The sun is hot, but the air is swift, and the sound of birds singing is in the air. Beowulf jumps out of his window and quickly begins to run. The hot cement burns his toes. He runs faster. As he approaches the brown house on the corner, his steps slow. He reaches the front door, raises his right hand, but before he is able to knock, the door flies open. Breca, his best friend, steps out.
“Come.” Beowulf chuckles and the two boys take off.
As they approach the daisy-filled hills, Beowulf and Breca run up the mountainside. The sun kisses their bare shoulders. The boys line up shoulder to shoulder.
“We start on the count of three and no cheating,” Breca states.
“Deal. Now come on. Let’s go!” Beowulf says as he crouches, ready to take off.
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The ground is moist on the boy's bare feet. Knowing the storm is not passing anytime soon, the boys venture deeper into the unknown to the cave, little do they know, it would be the biggest mistake of their lives. Breca and Beowulf buried themselves within the cold damp walls. They realize the ground is beginning to liquefy. They do not think much of it as their curiosity takes over. They go deeper in the cave. As the liquid on the ground thickens, the realize it is not water. The thick goo covering their feet hardens. Their eyes dart to their feet as they thrust, trying to get free from the substances restraints. As the two boys struggle to get up their feet, are free. Their heads slowly raise, and to their amazement, a monster beyond their scariest dreams stood before them. Its eyes glow a lifeless yellow. The goo absorbed into the surrounding walls as the boys stand astounded to what was happening in front of their own eyes. The monster wreaked of spoiled human flesh. Its skin covered in the blood of its victims. The boys slowly step back. Beowulf reached the entrance of the cave softly. Breca creeps towards the side of the cave, his left hand against the smooth, slippery wall. Then his butt, then his back. Soon enough his body is one with the cave wall. As his bare back glides up the glassy surface. As he nears the exit-of-danger, his body comes to an abrupt stop. The substance on the cave wall hardens, trapping his body …show more content…
As his arm trembles with fear, he takes a deep breath. He slowly raises his hand. Beowulf, with a heart of gold, holds the rock parallel to his right ear, he throws it. The rock hits the monsters between its eyes. The blow creates great pain for the monster as it lets out an ear-piercing screech. The monster reaches for the rock wedged in its skull. He slowly wraps its hands around the rock and rips it out, leaving a gaping hole in its head. The monster lets out another scream this time to throw the rock against the cave wall. The wall shatters, leaving Beowulf trembling. The cave beings to rumble as the monster stomps its sole-palms against the slime-filled floor. Beowulf hears crashed behind him as rocks begin to block the exit. He realizes that time is limited and he needs to make a move fast. As Beowulf calms himself, he notices the monster is not bleeding. The whole appearing in the monsters head leads to
In the poem Beowulf, which Seamus Heaney translates to modern English, the character Beowulf bravely conquers all enemies thrown at him, including sea monsters and other perilous creatures. This allows him to gain fame throughout Geatish and Danish lands. His righteous deeds cause the previous heir, Hygelac, to appoint Beowulf to king before he dies, and Beowulf bravely leads his country until he perishes protecting it. On the other hand, in The Last Kingdom, by Bernard Cornwell, the Danes capture a young English boy by the name of Uhtred, and integrate him into their war driven society. Uhtred learns various battle tactics by general Ubba, whose ruthlessness in battle grants him fame and riches. When Uhtred goes back to the English,
A hero is someone you look up to, someone who has done something to inspire you, someone who is your role model. In our society, there are many different types of heroes—family, friends, teachers, firefighters, and police officers to name a few. But a hero that stands out to me is a U.S. soldier. Soldiers risk their lives every day just so we can have our freedom.
