The Mead-Hall: The Culture Of The Danes

77 Words1 Page
bulb-icon

Recommended: One of beowulf famous battles

Heorot, the mead-hall, represents a big part of the culture of the Danes, because it is where the people eat, celebrate, and where many great stories are told. It symbolizes the might and power of the Spear-Danes under Hrothgar, since it is the largest mead-hall in the world. It is also a seat of government, and is where the first battle takes place. Contrary to Grendel’s cave, it represents light and happiness, the ‘heart’ of the Danes.

Show More
Related

  • Examples Of Hero's Journey In Beowulf

    1115 Words  | 3 Pages

    Then he battles not one but two demons being two of the tests that he faces. Beowulf 's main purpose in Denmark is to kill the coldhearted powerful demon. “Gendel was the name of the grim demon Haunting the marches, marauding round the heath And the desolate fens;...” (lines 102-104). After his first battle “Beowulf, son of Ecgtheow, spoke: “ We have gone through with a glorious endeavour and been much favored in this fight we dared against the unknown, Nevertheless, if you could have seen the monster himself where he lay beaten, i would have been better pleased, My plan was to pounce, pin him down In a tight grip and grapple him to death- Have him painting for life, powerless and clasped In my bare hands, his body in thrall. But i couldn 't stop him from slipping my hold, The lord allowed it, my lock on him Wasn’t strong enough, he struggled fiercely and broke and ran. Yet he bought his freedom At a high price, for he left his hand and arm and shoulder to show he had been here, A cold comfort for having come among us. And now he won 't be long for this world. He has done his worst but the wound will end him.”( lines 956-974). Then they decide to celebrate, little do they know that along with Grendel lives his mother. Seeking vengeance for her son 's death, she attacks Heorot and kills just one man being Hrothgar 's closest friend and advisor. In his grief, he

    Read More

  • Hrothgar's Pride In Beowulf

    562 Words  | 2 Pages

    Hrothgar’s pride caused him to fail to protect his kingdom, and make his people vulnerable. His biggest accomplishment as king was the building of Heorot Hall. Heorot distracted him from his people and he was not able to protect them from Grendel. When Hrothgar came up with the idea of Heorot Hall he wanted something that was “meant to be a wonder of the world

    Read More

  • Beowulf: Fierce and Compassionate Warrior

    449 Words  | 1 Pages

    The epic Beowulf is one of the oldest poems written in English. According to the Norton Anthology, "the poem was composed more the twelve hundred years ago, in the first half of the eight century. Its author may have been a native of what was Mercia, the Midlands of England today, although the late tenth-century manuscript , which alone preserves the poem, originated in the south in the kingdom of the West Saxons" (Norton 21). Although the poem is of English origin, it speaks of tribes (the Danes and the Geats) that are from the "Danish island of Zealand and southern Sweden respectively" (Norton 22). The main character, Beowulf, demonstrates that he is a warrior who places heroism and bravery over his own well-being and life. Beowulf is a hero and an example of a great warrior. His actions give us a good example of the pagan warrior mentality. The pagan society is a warrior society, in which courage and bravery are extremely prevalent. Beowulf fights against monsters and dragons, and he would rather die in battle, then anywhere else. Beowulf is called upon to help defeat Grendel, who is a monster that has taken over the hall of Heorot. He is greeted with great hospitality. Hrothgar, the King of Denmark, is relived to see Beowulf. There is some skepticism by Unferth, who recalls a fight in which Beowulf lost in Battle. Unferth is wrong, and Beowulf says this great line: "fate often saves an undoomed man when his courage is good." Beowulf defeats Grendel with great ease and the people of the hall are gracious to Beowulf.

    Read More

  • Saga of the Volsungs Breakdown

    1412 Words  | 3 Pages

    In his translation of The Saga of the Volsungs: the Norse Epic of Sigurd the Dragon Slayer, Jesse L. Byock compiles many versions of this famous Norse epic and creates a very important scholarly work. Of special importance is the introduction, which provides a central working background to base readings upon. There are several themes echoed throughout the translation that reflect accurately on this portion of history. Byock does a superb job of illustrating these important aspects in his work. While the tale Byock tells is a fairy-tale handed down by generations of families, within the reader can find tell-tale signs of important aspects of Norse culture. For instance, important aspects of family life and the role of men and women surface. Likewise, the importance of wealth and material possessions on the power and prestige of a king is also evident.

