The Role of Wiglaf in Beowulf
Seemingly minor character Wiglaf plays a central role in the conclusion of Beowulf. A young knight who has never before seen battle, Wiglaf steps forward to help his lord, hero, and cousin Beowulf in a time of peril. With his failure in battle and resulting death, the narrator shows that Beowulf is, after all, a prideful and mortal being; thus begins the transfer of heroic status from the old king to the young knight. The narrator argues that Wiglaf is worthy of his abruptly acquired status even though his intentions may seem questionable. The end of the poem devotes a significant amount of lines to dialogue spoken by Wiglaf, signifying his newly crucial role in his kingdom and in the story.
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Stepping up to lead the ranks into battle, he rallies the troops and tries to excite the others’ passion and will to defend their lord and their purpose. Beowulf is now a weak and unsound character in need of rescuing, whereas Wiglaf is the valiant hero and savior. As Beowulf fails for the first time, Wiglaf confronts battle for “his first time to be tested as a fighter” (2627). He is the only visible character aside from Beowulf as the other knights were hiding out of harms way:
No help or backing was to be had then / from his highborn comrades; that hand-picked troop / broke ranks and ran for their lives / to the safety of the wood (2597-2599).
The cowardice of these men contrasts with Wiglaf’s bravery and discernment: But within one heart / sorrow welled up: in a man of worth / the claims of kinship cannot be denied (2599-2602).
He concedes that Beowulf wants to fight the fight alone, but recognizes the futility of the king’s prideful wishes and suggests that “sound men,” or men who are not weak and foolish, lend a hand to the old man.
In the climax of the battle scene and last display of his strength, Wiglaf must take refuge behind Beowulf’s shield as they fight the dragon. However, the transition of heroism onto Wiglaf progresses when he stands beside
After fifty years of what seems to be peace, the dragon appears to reign terror on Beowulf’s kingdom that he has taken power of. A robber had taken the dragon’s treasure that it was peacefully protecting prior to its terror. By this time, Beowulf is around ninety years of age. He knows it will be a tough fight, and therefore brings warriors along with him. After he calls the fierce dragon out of its cave, all but one of the warriors flee the scene. It is only Beowulf and a man named Wiglaf “Watching Beowulf, he could see How his king was suffering, burning. Remembering Everything his lord and cousin had given him,Armor and gold and the great estates Wexstan’s family enjoyed, Wiglaf’s Mind was made up”(Beowulf 107). Together, they slay the dragon, but Beowulf dies at the end too, making Wiglaf the king. The dragon was protecting the treasure and the thief did not steal for his own desire, it was for his masters in which he was beaten by “But the thief had not come to steal; he stole, And roused the dragon, not from desire But need, He was someone’s slave, had
Eleanor Cory wrote “Bravery, Honor, and Loyalty as Morals in Beowulf.” Cory explains that Beowulf and Wiglaf both exhibit bravery throughout the epic poem of Beowulf. Before Beowulf fights Grendel, Beowulf decides, “…that using a weapon or protection of any kind would make the battle too easy.” Cory says. She also explains that Wiglaf shows bravery through the aid given to Beowulf against the dragon. Cory also explains that Wiglaf and Beowulf demonstrate honor through their actions. Beowulf throws away his armor and sword to be fair to Grendel, who does not know that there will be a fight against him. Wiglaf shows honor while fighting in the battle against the dragon. He does not flee for the safety of himself, but stays to fight for the protection of his king and his kingdom. Eleanor Cory goes on to explain that Beowulf and Wiglaf show loyalty in the piece. Beowulf decided to fight Grendel to repay his father’s debt which showed his loyalty. Wiglaf’s loyalty lays with Beowulf, his king, and is shown during the battle of the dragon.
As a matter of fact, Beowulf is a strong man who takes it upon himself to protect others and commit many acts of courage, bravery, and pride. At the same time,
Beowulf and Wolverine have more similarities than differences. Both of these heroes use their allies in a time of need; Beowulf used Wiglaf to fight the Fire Dragon and Wolverine uses Sabertooth when fighting the wars through history. (Cinia McGough) Wiglaf is the only soldier willing to risk his life to help his ruler. He declares that he would rather be burned to death than to abandon his king,
A lot of people have a routine. A pattern of events that makes their daily lives run with ease. People also have a keen eye for finding routines in the world around us. There are patterns in everything. In music, musicians tend to use the same couple of cords throughout their songs. In movies the hero usually ends up winning. This was a pattern noticed and outlined by Joseph Campbell in his book The hero with a thousand faces. The story will start with an ordinary world in which our hero’s parents are odd in some way. There is a call to adventure which is often initially refused. Then our hero meets a mentor who teaches him about his power. There are some trials and tribulations until the hero overcomes a supreme ordeal. Finally the hero returns
As the Martian Manhunter once said, “The future is worth it. All the pain. All the tears. The future is worth the fight”. This modern day superhero mentality, that fighting the good fight is worth it because it is the right thing to do is seen everywhere today. Movies, comic books, and videos games come out yearly featuring superheroes who fight for justice using their superhuman abilities. They possess characteristics such as bravery, strength, a stong moral compass, and loyalty. Interestingly, these modern day superhero traits can be traced all the way back to the Anglo-Saxons were the first hero ever, Beowulf lived. It is Beowulf who not only exemplifies modern day hero traits, but he more importantly shows the ideals of an Anglo-Saxon hero. Without a doubt, Beowulf demonstrates the traits of an Anglo-Saxon hero.
