... , it can also represent a significant ideal that each person holds. In Beowulf, it appears that Heorot, the mead-hall, is the most prestigious treasure of the Danish people. Under the Danish king, Hrothgar, the hall is a place of community and gatherings, where traditions are preserved, loyalty is rewarded ... dangerous enemies also stock valuables that they seek to have for their own. This notion depicts the incessant struggle of keeping one's own treasure while simultaneously seizing it from different forces, which indicates an Anglo-Saxon society that is falling apart because the value...

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• Grade Level: High School

... b. High King Brian Boru drives the Danes from Ireland at the Battle of Clontarf c. Normans defeat Saxons; William the Conqueror becomes English king I. The Celtic Heroes and Heroines: A Magical World 1. Island was settled by tall blond warriors called themselves Celts, among these were a group called Brythons, who left their permanent stamp in one of the names (Britain) eventually adopted by the ... years. Along with roads being built, Christianity gradually became stronger and took over the leadership of European missionaries. 2. By A.D. 409, the Romans had left Britain, resulting in t...

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... hag, the Danes tell him: "Save us, once more, and again the twisted gold, heaped-up ancient treasure, will reward you for the battle you win." (line 567) This shows that treasure is indeed at least some part of his motive to fight the monsters. This quote also implies that he received ... treasure for defeating Grendel. Another time Beowulf receives treasure is when he kills the dragon that has been attacking his country. The price paid for this treasure is very great, though. After defeating the dragon, with the aid of ... seeing it, he proclaims: " this gold, these jewels, I thank Ou...

• Word Count: 897
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... up his life by fighting the dragon that hoards the precious Jewels. The dragon serves a purpose of being the opposite of a generous king, keeping the treasure in his possession. This representation of the dragon hoarding this treasure gives more of a moral significance in a sense rather than just a selfish meaning. James W. Earl exemplifies the way in which this is true by stating, " ... worldly achievement in general, cannot secure a culture against its inevitable decay," (Earl p 1). As he opens up this topic, he elaborates of a meaning of what the power of hoarding the treasure ho...

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... of a young kinsman, Wiglaf, but not before biting Beowulf in the neck and eventually destroying him. Although dying, Beowulf was glad that he had won the treasure for his people. The second poem is Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, which is a romance written about six hundred years ago. The author is known as ... a favor for Hrothgar. When Beowulf was younger his father needed the help of Hrothgar. Hrothgar gladly and respectfully helped Beowulf's father in sending a ship full of treasure to the Wulfings, whom Beowulf's father killed one of their men. Since Hrothgar did this favor for Beow...

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... of a young kinsman, Wiglaf, but not before biting Beowulf in the neck and eventually destroying him. Although dying, Beowulf was glad that he had won the treasure for his people. The second poem is Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, which is a romance written about six hundred years ago. The author is known as ... a favor for Hrothgar. When Beowulf was younger his father needed the help of Hrothgar. Hrothgar gladly and respectfully helped Beowulf's father in sending a ship full of treasure to the Wulfings, whom Beowulf's father killed one of their men. Since Hrothgar did this favor for Beow...

• Word Count: 1101
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• Grade Level: High School

... with ease, but it takes four men to lift and carry it back to Heorot mead-hall. This strength is a key trait of Beowulf's heroism. He thanks Hrothgar for the treasure he has received, and he offers the help of the Geats if the Danes should ever need it. The return to the homeland is full of much rejoicing and giving ... , leaving Beowulf to reign the Geats. In the fiftieth year of his reign, another monster has the Geats under attack. A slave stole a cup from a fire-breathing dragon's treasure trove. This dragon was guarding the treasure, which was left by an ancient civilization. He sle...

• Word Count: 1056
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... so Wiglaf does as he is asked and enters the dragon's barrow, where he sees vast amounts of treasure and gold and riches. Wiglaf quickly takes some of the treasure, eager to return to his lord, hoping he would find him still alive. Wiglaf returns to the place where he had left Beowulf, and finds his lord bleeding profusely. Beowulf ... begins to talk to Wiglaf, thanking G-d that he has the treasure in front of him and that he has been allowed to leave his people well endowed on the day he dies. He tells Wiglaf that he knows he is about ... ...

