Beowulf
Translated by Seamus Heaney Difficulty: 4 The poem begins and ends in Geatland, Beowulf's home country. Beowulf and his troops travel across the sea from Geatland to Denmark to assist King Hrothgar in fighting Grendel. The three major battle scenes in Beowulf take place in Heorot Hall, where Grendal is defeated, a haunted mere in Denmark where Grendel's mother meets her end, and a dragon's lair back in Geatland. Beowulf never specifically mentions a time but it must have happened sometime in the medieval ages. Beowulf is like a Scandinavian superman but even this superman is not without problems. The son of Ecgtheow, Beowulf is stronger than any other man, but at the same time he is very much a mortal. When he fights the enemy he doesn't fear death because he believes it's dealt by God not the enemy and so instead prays to the lord for the upper hand in battle which I think leads him to doubt his own abilities or at least to give excess credit to God for his victories. Beowulf is also a very moral man and uses his powers for the good of the people, always treating them justly. When Unferth slanders Beowulf over a swimming contest he lost,
He seems like he could have been Beowulf's son because they both possess the same qualities of bravery and loyalty. Twice I got lost when a character would tell a story of some event from the past without notice. Grendel decides to attack Heorot Hall after seeing content and presumably happy sleeping men inside and thus begins his reign of terror on the people of Denmark. His only motivation is to destroy good. I felt like I had gotten a sampling of Scandinavian folklore through reading this book. Nowadays the fuzzy feeling someone gets when they return somebody's wallet just doesn't seem to cover it and they want more. He also shows his emotions by crying on Beowulf which while not an action of a king or any person in power could actually be seen as a pretty brave thing since he was surrounded by warriors at the time. He hates all mankind and takes exception to no one. I could easily see Beowulf turned in to a comic book or someone taking another stab at making it a movie for this reason. Whatever his motivation, Beowulf was a hero to the people of Geatland and Denmark. Unferth offers Beowulf his sword once again as a parting gift when Beowulf sets sail to Geatland. Beowulf is all about good triumphing over evil. In the poem, Wiglaf proves his loyalty to Beowulf by stepping in when everyone else ran. When the others flee in terror Wiglaf stays behind to help the king defeat the dragon and after the king had been wounded he sat by him to listen and remember his last words to the people so that he could address them after Beowulf died.
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