"....He meant to kill this monster himself, our mighty king, fight this battle alone and unaided, as in the days when his strength and daring dazzled men's eyes. But those days are over and gone and our lord must lean on younger arms. And we must go to him, while angry flames burn at his flesh, help our glorious king! By almighty God I'd rather burn myself than see flames swirling around my lord. And who are we to carry home our shields before we've slain his enemy and ours, to run back to our homes with Beowulf so hard pressed here? I swear that nothing he ever did deserved an end like this, dying miserable and alone, butchered by this savage beast: we swore that these swords and armor were each for us all!..."
1. Describe each of the three domains of development (physical, cognitive, and psychosocial) and provide an example of each.
Beowulf is a hero in the eyes of his fellow men through his amazing physical strength. He fought in numerous battles and returned victorious
In which Beowulf was loaded up with gifts and he achieved full rank hero by being sung in heroic songs by Hrothgar?s bards or scops. Later on, he was to become king of the Geats and has protected his people very well. As he grew older, a dragon is awakened by a theft of a cup from his horde and he began to terrorize Beowulf?s people. So as an old man, Beowulf put his arm one more time, and went on to fight one last battle. In the fight, all his faithful warriors deserted him and ran away except one whose name was Wiglaf who stayed and helped him fight to the end. After a terrific struggle, they killed the dragon, but during the battle Beowulf is mortally wounded and he lived just long enough to see some of the treasures that he had won for his people ran out of the cave before he died. The poem ends with the Geats building a huge burial mount for Beowulf, and with the gloomy predictions about what would
However, Beowulf shows his loyalty by turning down her offer. He becomes king when Heardred dies. After ruling the Geats for 50 years, Beowulf decides to fight the terrible dragon. He brings eleven warriors with him. While Beowulf struggles fighting the dragon, his warriors hide except for one loyal thane named Wiglaf. Wiglaf tells Beowulf, “’Now, great spirited noble, brave of deeds, you must protect your life with all your might, I shall help you’”(47). He has remained loyal to his king so Beowulf decides to make Wiglaf the king. This gesture again shows how the value of loyalty to one’s king and kingdom will benefit and reward those who are loyal and give them better reputations.
Harper Lee uses racism, hypercriticism, prejudice, and many different scenarios to show confliction in the novel To Kill A Mockingbird. Lee uses confliction to provide knowledge to the reader, showing that as the novel progresses and more conflictions arise, not all men are created equal. There are multiple conflicts throughout Harper Lee’s novel that influenced the plot of To Kill A Mockingbird, one of which was the trial between Tom Robinson and Bob Ewell over the rape of his daughter, Mayella Ewell.
Courage is also a theme seen throughout the whole poem and specifically in this extract through Wiglauf’s speech, action and also Beowulf’s action. The speech as a whole shows that Wiglauf is willing to courageously fight with Beowulf even if it meant he would die. The line ‘I shall stand by you’ in line 2668 not only displays Wiglauf’s loyalty towards Beowulf but also the courage bestowed upon Wiglauf. The contrast between Beowulf’s companions leaving and Wiglauf staying to fight with Beowulf also presents to us the loyalty and bravery Wiglauf has in his character. During the fight, Wiglaf’s body armor was ‘useless to him’ as the fire from the dragon was too powerful, nevertheless, Wiglaf did not retreat. Instead, it is seen in line 2675 that ‘Wiglaf did well under the wide rim’ showing that even though the body armor that protects Wiglaf from harm’s way wasn’t up to par, he did not cower, rather fought bravely side by side with Beowulf to defeat the dragon.
Beowulf descends to do battle with the dragon but finds himself outmatched. His men, upon seeing this display and fearing for their lives, creep back into the woods. One of his men, however, Wiglaf, who finds great distress in seeing Beowulf's plight, comes to Beowulf's aid. The two slay the dragon, but Beowulf is mortally wounded.
There are two aspects of an analytics i.e. Discovery and Communication. Discovery is all about identifying patterns in data. Whereas, Communication provide insights in a meaningful way so that the decisions can be made effectively to increase sales and make company more efficient in terms of cost or human resource saving.