craving for glory. The purpose of this essay is to show that he was a tremendous hero from beginning to end.

The epic tale of Beowulf was written sometime after his death. In other words, a long time ago during the Anglo-Saxon period. Today, directors in Hollywood did not keep from creating their own rendition of this epic poem As a result, plenty of modern interpretations of Beowulf, such as Sturla Gunnarsson’s Beowulf and Grendel, have been released. Naturally, the cultural values that might be reflected in modern Beowulf renditions will demonstrate a clash with those of the original fifth century Beowulf literature. One reason for this is that in the modern age we value characters with profound characteristics, characters that change due to the challenges they experience; characters that we as the audience can attach to. Flat characters like those of the original Beowulf text are difficult to empathize with since they are not realistic enough for our standards. Due to these differences in culture and values, the Beowulf and Grendel from the original Beowulf text possess definite contrasts when compared with their Beowulf and Grendel counterparts.