Theme Of Beowulf : A New Telling

One of the strongest men on the face of Earth was Beowulf—savior of souls, and annihilator of evil. Beowulf is an epic poem that originated in the Anglo-Saxon period, told in Anglo-Saxon English. The poem depicts the odyssey of a man, Beowulf, who comes from the land of Geats to defeat a hellish creature, Grendel, which has been spawning terror upon King Hrothgar and his men, who live in the land of the Danes. On the way to King Hrothgar’s land, Beowulf encounters many monsters, and upon his arrival to the land of Danes, Beowulf vows to destroy Grendel in order to return peace and safety to King Hrothgar and his men. The poem often characterizes Beowulf with two distinct traits: pride and selflessness. Beowulf shows several moments of motivation

To start out, Beowulf has a lot of Biblical stories and references. For example, the main Biblical story told in Beowulf is the story of Cain and Abel. In the Biblical story, Cain kills his younger brother Abel in a fit of jealousy and rage, and as a punishment God cursed Cain and his descendants as unholy in his eyes. The Grendel is one of these descendants, in Beowulf and he and his mother live away from society, murdering for fun and taking their ancestor Cain’s original sin and use it for their own enjoyment. The Grendel is called “God’s cursed one” because of the curse put on Cain and his family because of his sin. The story of Cain and Abel is just one of the ways Beowulf uses Biblical references in its writing.

Beowulf: A New Telling by Robert Nye is about a character named Beowulf who has to fight evil by using strength, but by also using cleverness. Beowulf’s name means “bee hunter” and Beowulf loved bees. In the story a hall is built it is called Hall Heorot. “By day it towered above men’s heads like a second sun, so bright were it’s walls and roofs”(p. 5). Once the hall is made, a monster comes and eats people at night.

Beowulf is an Old English epic poem that tells a story of a Geat hero named Beowulf who comes to the aid of Hrothgar, king of the Danes, and agrees to help his people defeat the monstrous Grendel. After successfully ridding the land of the beast, Beowulf eventually becomes the king of the Geats for quite some time until his own demise at the hands of another beast. The story was influenced by both pagan and Christian mythologies as it was written during a

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

Beowulf: A New Telling by Robert Nye, is the story of a hero that overcomes the evil of Cain by admitting to the evil in himself. This epic novel tells of light and dark or good and evil. They also have many moments of horror, disgust, and hero´s. The author shows the evil in men using monsters and truly evil things. Characters in this book include Skyld Sceffling, Hrothgar, Beowulf, Wealhtheow and Unferth. With all of these people, you see the good and bad within them. I think the moral of the story in this book is, we all have light and dark inside us; but it is the

Leading to the hero, Beowulf, to be seen as the light or the savior of the town. Grendel, the monster Beowulf has come to defeat, has created a town of despair and anguish. Beowulf’s job is to defeat the monster and bring hope and joy back to the town. The setting characterizes the hero as a god-like man, seen as in Beowulf, “...They lived in secret places, windy Cliffs, wolf-dens where water pours from the rocks, then runs underground, where mist steams like black clouds, and the groves of trees growing out over their lake are all covered with frozen spray, and wind down snakelike roots that reach as far as the water and help keep it dark(Beers 25).”Giving the story of Beowulf a dark outlook had lead Beowulf, to give off a larger than life personality, almost god like. The monsters both Grendel, his mother, and the dragon all live in daunting places.

Throughout Beowulf, the theme of violence and darkness are intertwined, which is manifest by correlating the darkness with the unknown through Grendel and other monstrous creatures. Beowulf, the epic tale utilizes the dark and the ominous to foreshadow and portray the brutal savagery within mankind. Darkness can be define either describe the absence of light or the villainous nature of ones’ actions. Grendel and other the monsters are physical manifestations of the inner darkness that embodies humanity. The monsters induce fear among the communities in which they reside because they represent the internal and external chaos that is surrounding the communities and within humanity.

