The Theme Of Good And Evil In Beowulf

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Once upon a time, in a land far away, the clash between good and evil resided in the heart of every story. From oral tales of the Anglo-Saxon period, to the novels of today, heavenly heroes versus menacing monsters have weaved stories throughout time. For example, in the the epic poem, Beowulf, the warriors and heroes, like Beowulf and Wiglaf, represent the good within the story. The creatures, such as Grendel and the dragon, illustrate the evil. The settings also portray both sides as well, with examples being Herot and The Lair. Good and evil are represented in many ways in Beowulf, and each of those ways gives a message regarding one of them to the reader. A prominent representation of the good in Beowulf is the warriors and heroes within the poem. Beowulf himself is one of those heroes. …show more content…

Without question, the dragon is the most powerful force of evil in the poem. The dragon is the beast that took down Beowulf himself, but they both refused to go down without a fight, “The beast rose, angry, /knowing a man had come-and then nothing /but war could have followed. Its breath came first. /A steaming cloud pouring from the stone, /then the earth itself shook” (Raffel 57, 666-670). Once again, Raffel uses a great choice of words to convey the message of the power of evil toward the reader. Beast, angry, war, steaming, pouring, and shook, are some of the most powerful words within this quote. Written within this passage was the grand finale of Beowulf. Both Beowulf and the dragon give it all in this last crusade, “The monster came quickly toward him, /pouring out fire and smoke, hurrying /to its fate” (Raffel 57, 680-682). This passage forms the message of how ruthless evil can be. It shows how that when someone or something is as evil as the dragon, they are willing to fight to the death. If something is truly and purely evil, then they will sacrifice their life and accept their fate for their master,

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