“You don't drown by falling in the water. You drown by staying there.”-Edwin Louis Cole. In the epic poem Beowulf, by Anonymous, the protagonist Beowulf sets out to defeat the evil monster, Grendel, that has been terrorizing Beowulf’s neighboring country. To do this he must overcome many challenges that have to do with water. He first needs to cross the dangerous ocean with his troops to get to the Land of the Danes. Later, he fights Grendel's mother in the mere, a type of dirty swamp, and finally he will kill a dragon that will be thrown off of a cliff into the water. Water in the epic poem Beowulf symbolizes all the danger that Beowulf overcomes and will eventually defeat.
For instance, when Beowulf and his army decided to cross the ocean
In Beowulf, the essence left behind by a true hero is extremely important. In epics such as this one, leaders tend to have the determination and boldness of a hero. On the other hand, the main character, Beowulf, does not display these certain traits. In this heroic poem, respect and trust come naturally. Honor and integrity are present throughout the poem.
One of the first journeys includes Beowulf and his swim match with Brecca. “No man swims in the sea / As I can, no strength is a match for mine” (266-267). Beowulf speaks of his courage towards taking a dangerous journey to have a match against Brecca. Later, Beowulf travels to Herot after hearing of their troubles. Beowulf greets the Dane’s Lord and informs him that he heard about Grendel’s attacks on the people of Herot. Beowulf also mentions that his people said that it was his duty to go to the Danes great king (143-151). Beowulf travels away from his homeland to Hrothgar in order to defeat a monster that haunts Herot. Finally, Beowulf travels through the sea in search of Grendel’s mother. He leaps into the lake and for many hours swims through waves until he sees the mud of the bottom (570-573). Beowulf shows no fear as he, again, leaves his comfort zone to go after Grendel’s mother through a dangerous sea in the journey in the sea. Given these points, Beowulf takes many journeys from his home in order to protect
Honor: Before Beowulf’s journey a man named Unfert taunts Beowulf and brings up how when they were little kid they had a competition to see who could swim the farthest and Beowulf kept swimming even though he was being attacked by monsters. In lines 397-400 “ with plowing shoulders parted the waves, the sea-flood boiled with its winter surges seven nights was the greater, his swimming the stronger!…” Basically this guy Unfert was trying to make fun of Beowulf, and Beowulf defended his honor by bringing up how he beat him in the swimming competition. Honor is important to Beowulf because he works hard for what he has accomplished and doesn’t want some guys just making fun of him.
Beowulf is a poem about strength and courage. This is illustrated in the eighth section of the story called “Beowulf and the Dragon.” A slave, a hero and a dragon play a big role in this section. The characters are well developed, as is the setup for the conclusion of the poem.
In Beowulf, the author’s use of “druncen” falsifies the tone of the poem. Gould said, “Generally, scholars and translators of Beowulf have been reluctant to translate the word druncen with its modern English equivalent, 'drunken'.Druncen is used five times in Beowulf, once in line 1231, where Wealhtheow uses it to refer to Hrothgar's dryhtguman, once in line 2179, where it refers to Beowulf's heorogeneatas, and three times in the phrase beore/wine druncen, in lines 480, 531, and 1467: twice this expression refers to Hunferth, and once to Hrothgar's oretmecgas” (Gould). In this passage Gould said, “Scholars seem willing to translate the word as 'drunken' when it refers to Hunferth, though even here they are likely to tone it down by using expressions such as 'hot with ale' (Raffel 12) or full of beer' (Howell Chickering);(13) in the three instances where the word is used to refer to warriors collectively they resort for the most part to euphemisms” (Gould). Gould explains, “When Beowulf accuses Hunferth of being beore druncen, he is not accusing him of being 'flushed', that is, of being red in the face, but of being under the influence of alcohol. But many Beowulf scholars evidently have felt that drunkenness is incompatible with heroics, and so have tried to avoid the implications of the word druncen by 'putting a little English on it' in translation” (Gould).
In the poem Beowulf, the protagonist is portrayed as a heroic figure who strives to spread his name and glory out across the land in order to be remembered. Although his acts may not entirely be for the right reasons, Beowulf does express his heroic qualities of bravery, arrogance, and brute force.
