Beowulf Summary Essay, Research Paper

Beowulf

Drumhead

Beowulf begins with a history of the Danish male monarchs, get downing with Shild ( whose funeral is described in the Prologue ) and taking up to the reign of King Hrothgar, Shild & # 8217 ; s great-grandson. Hrothgar is good loved by his people and successful in war. He builds a munificent hall, called Herot, to house his huge ground forces, and when the hall is finished the Danish soldiers gather under its roof to observe.

Grendel, a monster in human form who lives at the underside of a nearby swamp, is provoked by the vocalizing and carousing of Hrothgar & # 8217 ; s followings. He appears at the hall tardily one dark and kills 30 of the warriors in their slumber. For the following 12 old ages the fright of Grendel & # 8217 ; s possible rage casts a shadow over the lives of the Danes. Hrothgar and his advisors can believe of nil to pacify the monster & # 8217 ; s choler.

Beowulf, prince of the Geats, hears about Hrothgar & # 8217 ; s problems, gathers fourteen of the bravest Geat warriors, and sets sail from his place in southern Sweden. The Geats are greeted by the members of Hrothgar & # 8217 ; s tribunal, and Beowulf boasts to the male monarch of his old successes as a warrior, peculiarly his success in contending sea monsters. Hrothgar welcomes the reaching of the Geats, trusting that Beowulf will populate up to his repute. During the feast that follows Beowulf & # 8217 ; s reaching, Unferth, a Danish soldier, voices doubt about Beowulf & # 8217 ; s past achievements, and Beowulf, in bend, accuses Unferth of killing brothers. Before retiring for the dark, Hrothgar promises Beowulf great hoarded wealths if he meets with success against the monster.

Grendel appears on the dark of the Geats & # 8217 ; reaching at Herot. Beowulf, true to his word, wrestles the monster barehanded. He tears off the monster & # 8217 ; s arm at the shoulder, but Grendel escapes, merely to decease shortly subsequently at the underside of his snake-infested swamp. The Danish warriors, who had fled the hall in fright, return singing vocals in congratulations of Beowulf & # 8217 ; s victory. The epic narratives of Siegmund and Hermod, and of the Frisian male monarch Finn, are performed in Beowulf & # 8217 ; s award. Hrothgar wagess Beowulf with a great shop of hoarded wealths. After another feast the warriors of both the Geats and the Danes retire for the dark.

Unknown to the warriors, nevertheless, Grendel & # 8217 ; s female parent is plotting retaliation. She arrives at the hall when all the warriors are kiping and carries off Esher, Hrothgar & # 8217 ; s main advisor. Beowulf, lifting to the juncture, offers to plunge to the underside of the lake, find the monster & # 8217 ; s brooding topographic point, and destruct her. He and his work forces follow the monster & # 8217 ; s paths to the drop overlooking the lake where Grendel & # 8217 ; s female parent lives. They see Esher & # 8217 ; s bloody caput drifting on the surface of the lake. While fixing for conflict, Beowulf asks Hrothgar to protect his warriors, and to direct his hoarded wealths to his uncle, King Higlac, if he doesn & # 8217 ; t return safely.

During the resulting conflict Grendel & # 8217 ; s female parent carries Beowulf to her submerged place. After a awful battle Beowulf kills the monster with a charming blade that he finds on the wall of her place. He besides finds Grendel & # 8217 ; s dead organic structure, cuts off the caput, and returns to set down, where the Geat and Danish warriors are waiting expectantly. Beowulf has now purged Denmark of the race of evil monsters.

The warriors return to Hrothgar & # 8217 ; s tribunal, where the Danish male monarch delivers a discourse to Beowulf on the dangers of pride and on the fugitive nature of celebrity and power. The Danes and Geats prepare a banquet in jubilation of the decease of the monsters. In the forenoon the Geats hurry to their boat, dying to get down the trip place. Beowulf commands farewell to Hrothgar and tells the old male monarch that if the Danes of all time once more necessitate aid he will lief come to their aid. Hrothgar nowadayss Beowulf with more hoarded wealths and they embrace, emotionally, like male parent and boy.

The Geats sail place. After telling the narrative of his conflicts with Grendel and Grendel & # 8217 ; s female parent, Beowulf tells King Higlac about the feud between Denmark and their enemies, the Hathobards. He describes the proposed peace colony, in which Hrothgar will give his girl Freaw to Ingeld, male monarch of the Hathobards, but predicts that the peace will non last long. Higlac wagess Beowulf for his courage with packages of land, blades, and houses.

The meeting between Higlac and Beowulf marks the terminal of the first portion of the verse form. In the following portion Higlac is dead, and Beowulf has been king of the Geats for 50 old ages. A stealer steals a beady cup from a kiping firedrake who avenges his loss by winging through the dark firing down houses, including Beowulf & # 8217 ; s ain hall and throne. Beowulf goes to the cave where the firedrake lives, vowing to destruct it unassisted. He & # 8217 ; s an old adult male now, nevertheless, and his strength is non every bit great as it was when he fought against Grendel. During the conflict Beowulf breaks his blade against the firedrake & # 8217 ; s side ; the firedrake, enraged, engulfs Beowulf in

fires and wounds him in the cervix. All of Beowulf’s followings flee except Wiglaf, who rushes through the fires to help the aging warrior. Wiglaf stabs the firedrake with his blade, and Beowulf, in a concluding act of bravery, cuts the firedrake in half with his knife.

