Beowulf is said to be written in England sometime between the 7th and 11th centuries, but the story takes place in Scandinavia. This is right around the time the Anglo Saxons were converting to Christianity from their native Anglo-Saxon paganism which is a variant of the Germanic paganism found across much of north-western Europe. Not too much is known about the Anglo Saxon culture because the majority of people were illiterate and many didn't write anything down. The Anglo Saxons were a war centered people, and during the winter months when it was harder to pillage other settlements, stories like Beowulf would be told by what would be a story teller. The literary styles used during this time period made stories very dramatic and descriptive. Beowulf was …show more content…
Some aspects of the story were very close to the life of the common man during that time. The main principle of this story was righteousness, even though Beowulf is not perfect he strives to be the best he can possibly be. He didn’t let his power corrupt him, nor did he take advantage of anyone. Beowulf travels to land far and wide to prove his strength is superior to that of the many foul beats that prowl the lands. When Beowulf hears what happened in Hrothgar he request permission from his king to go and provide assistance. He learns that there is a troll-like monster named Grendel who has been terrorizing the village. Beowulf and his men spend the night in Heorot waiting for Grendel to show, when Grendel enters the hall they start battling. Beowulf ends up tearing Grendel’s arm off, then returns to the swamp to die. The day after Grendel’s mother is furious about the death of her son and sets out for revenge, she kills Æschere, who is Hrothgar's best fighter. Beowulf and his men track her to a lake. He dives in, finding her in the bottom of the lake in a cavern. They begin fighting, Grendel’s mother has the upper hand dew to his sword not affecting
Beowulf is among the earliest surviving works of literature. It was written in Old English and dates back sometime before the tenth century A.D. The poem is set in Scandinavia, and tells the story of the heroic warrior, Beowulf. Beowulf was the perfect hero. He fought for his people and defeated evil with his ability to bring on justice. Three of Beowulf’s traits that serve as evidence of this were his remarkable physical strength, his ability to put the well-being of others before his own well-being, and his courage.
Beowulf is an epic poem that was written in the late tenth-century, at the kingdom of the West Saxons. The two main characters are Beowulf, a young man; and Grendel, a furious dragon. Beowulf's world is a very violent society with wars as a dominant part of daily life. Dragons and monsters are a constant threat to the Danes and the Geats. Warriors are a necessity to this war-like society. Beowulf is a hero as well as a great, and honorable, warrior.
The story begins with Grendel taking the lives of countless innocent men. It seems to all that there is no one who can face this great monster who lives down in the swamp. The king, Hrothgar, becomes concerned for the health of his country and seeks out help from someone of great strength. In hearing this, Beowulf sees it as an opportunity to increase his popularity and fame. Upon arrival, he is anxious to come face to face with the great beast. In addition, he declares that he will fight Grendel without any weapons to prove who is truly the strongest. After his victory, Beowulf gets his fame and becomes king of another land for fifty years.
Beowulf, an epic poem, written by unknown and translated by Seamus Heaney, is an artifact of the Anglo-Saxon era because it is a piece of literature that was documented once. During the time it was written, writing was not common. The poem reveals a lot of the Anglo-Saxon practices and beliefs, but it also is compared to Christianity because was written down by a christian monk.
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
Do people ever talk about superheroes, and monsters? Especially people into comic books and children. Every child, even adults, have a superhero they look up to, or a role model they want to grow up to be like. Superheroes are everywhere from movies to books. Children even sit in their room playing with toy superheroes, hoping one day they can be just like them. Even hundreds of thousands of years ago there were superheroes! A long time ago in the Anglo-Saxon Period there was a brave and loyal hero! His name was Beowulf, and everyone looked up to him. This hero definitely brought peace to many people, and if it wasn’t for the mighty hero Beowulf, the Anglo-Saxons would have been terrorized forever. Therefore, the times were hard before Beowulf, the Anglo-Saxon warriors always stood for three values, and the time was changed without monsters.