In this poem, Beowulf exhibits the trait of bravery by defeating the monster, Grendel. This monster was a very powerful monster that plagued the town of Herot. “He slipped through the door… Snatched up thirty men, smashed them/ Unknowing in their beds and ran out with their bodies/ The blood dripping behind him, back/ To his liar, delighted with his night’s slaughter. (11)”
King Hrothgar once again looks toward Beowulf to take care of another monster. To get ready for this battle Beowulf wears armor and uses the Horting sword which has never lost in battle. Once again Beowulf shows his courage by deciding to go to the bottom of the monster filled swamp and fight alone. Fighting off monsters on his way down, Beowulf reached the bottom where he was met by Grendel 's mother. He tried to cut her head off with Horting, but she is too strong. Beowulf takes a sword made for giants off the wall, and uses his super strength to cut the mother 's head off. As a trophy of this battle Beowulf finds the body of Grendel in a corner and decides to take his head back to the mead hall. Hrothgar celebrates another victory by once again throwing a large celebration where they gave more gifts to Beowulf and the Geats. After two battles, Beowulf decides it is time for him and his men to head back to their homeland. Continuing to show courage, honor, and strength Beowulf states that if the Danes ever have anymore problems with monsters he will help protect
...lf grieves and wonders what he might have done to deserve such punishment from God. Beowulf plans his revenge. He finds a shield that will protect him from the dragon’s fiery breath. Since he defeated Grendel with his bare hands. Beowulf feels no fear of the dragon. Beowulf is able to seek the thief and have him take him to the barrow where the dragon lies. They wish each other luck and Beowulf has a vision of his death. Beowulf makes his final speech and promises to fight the dragon no matter what. The fight between Beowulf and the dragon happens, but Beowulf does not make it out alive. The ending is terrible if he could easily kill a demon and manage to slay the demon’s mother he should have been easily able to kill a dragon. He has conquered so many quests that this one should have been easy. He maybe wasn’t as great as everyone thought him up to be.
The imagery involved in this small portion of Beowulf, helps to install a frightful ambience and forming a sense of dread. The poet develops a daunting atmosphere through the use of vivid imagery and the alliteration involved in the passage. The description of the creatures and other wild things hiding on the cliffs and roaming around, helps establish the danger of Beowulf’s quest. Furthermore, the use of alliteration especially in lines 1426, 1427, and 1429 further establish the harshness of the environment. The large amount of alliteration in the small passage calls for the reader’s attention to the hazardous surrounding. Finally the poet’s use of diction creates a dreadful type of tone. The usage of words such as “sea-dragons,” “monsters
Finlay taking off his suit put him in a dangerous situation on many levels, from freezing to death or passing out from lack of air. With these elements against him he successfully defuses the bomb and saves the Beanstalk. Beowulf in another dangerous situation, figures out to spread his body to avoid being pulled apart by the tides. These male characters defy the odds of dying and show true strength to overcome difficult tasks under pressure. In the end of both stories they are cocky in what they want and make known they deserve to get it. Finlay in a delirium state spoke his mind of building stronger more stable Beanstalks, and the government started to work on it. Beowulf, in turn bribes the puppeteers as they have done to him. He persuades them for more money in exchange of not giving details about their planet.
After settling down as king in the Land of the Geats, a thief disturbs a dragon's cave, infuriating the dragon, Beowulf sees no other option but to kill it. As the dragon is about to die it bites Beowulf in the neck and the two of them die together, but his men still avenge him. The author writes, “They pitched the dragon over the cliff top, let tide’s flow and backwash take the treasure-minder” (p. 211). By the end of the poem, with Beowulf realising that his life is coming to an end, he dies at ease knowing that he has faced all the challenges he was confronted with. This is symbolized by his men throwing the dragon, his last challenge, into the ocean and having it taken away by the waves. This illustration of what happens after the dragon dies highlights that because the water is finally being used to help him conquer his enemies, he has accomplished all that was meant for him to do. The ocean that once terrified him so much so at the beginning is now what is helping to get rid of the animal terrorizing his people. Conclusively, by the end of the poem Beowulf successfully overcomes all hardships that he has faced throughout his
This essay is the comparison between Beowulf and a modern day hero. I consider any American soldier to be my modern day hero. In this essay I will explain in three paragraphs of how my modern day hero is like Beowulf. With in these three paragraphs I will go over how they are both fighting for a good cause, how they are both rewarded for what they do, and how they are both treated with much respect.