The tale Beowulf was written by an unknown author in the 8th century. Throughout the tale the author compares and contrasts good vs. evil. The evil character is portrayed through Grendel, an evil “monster.” Different characteristics of him such as, what he looks like, where he lives, and what he does, conforms the idea of evil in the 8th century. Today evil can not be described the same way it was in Beowulf.

Throughout Beowulf, the concept of good vs. evil is not only expressed, but is capitalized on continuously. Beowulf is the protagonist in the adventure and has a clearly defined counterpart: Grendel; the “evil” entity. They are put against each other numerous times as a representation of how there will be a never ending quarrel between good and evil. This can be compared to a specifically recent event: the Las Vegas terror attack. Though this may only be one event, the threat of terror attacks has been a constant concern; the Las Vegas, only being more severe and recent. This constant tension between the “terrorists” and the people is just as that of Beowulf and Grendel: never ending.

Beowulf is an epic style poem, based on the Anglo-Saxon time period. It tells the story of Beowulf, a Geatish human, who joins forces with Hrothgar, King of Denmark, to defeat Grendel, mother of Grendel, and a dragon in three major battles. Beowulf is strongly affected by the reoccurring theme of “darkness.” This darkness is portrayed in several ways throughout the story. The darkness in this story helps portray the evil of the antagonists.

Grendel, the beginning monster, can be portrayed as Satan. He is he thief in the night, who comes to kill and destroy. Grendel cannot know true happiness, and hates everyone who even has the slightest bit in them. He was born into a life of sin, and does not know any different. His home, the lake in which he lives with his mother, is a representation of Hell. It is described as bloody, boiling hot, murky and lifeless water that no man would dare go near. Beowulf dives into these disastrous waves in attempt to destroy Grendel’s mother, and rid of anything evil that flows from it. There are many examples of life full of sin in this poem, such as wergild; man-payment in gold, the terrorizing that Grendel and his mother both partake in, and the materialism that is so important to the Geats. Hrothgar promises Beowulf a ship load of treasures and gold to take back to his people if he defeats this monster, and that is meaningful to Beowulfs people. In the Final Battle of the poem, 50 years have passed and Beowulf, an elder now, is the King of the Geats, and must defeat a dragon. This dragon is in an outrage because someone stole a jeweled cup from his hoard of treasures. This represents greed, or gluttony, which is one of the seven deadly sins. Loyalty is lost in this passage of the poem because all of Beowulf’s men, except for one, abandon him when he needs them most. Beowulf takes on

Beowulf is an Old English epic poem about a Geat hero by the name of Beowulf who comes to rescue King Hrothgar of the Danes, whose mead hall called Heorot has been under attack by a monster known as Grendel. This story does an excellent job displaying the theme of good and evil, which has consistently been discussed throughout time. Since this epic poem has been released, many others have come out doing their best to recapture the strong message, for example, Beowulf (translated by Burton Raffel) and Beowulf (2007 film). Despite these two depictions both containing the theme of good and evil, there are many different strengths and weakness between how they are told. (thesis)

Beowulf: A New Telling is about a young man from Geatland who comes to the land of the Danes for glory and honor. During his quest for glory, he fights

The theme I will be focusing on is man versus self. First, we can look at the clear light in the main character and hero Beowulf. One of the clearest examples of Beowulf’s nobility and bravery is when he killed the first threatening monster of the story named Grendel. Grendel was a dark and evil monster from a place called the Fen which is a dark forest where evil spirits come from. We see Beowulf’s light when he grabs the Grendel’s arm and Grendel immediately tries to escape his grasp because he cannot stand the light in Beowulf. Another important time we see Beowulf’s light is when he fights She, Grendel's mother. Beowulf is able to put the monster to sleep by simply declaring that he is Beowulf son of Beowulf, which means that he is only controlled by himself and by stating this his light and goodness shine through which puts the monster She in a daze where he can strangle her. However, throughout the book we also see how Beowulf is only so great because he can admit his weaknesses