Waking up under my families lean-to next to my sister, Wihakayda just like every morning. The early rising sun illuminated the crystal clear gulf a few miles away from our hut. My parents had gotten up before me like usual. Dowanhowee, my mother was washing blackberries off and cooking a pitiful amount of fish over a ginormous roaring fire. The brave and noble warrior Akecheta was my father and he had caught them last night when he was out arrow fishing. This was all we had to eat for breakfast today. My dad was one of the best wrestlers in our village. He had earned a spot on the council and was currently there in a conference trying to figure out with the other leaders how we are going to make our food last. I had a few ideas on how to
At the heart of Anglo-Saxon literature is the epic poem Beowulf. It was written in Old English somewhere between the middle of the 7th and the end of the 10th century by an unknown poet. Beowulf has come to be recognized as the foundational epic of English and British culture (Shmoop). The story has its roots in a pagan Saxon past, but by the time the epic poem was written down, almost all Anglo-Saxons had converted to Christianity. As a result the poet resolved his new Christian beliefs with the un-Christian behavior of the characters.
Beowulf's tribe started on the south side of Sweden. Hrothgar and Heorot were from the Danish island, Sjaelland. Some historical scenes take place in Sweden, but some of them happen in Denmark, Germany, and Poland. The first part of Beowulf takes place in Heorot . At the time this poem took place, research says that the Danes kept their throne on Sjaelland Island at Lejre. Even though there is no knowledge that Beowulf was actually a man, there is a lot of Germanic history within in the poem. If Beowulf was real or if he wasn't, his character fits great into his society and family tree. Many of the characters were real. The Great king, Hygelac, Hrothgar, Ongentheow, Haethcyn, Onela and Heardred. Also, the Ravenswood battle that took place in 510 AD actually happened. The author of Beowulf is a puzzle, just like other poets in the Anglo-Saxon time period. He could have possibly been a court poet, or a monastic poet. The date that Beowulf was born on is unknown but can be pinpointed depending on where it was created.It was most likely made after Hygelac's death in 521 AD, and most likely after 580 AD, because that is supposed to be the date of Beowulf's death. Although it can't be any later than 1000AD, because the document was already written by then. Because the poem makes many references to historical figures, if the time period would have been any later than most of it would have been forgotten
In the beginning of the novel, we find that that a mysterious creature attacked Hrothgar, the king of Danes and his army. In response to the situation, Hrothgar decides to call Beowulf who happens to his nephew. In this account of the story Beowulf is the hero to the Danes. He defeats the monster and it's mother. In contrast, in the novel Grendel, Grendel tells the story from his perspective. He describes to the how he wanted to be friends with the humans. In hi attempt to communicate, he is unsuccessful and finds himself being attacked. After trying several more times to befriend the humans, he deices to carry out his plan of being what society ‘wants’ him to be.
Beowulf is a very brave hero, he has fought and killed many creatures before, but this battle was different. He knew this battle was of great importance to everyone, and that made him that much more nervous. This creature was fierce and had been tormenting their village for as long as they could remember, so her death would be a huge victory for Beowulf and it would be an even bigger relief for the villagers. All of the people in the village were cheering for Beowulf as he walked away headed off to the greatest battle of his life.
Beowulf has been estimated to have been written over twelve hundred years ago. According to The Norton Anthology Of English Literature, “It is now widely believed that Beowulf is the work of a single poet who was a Christian and that his poem reflects a well-established Christian tradition,” (37). This conclusion was likely drawn by accounting for the time at which Beowulf was written and factoring in most people in the area of where it was believed to be written had already been converted to Christianity. In a way, this provides the best explanation for why Beowulf contains a high level of Christian influences for the story to have taken place when it did. Dr. J. Michael Stitt of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas says that, “Much of this epic poem is dedicated to conveying and exemplifying the heroic code which values such attributes as strength, courage and honor. Conflicting with this ideology are other factors such as Christianity, and these tensions affect the lives and decisions of the narrative's characters.” If the one of the main focuses in Beowulf is the heroic code and the heroic code convicts with the authors beliefs than why did he write it? This is not to say that authors do not write about things that they ...
Beowulf was written in the time when the society was in the process of converting from Paganism to Christianity. In this epic poem, these two religions come through the actions of its characters. The acceptance of feuds and the courage of war are just a few examples of the Pagan tradition, while the Christian mortalities refrain from the two.
Beowulf is the single greatest story of Old English literature and one of the greatest epics of all time. Ironically, no one can lay claim to being the author of this amazing example of literature. The creator of this poem was said to be alive around 600 A.D. and the story was, since then, been passed down orally from generation to generation. When the first English monks heard the story, they took it upon themselves to write it down and add a bit of their own thoughts. Thus, a great epic and the beginning to English literature was born.