As Beowulf slayed the Water Witch after Grendel, citizens of Danes never bothered to think about what they would have done if it was their son who has been killed. Through this scene, a typical reader, including myself, would see Beowulf as a hero as well as a leader from a glance. However, because Hrothgar, the king of Danes who requested Beowulf's assistance, is the individual who informed and convinced Grendel as a threat, he is the leader of his Danish environment. Shunned from society, Grendel, in the other hand was not, for all his life, he only lived and interacted with his mother, the Water Witch. From this, I concluded that the poem Beowulf is written in the perspective the victors of this event, Hrothgar and Beowulf, since at the
Early in the poem, Beowulf hears accounts of Grendel’s destruction of Herot, Hrothgar’s majestic mead hall. Knowing his strength and military prowess, Beowulf immediately devises a plan, recruits men, and orders boats, thrusting himself into a battle that was not necessarily his to fight. Beowulf felt obligated to end Grendel’s reign of terror. Though he knew the death of Grendel would bring him fame and honor, the idealized Beowulf was able to set aside personal ambition in order to end the suffering of the Danes. Shortly after slaying Grendel, Beowulf again displays an awareness of duty when Grendel’s mother extracts revenge upon Herot, killing one of Hrothgar’s best men, Aeshere. Instead of leaving Herot in a state of frenzy, Beowulf comes to King Hrothgar’s side, pledging allegiance and service. Bolstering the defeated king’s moral, Beowulf boldly addresses the older King Hrothgar saying, “So arise, my lord, and let us immediately set forth on the trail of this troll-dam. I guarantee you: she will not get away, not to dens under ground nor upland groves nor the ocean floor. She’ll have nowhere to fall to. Endure your troubles to-day. Bear up and be the man I expect you to be.” Beowulf could not set aside his duty and obligation, though he knew full well the suffering and pain that might result from his actions. Thus, Beowulf is a portrait of
Beowulf begins with a history of the Danish kings. Hrothgar is the present king of the Danes. He builds a hall, called Heorot, to house his army. The Danish soldiers gather under its roof to celebrate and have fellowship with each other. Grendel, who lives at the bottom of a nearby swamp, is awakened and disgusted by the singing of Hrothgar's men. He comes to the hall late one night and kills thirty of the warriors in their sleep. For the next twelve years Grendel stalks the mead hall known as Heorot.
Beowulf begins with a history of the great Danish King Scyld (whose funeral is described in the Prologue). King Hrothgar, Scyld's great-grandson, is well loved by his people and successful in war. He builds a lavish hall, called Heorot, to house his vast army, and when the hall is finished, the Danish warriors gather under its roof to celebrate.
Beowulf symbolizes the Anglo Saxons and their culture and social values. Beowulf through out the poem was closely related to what the Anglo Saxons had believe and what they valued. The creature Beowulf battled was creatures from the myths of the Anglo Saxons. Beowulf represents the greatness of the Anglo Saxons era from their time of glory to the end where they fall to their enemies.
Later on, Grendel’s mother, Ma Grendel, attacked the mead hall that Grendel had wrecked havoc on before. She does this, in the poem, to show the reader that she is less like a woman, but more like a man. She tried to get revenge on her son’s attacker. When Beowulf set off to defeat Ma Drendel he brought his men again. They find her den, but run into a conflict. The den can only be reached by swimming through a swamp of water that is defended by many sea monsters. Beowulf goes alone showing more bravery. He rece...
to have been composed between 700 and 750. "No one knows who composed Beowulf ,
The epic poem Beowulf tells the story of a man by the name of Beowulf that goes through events that prove how heroic he is. Throughout the poem, Beowulf endures three battles. In the first, he battles the monster Grendel. In the second, he battles Grendel's mother. In the end he battles an enraged dragon. With each battle, Beowulf finds increasing difficulty in his opponent, but prevails and saves both the Danes and the Geats from all being killed by monsters. In each battle, Beowulf proves that he is worthy of having the title of a hero.
According to most dictionaries, an epic is an extended narrative poem in elevated or dignified language, celebrating the feats of a legendary or traditional hero. While this is true, the epic Beowulf contains more than those two requirements. This story contains five elements which make it an epic. There is an epic hero, action of an immense scale, an elevated writing style, long speeches meant to inspire or instruct, and also the descent into the underworld.