Symbolism In Beowulf

He is referred to as "protector of warriors" and "ring-giver," the latter epithet used to tell readers he is generous. He builds a magnificent mead-hall, Heorot, which becomes threatened by Grendel. Unable to fight Grendel himself, Hrothgar and his people suffer from his attacks for years until Beowulf comes and offers his services. GRENDEL is a monster who is a descendant of Cain, the brother-slayer. For twelve years, Grendel attacks Heorot and kills Danish people: "he wanted no peace with any of the men of the Danish host" (Norton, 29).

Which is to slay the dragon that continues to attack the villages and farms of Geatland.“ Beowulf spoke, made a formal boast for the last time:” I risked my life often when I was young. Now I am old, but as king of the people I shall pursue this fight for the glory of winning, if the evil one will only abandon his earth-fort and face me in the open.” (lines 2510-2515), being his final words to his people before he sets out to slay the dragon. While battling the dragon Beowulf gets burned and injured badly. All his men are frightened by this and run off besides Wiglaf. “ The nobel son of Weohstan saw the king in danger at his side and displayed his inborn bravery and strength(lines 2694-2626).... Once again the king gathered his strength and drew a stabbing knife he carried on his belt, sharpened in battle , He stuck it deep into the dragon’s flank.

Beowulf, the great Geatish warrior, lives a very adventurous life filled with many voyages, battles, and victories. Through all of these events, he meets various people who are considered to be heroes like himself. These heroes, however, are unable to have the same abilities and characteristics of Beowulf. His great achievements cannot be matched by anything that they have done in their lives. Beowulf is a superior hero to Hrothgar, Unferth, and Wiglaf in the epic of Beowulf because he kills every monster that he fights, becomes a widely feared warrior and king, and dies in battle completing his final heroic act.

When Beowulf fights Grendel's mother, first he looked around his surrounding and “he sights a famous old sword of the giants, which he seizes and thrusts at Grendel’s mother, who falls in helpless death throes” (Foster 1). In every battle, Beowulf is overpowered with wisdom, which makes him an epic hero. The second thing that makes Beowulf an epic hero is his strength. Beowulf’s main weapon against any opponents, he face is his mighty strength, which makes him the true epic hero. Beowulf fights many battles throughout his life, he killed all the monsters he faced, which shows his mig... ... middle of paper ... ... enormous risk that all the instincts of self-preservation resist”(Hanning 60).

Brave Beowulf “An Analysis of Beowulf” Beowulf is a epic retold for many generations from father to son, warrior to child, and it serves its name very well, epic! It starts off by explaining a newly built mead house, created by the lord of the Danes, Hrothgar. This mead house is massive and used by all of the Danes. But these people are now plagued by a terrible force, Grendel, a terrible monster who comes into the town and massacres its people. In a distant land, a prince hero Beowulf, hears of this terrible monster and decides to prove his worth by fighting and destroying it.

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. The first battle is between Beowulf and Grendel. Grendel is an isolated monster that terrorized Herot and killed thirty men every night for twelve years because he was bothered by the loud noise of the parties at Herot late at night.

But the Danish warrior Unferth, "drunken with wine," taunted the Geat, reminding him of a five-day swimming contest in which Beowulf was said to have been bested. The Geat answered boldly, however, that he had not only emerged victorious in the race, but had been forced to kill nine deadly sea-monsters during the course. After the feast, Hrothgar and his warriors went to their rest, leaving Beowulf and his men in the hall. Then came the fiendish Grendel, "with an unlovely light, like a hellish flame in his eyes." The ironbound door burst open at the touch of his fingers, and he rejoiced at the rich feast of human flesh awaiting him.

The dragon ends up killing Beowulf. In the story you can see how things like Honor, fame, and Courage are associated with Beowulf. The reason that he take the dangerous journey is to gain all there of those characteristics in his journey. Out lines below is how he gets each one of those traits in the story. 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.

Every epic hero always has some sort of ‘downfall’, even if it is a minute occurrence. After slaying Grendel, Beowulf is faced with the challenge of defeating Grendel’s mother, whom is furious due to the death of her son. Beowulf handles the situation a little different than the first and meets a greater challenge, but he still comes out victorious. Once Beowulf slays Grendel’s mother and purifies the land of the Danes of its evil inhabitants, he returns to the Geats and becomes king for a steady 50 years, until his greatest challenge

Each battle have their own purpose and struggles, each one comes with its own feeling of obligation, fame, and struggle. In the book Beowulf there is a demon named Grendel who kills thirty men a night for the past twelve years and nobody is willing to go up against him until now. Beowulf has the strength of thirty men and volunteers to fight Grendel only to discover what seemed easy came with more struggles than anticipated. As the great king Shield passed away Hrothgar took over for Shield and reigned as king. Wanting to build a monument for his success Hrothgar builds a mead-hall he calls Heorot.