Beowulf’s speech to Hrothgar

This excerpt is pivotal, I thought, to the direction that the tale took from this point forward. I think Beowulf resented Hrothgar for saying what he dared not, this is the point in the story that Beowulf faced his own mortality and rejected it. Until Grendel Beowulf remained undefeated, and Grendel was his greatest challenge, so once he was “dead” Beowulf and the rest of Heorot were lulled into a false sense of security.

Enter Grendel’s mother, who attacks Heorot to avenge her son. For many reasons there’s something wrong with this picture: f

Thirdly, is Grendel’s mother, a monster kin to Cain, following the honor code? According to the honor code the death of a family member must be avenged. Now there is a permeable boundary line between right and wrong. Grendel’s mother, though animalistic in her methods is in many ways is doing the right thing. When I say she may be following the honor code, there is no way to tell; the attack on Heorot may have been just the first of many, or it my have been instinctive. Who knows?

irst, it isn’t typical for women to be brutal fighters, since they’re typically nurturers, and second she doesn’t fight like a woman should, women are usually sneaky and use poison. When she arrives at Heorot, which is virtually unprotected, instead of going on a mad bloody killing spree, she kills just one man. For all I know he’s the only one she intended to kill; a life for a life, and I can’t know for certain because the author never wrote from her point of view.

Beowulf faced his mortality because of Hrothgar, so Beowulf seems to see himself in a better light than he sees the king. By placing himself, in his own mind as better than Hrothgar, Beowulf has put himself in a position where Hrothgars weaknesses can’t reach him. If Beowulf is better than Hrothgar, he doesn’t have the same weakness that Hrothgar does. When Beowulf defies his fears and Hrothgar gives in to his again, if only briefly, this seems to upset Beowulf. He could have just left it at “Endure your troubles to-day. Bear–up…” but he has to add that last bit “…and be the man I expect you to be.” That seems almost patronizing; I certainly wouldn’t talk like that to someone supposedly ordained by God. However, Beowulf speaking to Hrothgar as if he’s a petulant child seems to snap the king out of his melancholy state of mind.

As I said before, Beowulf should not be talking to a king this way, weak king or not; after all, in their society kings were ordained by God. After Hrothgar gives in to despair, mourning the death of his counselor Beowulf says to him, “Wise sir, do not grieve. It is always better to avenge dear ones than to indulge in mourning. For every one of us, living in this world means waiting for our end. Let whoever can win glory before death. When a warrior is gone, that will be his best and only bulwark” (1383-89)

Then he tells Hrothgar to stand up and be the king he expects him to be. By all rights Beowulf has no

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