... of their purpose in whichever tasks they perform. Beowulf does deserve to have the title of epic hero bestowed upon him simply because, everything he does is for the good of his people, and he always puts them before his own needs. Three of Beowulf's traits that support this are his ... death. An epic hero is characterized for having superhuman strength, Beowulf epitomizes this quality. For example as seen in the battle with Grendel "That shepherd of evil, guardian of crime, knew at once that nowhere on earth had he met a man whose hands where harder" (Lines 325 - 327). Beowulf fought G...

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• Grade Level: High School

... just how evil he is. He never feels remorse for the slaughter of these men and for the feelings of these families. His home is described as a place of hell, but a hell on earth. These descriptions help us to better understand the story and get a better sense of how his life is compared to the civilians of Herot. Coming of Beowulf In this section it ... portrays the greatness and importance of Beowulf to his town's people. He gathers 14 of his best men ... of him because all he wants to do is run back to his cave. Grendal puts up a fight with Beowulf but it is not good enough. Beowulf d...

• Word Count: 567
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• Grade Level: High School

... battle because Beowulf had fought honorably in all of his battles and his time as King was coming to an end. Although Beowulf dies fighting the dragon, his victories against the monsters affirm the ultimate triumph of Good over Evil. In Beowulf's first battle at Herot, he fought Grendel with honor without any armor or weapons. Fate chose Beowulf to overcome Grendel's strength in ... order for Beowulf to be successful in his battle. Fate is expressed furthermore in the quote, "That Shepherd of evil, guardian of crime,/ Knew at once that nowhere on earth ... is usually on Beowulf's side....

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• Grade Level: High School

... meet him with my hands empty"" (677-84). He again showed his courage as he plunged into the lake where Grendel's mother dwelled. He says, "I shall shape glory with Hrunthing / or death will hurry me from this earth! " / "As his words ended / he leaped into the lake / would not wait for anyone's answer"" (1490-94). Beowulf later talks to Hrothgar about his ... ordinary man could lift its carved and decorated length. / He drew it"" (1557-61). Beowulf's great strength proves here to be a heroic quality because he is able to pull the magic sword from its sheath when noone else would be abl...

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... unfriendly and is perfect for the monster of the story. At the beginning of the story, Grendel is described as "a powerful monster, living down in the darkness (1)." This starts the very lengthy wording of how evil Grendel is and how much the audience is suppose to not like him. Grendel was "the demon, the fiend that haunted the moors and lived in hell but on earth (16)." This is eye candy ... pure evil because it would have been stronger and not defeated as easily. Only a mortal person can die but evil, as well as good, lives on forever in all of us. Good may always win the battle but ...

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... money; priests have damage our society more than any pagan religion has, harming children women, etc. Christianity now hides behind the image of the Church, convincing people that the Church is necessary: But what does an expensive and great building has to do with your faith in God? I think ... actions cannot change. Paganism in the Anglo-Saxon period can be easily represented with the lyric poem "The Seafarer". The author expresses his Pagan thoughts in phrases such as "...there isn't a man on Earth so proud, grown so brave, that he feels no fear as the sails unfurls, wondering what f...

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... 's calling for Beowulf. He is sent to a city haunted by Grendel who he must defeat. He is viewed by the people of the town he saves as being "sent by God". Religion was a huge part of life in this time period. Beowulf symbolizes "good" as opposed to Grendel who symbolizes "bad". All fate rests in God's hands alone. God does what he chooses ... those rock-steep cliffs they quietly ended / Their voyage." (Lines 218-224) No one, without God's help, could ever travel across this sea with such ease. Once they arrive and the King is notified, King Hrothgar says, "Our Holy Father / Has sent him...

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• Grade Level: High School

... people. King Hrothgar who sees to the protection of the land could be portraying as Lord. In addition to beginning of the poem, the writer uses an idea about how the God created the earth in a brilliant flat circle with water which is correlated to how God created the earth in the bible, and saw that light was good which represent the gleaming mention in the poem and how he commanded water to ... gather together to create a dry land which he called earth, all this represent the plain girdled with ... water mention in Beowulf. It also mentions how God quickened life and everything that ...

