Beowulf And Grendel's Mother

The epic poem, Beowulf, consists of various battles. Beowulf encounters a different monster every time he is faced with a new vigorous battle. The monsters that Beowulf fights with include: Grendel, Grendel’s mom, and a dragon. The meanings of each battle vary, as well as the similarities and differences between the three of them. All of these battles show distinctive and different purposes; however they also seem to correlate with each other in some form. Grendel, an antagonist descended from Cain was the first monster that Beowulf fought. Grendel preyed on Hrothgar’s warriors in the king’s mead-hall, Herot. This constant action occurred over a long period of time, allowing word to get around to Beowulf. Despite the distance and danger,

The cause of this fight was Grendel’s mother wanting revenge for her son. Since Beowulf defeated Grendel, he felt it was his duty to complete the task of overcoming his mother too. Hrothgar also suggested that Beowulf should be the one to face Grendel’s mother. During this battle, Beowulf had to overcome many disadvantages. Grendel’s mother seemed to possess fewer human qualities compared to Grendel, also the area where the battle takes place is in Grendel’s mother’s territory making it harder for Beowulf. These fewer human qualities makes it more complicated for Beowulf to fight her. So, in preparation for this battle, Beowulf puts on armour and brings a sword which shows that Beowulf believes that this fight will prove to be a lot harder than the previous one with Grendel. Throughout the battle Grendel’s mother grabbed Beowulf and he struggled to escape. The sword that he brought did not do anything because it ended up breaking. Eventually Beowulf finds a magical sword nearby and uses it to kill Grendel’s mother. This battle represents Beowulf’s weaknesses and struggles because it showed that not everything that Beowulf does is simple and easy for him to complete. “If this combat kills me, take care of my young company, my comrades in arms” (Beowulf 103). So, before the battle even began Beowulf showed weakness through his lack of confidence in defeating Grendel’s mother. The battle shows that

The dragon had valuable possessions stolen, so the dragon began to mercilessly burn the Geats’ homes and lands. To stop the dragon from destroying the Geats’ homes and land, Beowulf decided to fight the dragon.“I risked my life often when I was young. Now I am old, but as king of the people I shall pursue this fight for the glory of winning, if the evil one will only abandon his earth-fort and face me in the open” (Beowulf 171). Even though Beowulf admits his old age he still believes that he must pursue this fight. For this battle Beowulf starts out with a small army, unfortunately they desert him. Similar to his second battle with Grendel’s mother, he wears armors and weapons because he claims that the dragon already has natural armor and weapons. However, these armors and weapons do not benefit him as Beowulf gets defeated. The Dragon and Beowulf both end up dying as result of the battle. The fight with the dragon symbolizes Beowulf’s stand against evil and destruction, and Beowulf being the hero, knows that failure will bring destruction to his people after many years of