Beowulf looked over on the wall next to them and saw a magnificent sword hanging on the wall adorned with beautiful carvings, it was blessed with magic. No normal man could ever have lifted that sword, but Beowulf was no normal being. He waited for the right moment to go and retrieve the sword, and when he found the perfect opportunity and he ran straight towards the wall. He pulled the sword down with great force and began running towards Grendel’s mother. Beowulf took in a deep breath as he leaned back and heaved the sword forward. Beowulf had sliced straight through Grendel’s mother’s scaly neck, blood began to pour everywhere and he heard her bones cracking as the sword passed through her.
There are many similarities and differences between the movie "Beowulf and Grendel", to the poem. Major differences between the movie and the poem would be Grendel himself. In the poem, he is described as an evil monster born from two demons. In the movie, Grendel is actually human, but known as a troll to the warriors and Danes. The poem doesn’t give the background of Grendel or show how the Danes killed his father and the possible reason of his revenge, like in the movie. If the witch, Selma, was not included in the storyline of the movie, the audience would not have known key information that she was used to show from more flashbacks. The witch gives more of an idea about Grendel’s past life that could have been the possibility to reasons for his actions. Some major similarities are the battles. Both epics include the battles between Beowulf and Grendel, as well as Beowulf and Grendel’s mother. The end results are the same, leading to their death, but the journey and process to the two tales are different.
Beowulf is called upon again to defeat this monster. Beowulf puts on his armour and takes the sword Hrunting and descends into the monster’s lair. Grendel’s mother quickly grabs Beowulf and takes him to the battle arena. Once there, Beowulf fights and finds his sword cannot pierce the monster’s hide. So once again, Beowulf throws his sword aside and fights hand-to-hand. Yet, he could not defeat her with his hands alone. Then Beowulf sees, “hanging on the wall, a heavy, Sword, hammered by giants, strong And blessed with their magic, the best of all weapons.” Taking the sword and holding it high above his head he strikes the monster in the neck cutting deep into the skin, breaking bones and all. Thus ending his second heroic battle with a mythical beast and proving that he is indeed worthy of praise. Yet, this is not the greatest of his deeds.
Erika Mercado Essay 2 Modern Heroes: Dante vs Beowulf A modern hero is a good-hearted person with these attributes: bravery, strong, and contributes to saving the lives of his homelands. Beowulf demonstrates the characteristics of a modern hero: a leader, fearless, and generous. Beowulf is a young hero whose character exerts powerful strength in battles. Dante the Pilgrim does not display hero attributes in The Inferno.
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 reader’s perception of Grendel and his role in Beowulf by narrating the story through Grendel’s point of view. John Gardner transforms the perceived terrible evil fiend who is Grendel into a lonely but intelligent outcast who bears a striking resemblance to his human adversaries. In Grendel, John Gardner portrays Grendel as an intelligent being capable of rational thought as well as displaying outbursts of emotion. He portrays Grendel as a hurt individual and as a victim of oppression ostracized from civilization. The author of Beowulf portrays Grendel as the typical monster archetype as compared to John Gardner’s representation of Grendel as an outcast archetype.
After just two hours, our very large friend said he’d had enough for the day and was heading for the surface. We told him we’d be out in a few more minutes and to hang around so we could discuss what we’d found. As we began our ascent toward the entrance, we became acutely aware of the complete absence of light the entrance usually emanated. When our flashlights finally found the source of the unusual darkness we were horrified; the big guy was stuck in the cave’s opening again. This time Scott’s head and shoulders were outside, so instead of being able to pull him through, we would have to try to push him out of the opening. We pushed in every combination of ways possible, and needless to say it did not work this time. The paramount problem was that the cave floods from the interior out, so we would all drown if we couldn’t get Scott unstuck, and unstuck quickly.