Yet the harm is done. Beowulf realizes that he & # 8217 ; s death, that he has fought his last conflict. He asks Wiglaf to convey him the firedrake & # 8217 ; s depot of hoarded wealths ; seeing the gems and gold will do him experience that the attempt has been worthwhile. He instructs Wiglaf to construct a grave to be known as & # 8220 ; Beowulf & # 8217 ; s loom & # 8221 ; on the border of the sea. After Beowulf dies, Wiglaf admonishes the military personnels who deserted their leader when he was contending against the firedrake. He tells them that they have been untrue to the criterions of courage, bravery, and trueness that Beowulf has taught.

Wiglaf sends a courier to a nearby campsite of Geat soldiers with instructions to describe the result of the conflict. The courier predicts that the enemies of the Geats will experience free to assail them now that their male monarch is dead. Wiglaf supervises the edifice of the funeral pyre. In maintaining with Beowulf & # 8217 ; s instructions, the firedrake & # 8217 ; s hoarded wealth is buried alongside Beowulf & # 8217 ; s ashes in the grave. The verse form ends as it began & # 8211 ; with the funeral of a great warrior.

Beowulf

A hero must be judged by the things he does and the manner he reacts and relates to other people. His workss must be marked by a aristocracy of intent, and he must be willing to put on the line his life for his ideals. Though Beowulf evidently meets these demands, he & # 8217 ; s besides a mortal human being. The writer or poet, describes Beowulf as a human and a hero.

The poet foremost describes Beowulf as & # 8220 ; & # 8230 ; greater/And stronger than anyone anyplace in this universe & # 8221 ; . Beowulf & # 8217 ; s visual aspect & # 8211 ; his size, his armour & # 8211 ; evidently shows merely how heroic he is. We learn about his character from the addresss he makes to the soldier and to Wulfgar, the Danish warrior who once more asks the Geats to place themselves. His mode lacks the meaness and coldness of a individual whose old achievements make him experience superior to other people. His celebrity as the universe & # 8217 ; s bravest individual hasn & # 8217 ; t gone to his caput.

Yet he & # 8217 ; s besides a individual with a definite intent. If he expects to conflict Grendel, he must convert Hrothgar of his courage. The reader might happen his vainglory disturbing, but for Beowulf it & # 8217 ; s merely a agency of acquiring what he wants. The inquiry remains, nevertheless: What does Beowulf desire? Is he motivated to execute epic Acts of the Apostless merely by a demand to assist other people? Are fame and glory uppermost in his head? Or is he interested chiefly in roll uping every bit much wealth as possible?

It might be best to presume that Beowulf is motivated by a combination of all these things. A hero, the poet is stating us, isn & # 8217 ; t immune from interior struggles. He may move altruistically, governed by a codification of moralss and an intuitive apprehension of other people. But portion of him & # 8211 ; and this is possibly the tragic defect in Beowulf & # 8217 ; s character & # 8211 ; has no existent thought of why he acts the manner he does.

The reader may desire to construe Beowulf & # 8217 ; s epic nature as a sort of interior quest, a hunt for something beyond the ordinary tally of being. Part of this quest involves the hunt for a true male parent. In his desire to affect Hrothgar and Higlac, he acts really much the manner a boy might move toward his male parent. One of the grounds he comes to assist Hrothgar, we learn, is to pay his male parent & # 8217 ; s debt. He has no great desire to go male monarch of the Geats. When foremost offered the throne, he refuses, preferring to play the function of warrior-son.

Beowulf & # 8217 ; s religious struggles, & # 8211 ; whether to move altruistically for the good of others, or to roll up wagess and personal celebrity & # 8211 ; are besides a key to his personality. In the same sense, he & # 8217 ; s ne’er certain whether his success as a warrior is due to his ain strength or to God & # 8217 ; s aid.

Subject

The struggle between good and evil is the verse form & # 8217 ; s most of import subject. The poet makes it clear, nevertheless, that good and immoralities can non be together. The poet besides express though, that it both qualities are present in everyone. Beowulf represents the possible to make good, while Grendel, Grendel & # 8217 ; s female parent, and the firedrake are consumed with the blind desire to move against people and to destruct them.

Yet pride, a human quality, is besides a mark that evil exists. It & # 8217 ; s of import, as Hrothgar points out to Beowulf, to protect oneself against experiencing smug. He says that you must non disregard the powers to make good with which you & # 8217 ; ve been blessed. The poet besides makes clear our demand for a codification of moralss. Such a codification allows members of society to associate to one another with apprehension and trust. The most of import bond in this society was the relation between king and warrior. When the Geat warriors broke that bond by declining to help Beowulf in his conflict with the firedrake, the foundation of society prostrations, and pandemonium regulations.