Beowulf Analysis

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In the past weeks we have read “Beowulf, “by Daniel Donoghue. Beowulf is an old English epic poem which includes three important monsters, Grendel, Grendel’s Mother, and the Dragon. Each monster had a big part of the epic poem. Grendel was assumed to be killed by Beowulf, until Beowulf showed up at the palace and was told the monster attacking them was Grendel. Once Beowulf finally killed Grendel, his Mother appeared. However, at the very end the most important monster to me was the Dragon. The Dragon is the one that put an end to Beowulf’s life. At the end of the book we have J.R.R Tolkien’s and Jane Chance’s essays on Beowulf, which gives us expert analysis on the importance of the three monsters, Grendel, Grendel’s Mother, and the Dragon. …show more content…

Grendel was never respected; in the epic poem we do not read his side. We only know what he does but not why he does it. Grendel gave Beowulf meaning, as stated in J.R.R. Tolkien’s essay, “If the dragon is the right end for Beowulf, and I agree with the author that it is, then Grendel is an eminently suitable beginning” ( Page 128). Killing Grendel was a new beginning for Beowulf. Killing Grendel is what made Beowulf a hero to the people. People looked up to him, they saw him has their hero, now the people believed in him, they had hope. Little did they know that killing Grendel came with a price, his Mother. When Grendel’s Mother sees her son dead she goes to Heorot, where Beowulf and his man are sleeping and kill’s one by …show more content…

He wakes up and sees all his man hanging from the ceiling, on the flood, all over the place dead, full of blood. Beowulf is not sure of what is happening, until he is told that it could only be Grendel’s Mother. Once again Beowulf wants to fight her, confront her and put an end to all of it. Grendel’s Mother symbolizes revenge, love, weakness, difference. As stated in Jane Chance’s essay “But unlike most mothers and queens, she fights her own battles” (Page 154). Grendels Mother shows us that after all Beowulf is weak. When it comes to fighting Grendel’s Mother, Beowulf wants to wear his

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