• Word Count: 1284
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... floor, but he still prevails against him. While telling this story he does make a statement that should convince everyone he is mortal, and the quote is, "Fate often saves an undoomed man when his courage is good." This quote proves that he is mortal, but it just wasn't meant to be that day. His bravery and courage makes him nearly immortal though ... because of his extremely high confidence. If it wasn't for his confidence he would have probably died sooner because what would the point be for God to keep a low self esteem warrior on the earth. His ... confidence is shown well in his f...

• Word Count: 362
• Approx Pages: 1
• Grade Level: High School

... exists on this earth in any given time period, there will always be a present evil that will continually battle against that forces of good. This continuous and monotonous strife will forever persevere until one force, either good or evil, becomes immortally invincible. Thus, until this monumental time comes, the evil foe will inevitably continue its trend of destruction, and the gladiators of good and morality will ... to Christ's disciples when he died on the cross, and their duty was to "go into all the world and preach the good news of Christ" which is later written into the chapter...

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• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... a lasting impression and usually contains theme of the poem. In Howell D. Chickering, Jr's translation of the anonymously written epic poem Beowulf the poet uses the end and beginning to describe the funerals of two important kings. Scyld is the King and founder of the Danes and represents everything a king is and should be. The poet describes Scyld as a "good king" who saves the Danes from ruin by taking control of ... a leaderless kingdom and by standing strong against all of it's enemies. Earning the respect of your people is vital to the success of any king during this period. Scyld...

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• Grade Level: High School

... Beowulf or evil being the evil monster Grendel. Creation of earth comes across the reader during The Coming of Grendel. The Christian monk describes the creation of earth as produced by the almighty God. As Grendel is living in the darkness, God is constructing the plains, oceans, sun, moon, and trees. The influence of God on human behavior is acknowledged at the end of The Battle with Grendel. With the help of God, Beowulf ... is able to defeat Grendel. Finally the people of Herot celebrate the end of evil. They are grateful for the courage of Beowulf and also the strength of the almig...

• Word Count: 272
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• Grade Level: High School

... glory. "...as an aged king, I shall still seek battle and do glorious deeds, if the wicked ravager will come out of the earth hall to meet me." (65-66) It is Beowulf who starts the battle, by waking the dragon with his battle cry. during the first few seconds of the battle, the dragon's flames melted Beowulf's shield. Here Beowulf realizes that his fate is here. That does ... from evil. But, more than that, since Beowulf is in fact not a messiah, this description shows the good in Beowulf's heart and the purpose of his mission. Another Biblical reference in Beowulf is shown in the tower...

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• Grade Level: High School

... King is laid to rest, "They stretched their beloved lord in his boat/ the mass treasure loaded on top of him it would travel far on out into the ocean's way" (lines 34-42). In the end, Beowulf is burned "Many people of importance in the land, to fetch wood for the good man's pyre/ Now shall flame consume our leader" (lines 3113-3117). All these ... ceremonial traditions were very customary to Germanic tribes even if it were cremating or returning their warrior to the sea. The Germanic social system was ... animal or human superior strength. A mixture of pagan and Christianity worshippi...

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... make a perfunctory choice; instead, he patiently waits and "[listens] to the voice of wisdom" (Renoir 1). The sagacious elders tell Beowulf that "the omens [are] good, And they [urge] the adventure on" (l 118-119, 27). Furthermore, he exhibits his wisdom by his technique of defeating Grendel. When Grendel comes to eat the men of the mead hall, Beowulf pretends to be asleep because he knows that Grendel ... only attacks during the nighttime. As they engage in battle, Beowulf displays his physical strength. Even Grendel, a ferocious monster, realizes that "nowhere on earth ... need to us...

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... down into a "fiery lake" and defeated ma Grendel by himself. Finally, Beowulf tried to slay the dragon that was terrorizing the inhabitants of his kingdom, even though he was old and weak. In a similar manner, Hercules was also deemed to be "the strongest man on earth" and often displayed this great strength by defeating terrible monsters. For instance, when Hercules was just a ... he could never be defeated" (Hamilton, 167). Besides believing that he could never be defeated Hercules also thought of himself on an equality with the gods (he had good reason to do so since he helped them de...

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... live then he would only triumph because he is "good"? In part I think so. But overall according to fate there is nothing he could have done to alter his future weather he was a good or evil. This is shown by the text in lines 1580-1583: "The eminent Prince was doomed to reach his days on earth, his life in this world. So too was ... the dragon, though he had guarded the hoard for generations," and also in lines 1717-1721: "fate hovered over him ... , so soon to fall on that old man, to split life and body, flesh was confine that soul of the old man only a little longer." The idea that t...

