Revenge In Beowulf

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The poet used the theme of revenge in the poem as a source of motivation for the battles involving:, Grendel, Grendel’s mom, and the dragon.
At the beginning of the novel, the author presented the Dane’s struggle with Grendel, a monster who is attacking Herot. The reason Grendel decided to attack Herot was to get revenge on all of the soldiers who were happy and rejoicing. He felt ostracized from society so, to get his revenge, he killed the soldiers who were making him unhappy. The author states “...Grendel… made his home in a hell...their exile was bitter, shut away from men (Ch. 1, 102-110).” Since Grendel was exiled from men, he never got to experience the joys of life, kinsmenship, or being blessed by God, so he attacked and killed those that did. He saw those men as a symbol for everything he missed out on because …show more content…

She longed to avenge her son’s death and sought vengeance on the Danes and the man who killed him. She raided Herot because she knew the man who killed her son was there. “His mother’s sad heart,... drove her...on the dangerous pathway of revenge (Ch. 19, 1276-1278).” Grendel’s mother was not able to defeat as many people as Grendel had during his time. However, she still struck a desire for revenge in the Danes and Hrothgar by killing one of their greatest soldiers and Hrothgar’s closest friends. “Grendel’s mother is hidden...Seek it…Save us, once more… (Ch. 20, 1377-1380).” Hrothgar called upon Beowulf once more to defeat a monster that hurt his people. Beowulf went to her house at the bottom of the lake, which only made her revenge grow stronger and she reached the breaking point. Beowulf is the man who killed her son and she finally had the opportunity to kill him. However, Beowulf’s strength and the will of God were enough to defeat her. The Danes rejoiced because those monsters were finally dead. Years passed until torture came upon another people and revenge was prominent once

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