Beowulf

Loyalty and Generosity in Beowulf The society depicted in the poem “Beowulf� depended on two basic characteristics of its people. Loyalty and generosity are the two characteristics that bound this culture together. Throughout the poem, the people must depend on the loyalty and generosity of Beowulf and his warriors to defend them from evil. Society as described in Beowulf, was a very warlike society therefore, if Beowulf and his warriors were not giving of themselves in order to protect their people, the end result might have been drastically different. In the days of Beowulf the only reason for living was to be a loyal person, even if that meant death. If you were not a loyal person you basically had no reason to live because people would not even recognize you as a normal man. So it seems pretty obvious why most people during this time in society, were very loyal to their society and families. And in being a loyal person, also came giving of yourself. When the monster Grendel hears of the joy in Heorot and comes down to attack Beowulf’s people the Danes, this is the first time we see loyalty???? When Beowulf hears of what Grendel did to the Heorot and the Danes, he gathers fifteen of his best men across the sea to h

to help. Some critics argue that because of how Beowulf responds to situations such as this, he is full of pride and not loyalty. William Lawrence argues that since Beowulf is so quick to respond to a challenge and never backs down, that he is way to prideful. Lawrence writes that, although Beowulf is the hero of the poem, his eagerness to take a challenge is a symbol of his downfall, pride. However, Beowulf does what he says he will do and so therefore he has a right to brag to others. In this situation when he goes to fight with Grendel, Beowulf asks that he fight the monster alone. He knows that God will decide the outcome, so relying on that, he is loyal to his people by fighting the deadly monster. While Beowulf is waiting to fight the monster, Unferth appears and challenges Beowulf. Unferth taunts Beowulf about losing past battles in his life, which only provokes Beowulf to brag and boast even more. Beowulf tells Unferth the story of the swimming match and explains that he killed nine sea monsters while out at sea. He also conveniently mentions that he has never heard any stories of Unferth’s bravery. Chase Colins writes about how this instance of Beowulf’s bragging could be conceived as over kill, however he thinks Beowulf is only standing up for himself in the manner that any man would. The fact that Beowulf hasn’t heard any stories of Unferth is a symbol that Unferth was not a loyal man, argues Colins. Which in this society was quite a slap in the face. Beowulf finishes by telling Unferth that, if he were as brave as he claims to be, Grendel would be dead already. This is another instance that Lawren