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Beowulf literary elements
Beowulf literary elements
Conclusion for symbolism in beowulf
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of literary devices to convey the story and themes of the poem. Beowulf, an epic poem, symbolizes and describes the noble Anglo-Saxon culture and its beliefs. It sets the stage for all subsequent poems in the region of Britain. Beowulf possesses many heroic traits, including strength and excellent leadership skills, and emerges as the quintessential Anglo-Saxon warrior who risks his life for the well-being of others. The poem's literary devices are broad, earning it the moniker of the "mother poem." The anonymous author, a Christian monk, references the Bible and expresses deep religious faith throughout the poem. more emotionally impactful.
Throughout the poem, the tone changes beautifully. In the first part of the poem, the tone could best be labeled as incisive. It begins with focused information that informs the reader of people, places, and events that take place and sets the stage for the story. The poem changes to a broad dramatic tone when Beowulf fights Grendel. This fraction of the epic is gripping and includes dramatic action. This tone continues until the end and is used when Beowulf begins to fight the fire-breathing dragon. However, as Beowulf begins to stall and the face of death appears in his vision, the tone gradually alters to a somber tone. This mournful feeling transitions to the reader and causes the poem to be more emotionally impactful.
The poem uses imagery to describe objects and scenes that represent various ideas and symbols. In the beginning, the monster Grendel is depicted through graphic imagery in lines 34-38: "The monster's / thoughts were as quick as his greed or his claws: / He slipped through the door and there in the silence." This illustration allows the reader to envision an elusive monster that is worthy of the Anglo-Saxon culture. The lake that Grendel calls home is described as hot, bubbly water that represents hell. This evil body of water symbolizes the devil and serves as a dwelling place for evil. The tower that Beowulf wants to build for his tomb is described as a huge light that warns ships out in the misty sea to gaze upon and remember Edgetho's son. Beowulf's death and monument remind the reader of the death of Jesus Christ and the symbol of the cross, giving Beowulf a savior representation with a Christian reference. All of these references create imagery and enhance the visualization for readers.
In Tolkien’s lecture, “Beowulf: The monsters and the Critics,” he argues that Beowulf has been over analyzed for its historical content, and it is not being studied as a piece of art as it should be. He discusses what he perceives the poet of Beowulf intended to do, and why he wrote the poem the way he did. Tolkien’s main proposition, “it was plainly only in the consideration of Beowulf as a poem, with an inherent poetic significance, that any view or conviction can be reached or steadily held” (Tolkien). He evaluates why the author centers the monsters throughout the entire poem, why the poem has a non-harmonic structure, why and how the author fusses together Christianity and Paganism, and how the author uses time to make his fictional poem seem real. He also discusses the overall theme of Beowulf and other assumptions of the text. To support his viewpoints, Tolkien uses quotations and examples from the poem, quotations from other critics, and compares Beowulf to other works of art. Tolkien discusses several statements in interpreting Beowulf as a poem.
"A work of literature must provide more than factual accuracy or vivid physical reality... it must tell us more than we already know." - E. M. Forster. This quote means that the work of literature is more defined and tells us a deeper concept than we already would know. Once Grendel's mother touches the bottom of the lake, she carries Beowulf to her "court" (1507). In this poem Beowulf, uses vivid description that would make the readers think we were actually in the story. Imagery played a big role in the poem. All these support my opinion on why I agree with the
Rudd cites various sections of the poem, describing Grendel as a “night-monster of the border lands” (Rudd 3), and the translation of the poem says that Grendel was, “...Conceived by a pair of those monsters born Of Cain, murderous creatures banished By God…” (Raffel 42). Rudd also gives evidence for Grendel being seen as demonic, and reasons that Grendel attacks the Danes out of “...not mere thirst for gore, as we might suspect… but rather… envy of the Danes’ happiness- and envy was a chief characteristic of the medieval devil.” (Ruud 5). He then ties this devilish persona to Grendel’s humanistic aspects, stating Grendel has a heathen soul, and therefore he must be human. Ruud also notes, however, that there are critics who question the validity of portraying Grendel as this three-sided figure, asking questions such as, “How can Grendel be a devil when he has a physical body? How can he be a man when he is so manifestly bestial?” (Ruud 7). Ruud believes that the original poet of Beowulf is doing this for effect rather than consistency, but a more reasonable explanation that encompasses all three characteristics is that Grendel represents the evil in
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.
Beowulf outlines turmoil between three opponents: Grendel, Grendel’s mother, and the Dragon. These separate discords each serve to fulfill different metaphoric purposes. Grendel’s character epitomizes the adverse persona of how an Anglo-Saxon warrior should not be. His mother represents everything that a woman during the time era should seldom be. Lastly, the Dragon embodies all the values that an Anglo-Saxon king should not dare retain. Without a doubt, the symbolic implications of the monsters in Beowulf bring the context to a new level of understanding.