• Word Count: 271
• Approx Pages: 1
• Grade Level: High School

... his life. But thanks to an ancient giant's sword, he defeats this beast. The Danes are in awe of Beowulf and give him massive amounts of treasure and four horses, after he kills Grendel and after he kills Grendel's mother. When Beowulf returns home to Geats he is highly praised for his courage ... defeat the beast. In the battle with the dragon Beowulf is mortally wounded. The men cremate him and the bury him under a huge mound of dirt and treasure. It is said that the mound is so large that the sailors use it as a land mark. Sutton Hoo is a burial ground just east of Woodbridge ... the ...

• Word Count: 2120
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• Grade Level: High School

... ;prowler" in this case is human. Some argue that the dragon deserves no sympathy, since he is a "hoard-guardian". Treasure is never meant to be collected for ones own gain, therefore "no one who hoards treasure will find sympathy" (99). Yet if the dragon is indeed "clearly an animal: it acts by nature, not by intelligent ... thought" and its "chief trait is its fond attachment to its treasure, almost an obsession," then can one really blame am animal acting through instinct and purpose? While the monsters of the poem are the antagonists of the poem, the author ... ...

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• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... hospitality of kingship. The code of the comitatus is at the heart of the Beowulf epic. In this system, the king or feudal lord provides land, weapons, and a share of treasure to his warriors (called thanes or retainers) in return for their support of the leader in battle. The leader's generosity is one of his highest qualities. There are more than ... 30 different terms for "king" in the poem, and many of them have to do with this role as provider. He is the "ring-giver' or the "treasure-giver"; his seat of power is the "gift-throne". When booty is seized from an enemy in battle, e...

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... an evil fiery dragon. For fifty years he governed his kingdom well. Ironically the dragon has been guarding the hoard of treasure for fifty years as well. The dragon functions then as the opposite of a good king because it guards the treasure but can do nothing with it. It represents malice, destruction, and greed; the dark side of kingship. While Beowulf is ... , a steep stone-barrow." Under it lays a path concealed from the sight of men. Over centuries no one had disturbed the dragons" kingdom until one day when a thief broke into the treasure, laid hand on a cup fretted with gold. Thi...

• Word Count: 843
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... the ground, with his last minutes in this realm of life, he requests one favor from his noble friend and aid, Wiglaf, to bring the treasure before his eyes so he can admire the beauty of the treasure. "Go quickly, dear Wiglaf, to gaze on the gold / Beneath the hoar stone. The dragon lies still / In the slumber of death, despoiled of ... his hoard. / Make haste that my eyes may behold the treasure, / The gleaming jewels, the goodly store" (1660-1664). This quotation once again criticizes that all men of the Anglo-Saxons are built off of one certain value; the interest for ... ...

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... years later, a simple pride in one's belongings is the origin behind the fire-drake's reign of pain and suffering to the humans and his own death. A robber steals the dragon's treasure cup and the creature decides, "to requite with fire the theft of the cup" (l. 1407). The burning of the villages attracts Beowulf's attention and once again a creature is slain by ... still living in that moment, fifty years ago (l. 1476). The hero's pride also creates a need for validation of his deeds in the form of material things such as land and treasure. Beowulf does not engage the drake to save the...

• Word Count: 1018
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... must be earned, specifically through his values: courage, honestly, pride, and humility. An example of how God protects Beowulf occurs when he opens a treasure upon which the ancients had placed a spell. Beowulf is somehow able to open the treasure with no effect at all, since he is protected by God (Irving 87). Perhaps more interesting than the history of Christianity and its ... ...

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... included in the select few heroes' like Beowulf. Although Wiglaf had never been in battle before, he showed wisdom and bravery. 16. The Geats most likely decide to bury the treasure with Beowulf because the warriors are ashamed about how they "abandoned their loyal King when he needed them most." The narrator explains how "the battle-dodgers abandoned the wood,the ... who had let down their lord earilir,the tail-turners,ten of them together. "By destroying the treasures it shows how the Geats do not feel worthy of a great reward. Treasure was given upon someone doing a good deed. Not on...