    Read More

  • Examples Of Epic Quest In Beowulf

    983 Words  | 2 Pages

    This is where he will fight his battle and be during his time in the special world. Beowulf travels to these exotic places in order to find and defeat the evil. “Someone tells our protagonist… go in search of the holy grail. Go to the store for bread. Go to Vegas and whack a guy” (Foster 3). Foster says that all protagonists are sent on a quest of some sort to achieve or get some item. Many stories can relate to this and have good examples of why the quest or is needed to go to the stated place. We have arrived here on a great errand to the lord of the Danes, and I believe therefore there should be nothing hidden or withheld between us. So tell us if what we have heard is true about this threat \, whatever it is, this danger abroad in the dark nights” (Heaney 270-275). Beowulf arrives at Heorot for one purpose: to destroy Grendel. Grendel has been terrorizing the people of the mead-hall, and he has come to bring them salvation and to kill him once and for

    Read More

  • A Summary of Beowulf

    983 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Similarities And Differences And Challenges In The Tale Of Beowulf

    944 Words  | 2 Pages

    Hrothgar and the Danes hold a celebration after they finished of their new mead hall, named Heorot. During the celebration Grendel, a monster in the swamps, hears the loud cheers of the Danes singing and chanting as the festivities take place. Grendel becomes furious from

    Read More

  • Beowulf and the Power of Speech

    4013 Words  | 9 Pages

    "So,” begins poem.  “The Spear-Danes in days gone by/ and the kings who ruled them had courage and greatness./ We have heard of those princes’ heroic campaigns” (1-3).  What follows is a brief history lesson, the story of “Shield Sheafson, scourge of many tribes,/ a ...

    Read More

  • Viking Religion

    1916 Words  | 4 Pages

    "Norse Mythology: The Valkyries: The Chooser of the Slain." Norse Mythology. Accessed May 29, 2014. http://www.viking-mythology.com/valkyries.php.

    Read More

  • Mead-Hall In Beowulf

    447 Words  | 1 Pages

    The role of the mead-hall in Anglo-Saxon culture is important and the relationship between a lord and his warriors is a special thing. The mead-hall is a place of celebration and victory, like in Beowulf before Grendel came and attacked and made it more of a place of terror than happiness. The relationship between lord and warrior though, that is something special. Many things can come out of it, like rewards for the help with a victory. Although the rewards of being a warrior for a lord is beneficial in many ways, the mead-hall represents so many things.

    Read More

  • A Theraph Way Of Life In Jamie Gullen's The Danish Way Of Life

    1029 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the short story “The Danish Way of Life”, author Jamie Gullen, who is a native of New York City spent several months in Copenhagen. She went expecting Copenhagen to be similar culturally to the United States only to find she had a lot to learn about herself and about this new country. In another short story called “Where Are You From?” the author Patricia Park, also a native of New York City, but the daughter of Korean immigrants, also traveled to another country, Korea. She went expecting to find Korea to be the way her parents had described it. The “motherland” as she explained, was a family myth. Although both of these authors grew up in the same city, of the same country, they had two different experiences when

    Read More

  • Use Of Imagery In The Barbarian Nurseries

    1938 Words  | 4 Pages

    Hector Tobar, author of the The Barbarian Nurseries conforms to the conventions of suburban fiction and provides many common archetypes of the genre to illustrate how the suburban lifestyle has become a dystopia for the children who live there.

    Read More

  • Good Vs. Evil In Beowulf And Burton Raffel

    771 Words  | 2 Pages

    To begin, the setting of where Beowulf and Grendel live, are very distinct. Beowulf creates a lavish hall, called Heorot, to house his army of men, when the hall is finished the Danish warriors gather together

    Read More

  • The Epic Poem, Beowulf - Is Beowulf History or Myth?

    2817 Words  | 6 Pages

    Another effect of what are called the ‘historical elements’ in Beowulf – the subsidiary stories of the Danes and the Geats – is to give the poem greater depth and verisimilitude. Hrothgar, the Danish king, is a ‘historical character, and the site of his palace of Heorot has been identified with the village of Leire on the island of Seeland in Denmark. The Geat king Hygelac really existed, and his unlucky expedition against the Franks, referred to several times in the poem, is mentioned by Gregory of Tours in the Historia Francorum and has been given the approximate date of AD521 (127).

    Read More

  • Scandinavia: Viking Paganism

    977 Words  | 2 Pages

    Vikings were a Norse-speaking, seafaring people who lived from the 8th to 11th centuries, mainly in Scandinavia. They were expert sailors who, starting in late 700s, looted and burned civilizations along rivers and coasts of Europe and Asia. They traded, sailed and explored across the Mediterranean Sea and Atlantic Ocean, opening trade routes that connected Europe to the Mediterranean lands. During this time, some of the population settled in the kingdoms that they were exploring; namely England, Ireland, northern France and Russia. One of the main influences that the surrounding cultures had on them was through religion. As the Vikings came in contact with Christianity through their raids, it began to form a unique fusion of Christian influence, while still holding on to many aspects of their pagan lifestyle. Not many primary sources remain from pre-Christian Viking society as much of their culture was destroyed during the Christianization process. The extremely strong oral tradition and the artifacts that remain are what the knowledge of the culture is based on. The pagan culture interests me, as I can still examine influences of it on my Scandinavian family today.

    Read More

More about The Mead-Hall: The Culture Of The Danes

Open Document