The author creates a realistic picture during the battle between Beowulf and Grendel. Throughout the scene, light and dark portray events according to their corresponding characters. Beowulf, the hero, symbolizes light and goodness while Grendel symbolizes darkness and wickedness. The poem describes him as demonic, “While a baleful light, flame more than light, flared from his eyes” (726-27). Beowulf continues to represent
There are three prominent monsters in the Beowulf text, Grendel, his mother, and the dragon. While the dragon proves to be the most fatale of foes for Beowulf, Grendel and his mother do not simply pose physical threats to the Germanic society; their roles in Beowulf are manifold. They challenge the perceptions of heroism, a sense of unrivalled perfection and superiority. Moreover, they allow the reader to reconsider the gender constructs upheld within the text; one cannot help but feel that the threat that these monsters present is directed towards the prevalent flaws in Beowulf’s world. Moreover, what makes these monsters is not their physical appearance; it is what they embody. Both Grendel and his mother have humanlike qualities yet their monstrous appearance arises from what their features and mannerisms represent. The challenge they pose to societal paradigms makes them far more terrifying to our heroes than any scaled flesh or clawing hand. These monsters provide the ‘most authoritative general criticism […] of the structure and conduct of the poem’. Their presence provides contrast and criticism of the brave society (Heaney 103).
The poem Beowulf is a renowned story that displays many different surroundings and religious beliefs. Some may believe the story of Beowulf portrays pagan beliefs or customs and others believe that the poem is more in agreement with Christian ethnicity. The author of Beowulf uses both Christian and pagan elements in the poem to define the heroic warrior, Beowulf, and the evil dragons. After reading Beowulf the author clearly shows how Beowulf is a man who is filled with Christian customs and is willing to die and defend the world against evil using the help of God.
Beowulf contains multiple instances of the usage of symbolism to Christianity. Symbolism is portrayed through the characters and situations in the epic poem. According to the Danes in the epic, Beowulf is viewed as a savior. Staver states, “Jesus is the young warrior who comes to earth to fight with Satan” (Staver 155). This means that Beowulf is a symbol of Jesus for the way Beowulf leaves his home to embark on a journey to rescue Herot by defeating Grendel, and it shows the way the Anglo Saxons projected their faith in Christianity through Beowulf. Also, Grendel is used in Beowulf as a symbol of Christianity as a representation of Satan or a spawn of hell. In the modern English translation of Beowulf, Rafeel writes:
The epic poem, Beowulf, coming from the years of 600 to 700 AD has been translated in many different styles. In these excerpts by Burton Raffel and Lucien Dean Pearson, provides a clear understanding of this epic poem. Reading the two different translations, Raffel tends to provide the reader with a better understanding of the evil nature of Grendel and the heroic characteristics of Beowulf.
While the monsters of the poem are the antagonists of the poem, the author still manages to make the reader feel traces of sympathy for them. Grendel’s human depiction, exile and misery tugs at the heart of readers and indeed shows a genuine side to the figure, while Grendel’s mother and the dragon are sympathetic mainly because they were provoked into being attacked over things they both had a deep affection for. Their actions make us question whether they are as evil as they seem.
In history, evil men have reigned supreme across many cultures. Some people say that being evil is inherent in every human. If this is true, then writing may be the ultimate way of releasing hatred of the world without hurting anyone. In Beowulf, all of society's evil men can be personified within the demons of Cain. The main demon presented in Beowulf is Grendel. Grendel personifies the exact opposite of what the Anglo-Saxons held dear. Beowulf, the story's hero, is the embodiment of what every Anglo-Saxon strove to become in their lifetime. Grendel is constantly angry, afraid and unsure of himself; while Beowulf is fearless and loyal to his king.
Beowulf’s life was truly epic struggle. The monsters he battled made it so. Grendel and the dragon, capable of crushing men physically, stood for evils that could just as easily crush men in spirit. These two beasts represented society’s greatest fears, as well as detriments, and Beowulf fearlessly took them on. Grendel taught the hero a valuable lesson about maintaining one’s humanity in a world dominated by the dogs of war. The dragon, showed Beowulf’s mortality, his imperfection, but the hero eradicates it nonetheless, saving his people from not only physical threat, but sin. Bringing in such spiritual and moral dimensions, these two beasts certainly give the story of Beowulf depth.
To start the poem off the first incarnation of evil is introduced, the leviathan that goes by the name of Grendel. “Grendel, who haunted the moors, the wild Marshes, and made home in a hell.”(17-19) This atrocity of nature has been decimating the land of herot for over 12 years. Then comes the avatar of good, the heroic man from the land of the fabled geats has traveled across the sea, touching down upon the the land of the Danes to uplift the horrid curse upon the land Herot, Beowulf. Soon after the arrival, the battle ensues, Good vs Evil, in another sense it may be seen as God vs Devil, a nod to the various religious points in the epic. “That Shepherd of evil, guardian of crime, Knew at once that nowhere on earth Had he met a man whose hands were harder… Screams of the Almighty’s enemy sang… Taut throat, hell’s captive caught in the arms of him who of all men on earth Was the strongest.”(432,467,470-473) As is usually geared towards, a part of evil is purged from the world when Grendel takes his last breath and the side of good is celebrating with the return of Beowulf and his
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.