... "Man's chief end is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever." Whereas today's "successful" churches and movements stress man's "felt-needs" rather than obedience to God, the Puritans saw everything good, meaningful, and beautiful as deriving from the goodness, plan, and image of God. It was a matter of attitude. "The whole creature is resigned... to the obedience and glory of its maker, said one Puritan. When a ... representative of an entire people - or, more correctly, a sort of composite of what the storytellers and their audience wanted their people to be. He is "the winner of fights, t...

• Word Count: 1257
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... with his bare hands. Beowulf possesses many superhuman abilities, such as the amazing power to hold his breath under water for an unlimited period of time. It is easy to feel that these characteristics separate from the realistic nature of the story, and give the impression that Beowulf is more like a myth than a man. In the epic Beowulf, he's portrayed as almost inhuman, but he clearly fulfilled ... life or death for his actions. He knows that when he fights an enemy like Grendel or Grendel's mother he will achieve immortality as the victor or the loser. He has the power of twenty men ...

• Word Count: 1723
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: High School

... says, "No help was Hrunting with hell's sorcery / that battle-sharpened blade could not bite monster-flesh&emdash; / then the great Wielder Glory-King of all / gave me a wonder-blade granted to my sight / a huge giant-sword hanging by the wall. / I reached for the hilt raised it quickly / slashed at that she-wolf sliced through her neck / ended her misery" (ll. 1660-7). It is ... . Beowulf subdues Grendel's mother permanently by killing her, but Wyrd can only be avoided temporarily, not destroyed once and for all. This suggests that the struggle against female authority and uprising is t...

• Word Count: 1587
• Approx Pages: 6