The Dragon Who We Soon Discover

Finally, when Beowulf fights the dragon, the writer illustrates the dragon as “the bane of that people” and “the old dawn-scorching serpent” (2688-2689; 2760). Through these descriptions, the author builds a profile for each character. In his declaration that “all knew of [Beowulf's] awesome strength,” the author presents Beowulf as mighty and

When they fight his men are overcome with personal greed of the treasure and are foolish in battle and die. Beowulf then fights the dragon single-handedly, killing it but getting himself killed in the process. The author of Beowulf portrays the societal values of honor and bravery through this plot. Beowulf goes because, as Hrothgar described it, “I brought the end to Edgetho’s (Beowulf’s father) quarrel, sent ancient treasures through the ocean’s furrows to the Wulfings” (Beowulf 204-206).

Beowulf’s triumphs are short lived due to another attack on Herot. This time, Grendel’s mother comes to the great mead hall to avenge her son. The battle between Grendel’s mother and Beowulf differs greatly from the previous battle with the beast’s son. After another attack, Beowulf now must seek out his new enemy, and fight her on her own turf. As it stood, the scores were even between the monsters and the Danes, but Beowulf now looked for victory over the monsters, not revenge. Beowulf also had to regain his reputation. He had just won a trophy, when the bigger, badder bully came up to him and took it straight from his grasp. Now Beowulf traveled to the burning lake, which proved a test of its own. He then swam to the bottom of the lake where the monster resided. All of this just to get to the monster shows that this brave hero would do anything to set the scores right for his people and for the glory that came with it.

“After fifty winters pass, Beowulf, now an old man, faces his last task; He must fight a dragon who, angry because a thief has stolen a jeweled cup from the dragon’s hoard of gold, is laying waste to the Geat’s land. Beowulf and eleven warriors are guided to the dragon’s lair by the thief who stole the cup. For Beowulf the price of his last victory will be great” (43). A dragon arrived to the Danes claiming a missing gold piece and Beowulf must face and kill him to protect his people. However, Beowulf shows no relationship with the dragon in the poem; in comparison to in the film, the dragon is Beowulf's son. This dragon resulted from the affair Beowulf had with Grendel’s mother. Even though both die in the end of the poem and film, their deaths are emphasized in the film because Beowulf died along the side of his son. Hollywood chose to do this to create emotion within the film. Viewers then would gain more interest, especially when it comes to female

Over time Beowulf becomes of age and his kingdom encounters the dragon from the cave,

Beowulf was a good king. He wasn’t greedy or mean or selfish, he put his people first. And it’s evident in the fact that he went to fight the dragon himself, when he could’ve got some other “hero” to do it. “...he saw nothing to fear, thought nothing of the beast’s claws,

He is a kind and generous king for 50 years when a thief wakes up a seeping dragon by taking a gem studded trophy. The dragon destroys Geatland. At this point of the poem Beowulf blames himself for this tragedy, thinking he must have somehow broken God’s law. The hero’s final encounter with the dragon evokes a heroic approach to fate. Though he recognizes his time is finished and he will not make it through the battle with the dragon, he courageously embraces his duty to protect the kingdom, sacrificing his life to save them.

There are many stories in the world that have a very influential background and Beowulf is no exception. Beowulf is written in 1000 AD, but before then it is spoken and spread from generation to generation, which causes the story to start to receive different influences from each person who said it. When the story is finally written, it had collected thousands of different influences that created an epic tale. This tale is predominantly influenced by religion, but before one can fully understand a tale like Beowulf one has to consider all the themes that give to it such as feuds, Christianity, and the influences from the writers. Deep rooted feuds can dictate how a story goes, and Beowulf has a feud that goes so far in time.

The Dragon awakens from his slumber and “He rippled down the rock, writhing with anger/when he saw the footprints of the prowler who had stolen/too close to his dreaming head” (2288-2289). The heated Dragon is full of rage and greed when his goblet is stolen from his sacred treasure hoard and burns the land, and ironically the Geats’ throne-room. This action causes Beowulf to hinder his humbleness and virtue as he seeks revenge against the Dragon and eagerness to acquire the treasure he protects. The Dragon and the treasure represent Beowulf’s downfall as he surrenders to pride that results in the death of both the protagonist and antagonist. The connection between the Dragon’s treasure and Geats’ throne-room metaphorically connects the Dragon to mankind to insinuate fear that pride and greed are a downfall to society and

“[Beowulf is] is recognized … as an embodiment of the contradictory nature of heroic ideals” (Wanner. Page 2). Beowulf’s religiously following of the Comitatus leads him to his doom. Beowulf’s lust for fame and hubris lead him to break the code of Comitatus. Beowulf as a king was supposed to let new heroes at the time take care of the dragon. Instead, he gets severely injured by the dragon because of his huge ego and pride to slay the dragon alone. Ironically, at the end Beowulf would not have even killed the dragon without help from the emerging hero Wiglaf. At the end Beowulf breaks the code he followed by heart only to be shown at his death, that one must remember their rank in the feudal

Imagine growing up, and hearing marvelous stories of heroes and their adventures before bed. Do you remember your favorite superhero from when you were younger, or putting on a cape and acting like them? In the epic poem Beowulf, being a hero is the greatest honor to have. In order to become one, you must slay a monster. The Anglo-Saxons define a monster as someone who defies social norms. In result, they need to be shown justice, leading to stories that can be passed down to reinforce the ideal characteristics of bravery, sympathy, and generosity.

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.

Beowulf could not defeat the dragon on his own and received help from that ancient sword of Grendel’s mother and a loyal warrior named Wiglaf. Beowulf could not win this battle as he grew weak after the dragon bit into his flesh. As Beowulf was close to death, the dragon passed sooner than him. When the hero finally took his last breath, Wiglaf ordered the kingdom to bury all of the found treasure with Beowulf in order to show their mournfulness and regret for not being able to save their King. The treasure was burned with Beowulf’s body in order to prevent those full of greed from taking the treasure and distributing it unfairly causing abuse and imbalance of power by those who did not deserve that treasure in the first

Beowulf’s courage is called once again, and this is the final battle. In this battle, Beowulf has to defeat a fire breathing dragon, symbolizing Satan. First of all, Beowulf is very old at this point. Once he heard about his home being destroyed, he left to fight the beast right away. “Then Beowulf was given bad news,/ a hard truth: his own home,/ the best of buildings, had been burnt to a cinder”(2324-2326). This shows how couragous Beowulf really is. Beowulf is a very old man at this point and his courage is too big and he has to defeat this monster for himself for destroying his home. Secondly, Beowulf fights the dragon on his own. In the poem the dragon is to be symbolized as Satan and he is ready to fight. “The fabled warrior in his warshirt and helmet/ trusted his own strength entirely/and went under the crag” (2540-2545). Last of all, Beowulf is fighting the dragon and is nearly dead, Wiglaf had enough courage to come help. Beowulf and Wiglaf were able to defeat the dragon. “The noble son of Weohstan/ saw the king in danger at

Beowulf is one of the great heroic poems in English literature. The epic follows a courageous warrior named Beowulf throughout his young, adult life and into his old age. As a young man, Beowulf becomes a legendary hero when he saves the land of the Danes from the hellish creatures, Grendel and his mother. Later, after fifty years pass, Beowulf is an old man and a great king of the Geats. A monstrous dragon soon invades his peaceful kingdom and he defends his people courageously, dying in the process. His body is burned and his ashes are placed in a cave by the sea. By placing his ashes in the seaside cave, people passing by will always remember the legendary hero and king, Beowulf.