• Word Count: 337
• Approx Pages: 1
• Grade Level: High School

... he must risk his life, regardless." In risking one's life for the good of his clan, a man in Beowulf's time gained fame. Beowulf is the expression of the heroic ideal because even when he knew he was going to lose the battle with the dragon, which is shown in line 1716; "His mind was most ... obvious like when he decides to fight Grendel with his bare hands instead of using a sword before they knew that "No war-sword, not even the finest iron on earth, could wound their evil enemy, for he had woven a secret spell against every kind of weapon, every battle blade." Consequently, when a ma...

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... Grendel, who was known for killing men in their sleep and eating them, could not match the strength of Beowulf, "who of all men on earth/Was the strongest" (li. 364-365). Beowulf, "that mighty protector of men/Meant to hold the monster till its life/Leaped out- (li. 366-368) comes out victorious in every battle he fights. Through his fighting, yet another ... quality is revealed about him - his fearlessness. To have strength, bravery, and selflessness are all good characteristics, but to be ... fearless is one of the most significant and most important. Often, fear is something that hu...

• Word Count: 536
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• Grade Level: High School

... weans to earn him lasting fame, nor fears for his life!" Even though his strength sets him apart from most other men, he only uses his strength for the good of the people. Beowulf does not fear for his life because he knows that his good deeds will be remembered forever. When Beowulf kills Grendel's mom, he puts his life at stake. Beowulf wrestles ... king dies. "He ruled it well for fifty winters, grew old and wise as warden on the land-. Beowulf is a good king. His subjects honor him and they are all loyal to him. Because of Beowulf's innate goodness, he is able to be a part of the re...

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... was over .,"(p43,338-340). After Beowulf ripped Grendels arm out it was obvious that the battle was over and Beowulf had won. Another good example of Beowulf's strength is during the battle with grendels mother. This is when he swam down to her lair, but he is unable to use weapons against ... her due to Grendels moms body being protected by magic. "If weapons were useless he"d use his hands, the strength in his ... both physical and mental are important in winning a battle. A second characteristic of Beowulf is his honor. One example of this would be in the last battle he would fight w...

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... theme was Light vs. Dark. A direct quote was "at daybreak, with the sun's first light, they saw how well he had worked." This is reference to how well Grendel had "worked" the Mead Hall the night before. Other examples of light include, "the world's candle lit," and "earth's lamp light." These both talking about the sun. Now on to dark. A direct quote for dark is "I swam ... in the blackness of night, hunting monsters out of the ocean, and killing them one by one." This is just an ... as often as he could, coming alone, bloodthirsty and horrible." This shows Grendels disregard for huma...

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... now warriors sang of their pleasure: so Hrothgar's men lived happy in his hall till the monster stirred, that demon, that fiend, Grendel, who haunted the moors, the wild marshes, and made his home in a hell not hell but earth. He was spawned in that slime, conceived by a pair of those monsters born of Cain ... , murderous creatures banished by God, punished forever for the crime of Abel's death. (lines 98-108) ... enjoys hurting and scaring people. Grendel chooses to act in an evil way because he believes that nothing but serving evil can make him feel good. This "guardian of crime 750-...

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• Grade Level: High School

Heroes and monsters, both good and evil fighting each other, is a theme that even today we are all too familiar with in movies, books, and television. However, Beowulf depicts the accomplishments of a Geatish hero who rids Hrothgar's kingdom of two monsters, Grendel and Grendel's mother. This is a characteristic ... at my sword blade, would be helpless. I will meet him/ With my hands empty- (44). He fights Grendel empty handed and still defeats the monster. In addition, Beowulf displays courage in choosing to face Grendel's mother in her lair. Her quarters are underwater and Beowulf knows th...

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... Grendel to commit such atrocities. The author claims "it harrowed Grendel to hear the din of the loud banquet every day in the hall, the harp being struck and the clear song of a skilled poet telling with mastery of man's beginnings, how the Almighty had made the earth" (line 87 – 93). The raucous feasts and joyous celebrations within Heorot make the reader believe that Grendel is attacking ... the hall out of envy, an emotion generally ... interesting to note that Grendel is said to be "insensible to pain and human sorrow," which is refuted once we see the pain and agony he feels du...

• Word Count: 1275
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: Undergraduate