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• Grade Level: High School

... the end of Edgetho's / quarrel- (26). Towards the end of the story Beowulf shows the loyalty to his people when with his dying breath he still makes sure that the treasure is plundered from the lair of the dragon that caused him to die. " Then Wiglaf went back, anxious / to return while Beowulf was alive, to bring him ... / treasure they"d won together" (45). Beowulf upholds his loyalties to his people and the people that have helped even until his dying breath. "Beowulf" was a prime example of the lifestyle of ... ...

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... older, his motivation started to change, He fought dragons and monsters not for his original motives, but for the gold and treasure h would receive in turn. As he died, he said that he sold his life for this [the gold/treasure] and sold it well. One might consider that Beowulf had "sold out", since he acted and fought out of greed. Beowulf ... ...

• Word Count: 469
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... his death his fears over take him and he reverts to the old Anglo-Saxon pagan beliefs. When Wiglaf brings Beowulf the dragon's treasure Beowulf thanks God in Heaven. Yet, his view of the material wealth of the treasure does not express Christianity. Once again the pagan beliefs emerge to be the stronger of the two beliefs. The Christian God is mingled ... ...

• Word Count: 425
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• Grade Level: High School

... by his side Beowulf expresses how he was joyful for living the good life he has as a good man. Before his final breaths he orders Wiglaf to fetch the lost treasure so he can see it be for he passes. Wiglaf brings the shining jewels and gems to his side for his viewing. Beowulf can not believe his eyes. These treasures ... his sailors. At this time with his last breath Beowulf announces Wiglaf as his heir for they both were Waegmundings. Despite Beowulf's greed that motivated him to fight for the treasure, it still makes him greater than the dragon which moved "at sunset" and in darkness...

• Word Count: 421
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• Grade Level: High School

... receives gold after each victory. The first two battles he receives gold from Hrothgar and sends it to Higlac. In the third battle the reward is the treasure hoard that belonged to the dragon. This treasure is buried with Beowulf. Some similarities are that in each battle Beowulf was unselfish and generous enough to help people out. But he was also looking ... ...

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... bestow this armor on my own son, had it been fortune to have fathered an heir and live on in his flesh." (2729-2732) When Wiglaf returned from gathered some treasure the dragon kept he lay it before Beowulf. Beowulf spoke: "To the everlasting Lord of all, to the King of Glory, I give thanks that I behold this ... treasure here in front of me, that I have been allowed to leave my people so well endowed on the day I die. Now that I have bartered my last breath to own this ... ...

• Word Count: 854
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• Grade Level: High School

... by his side Beowulf expresses how he was joyful for living the good life he has as a good man. Before his final breaths he orders Wiglaf to fetch the lost treasure so he can see it be for he passes. Wiglaf brings the shining jewels and gems to his side for his viewing. Beowulf can not believe his eyes. These treasures ... his sailors. At this time with his last breath Beowulf announces Wiglaf as his heir for they both were Waegmundings. Despite Beowulf's greed that motivated him to fight for the treasure, it still makes him greater than the dragon which moved "at sunset" and in darkness...

• Word Count: 369
• Approx Pages: 1
• Grade Level: High School

... eleven of his other soldiers had gone to fight an evil dragon. At the end, Beowulf kills the dragon, but ends up dying because of his wounds. He takes the treasure that he was promised my Hrothgar, but unfortunately is unable to put it in use. The role of fate still occurs during this battle because Beowulf's destiny was in fact ... magically appearing sword on the wall. Finally, the final battle with the dragon, in which it is his fate to beat it, even though he dies. His reward is the treasure and gaining it was again without a doubt, his true destiny. ...

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• Grade Level: High School

... and death wherever he travels, The reason for the dragon's fury is that a slave of one of Beowulf's lords had discovered the cavern, which the dragon had been guarding, with a treasure inside and stolen a cup to bring back to his lord. Taking up his responsibility to protect his people, Beowulf heads off to kill the creature, accepting armor and a sword to ... the dragon, but at the expense of a mortal wound to Beowulf. Keeping to the wishes of his king, Wiglaf rushes into the lair to gather the finest of the dragon's treasure hoard so that Beowulf might die in all the glory he has earn...

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