Beowulf
The stories of Beowulf and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight are littered with monsters that have to be dealt with. The monsters range from Beowulf's Grendel, Grendels' mother, and a fire breathing dragon to Sir Gawain and the Green Knight's woodwose, forest creatures and the Green Knight. There is also a monster that doesn't fit the description of a monster, in the way we would see one today; something tangible, something that can be destroyed. This monster is time. Through these works, the authors seemed to pose the following idea. Time is an evil monster that they can not fight. The purpose of the monsters that are faced within these stories, are to act as distinct points in the timelines of the heroes lives. They show the gradual disintegration of the hero's stamina, willpower and most of all life. As they get older, the monsters they face get stronger and more difficult to destroy, because of the heroes withering lives and sapping strength. In Beowulf, the first time we are faced with a monster, is when Beowulf faces Grendel. The fight between Grendel and Beowulf is the medium through which the author chooses to express Beowulf's youth and superhuman strength. "Grendel is no braver, no stronger /Than I am! I could kill
She sees that she can't get a kiss from him through her beauty or seductive ways so she pokes at his title. The third time the lord goes hunting; the lady comes to greet Sir Gawain in bed, just like the past two times. We now are introduced to a force that is little by little weakening Beowulf. This too seems to have fallen to the hands of time, and has been destroyed. / How so? Said the knight speaking urgently/Such a great man as Gawain is granted to be,/ the very vessel of virtue and fine courtesy/ could scarcely have stayed such a sojourn with a lady without /craving a kiss out of courtesy" ( Sir Gawain and the Green Knight,70)Sir Gawain out of courtesy succumbs to her plea, and grants her a kiss. He no longer could fight monster after monster, offering each one in turn, the sharp edge of his sword instead of himself, to chew on. This is when Beowulf's "super-human" strength begins to wane, and the reader sees that even for a medieval super hero, some thing's are best done with sword and shield and armor. One reason is because he has nothing to give back to her, and the second is it would be unjust and un-knightly since she already has a man. As his inertia to continue traveling, winds down, he stumbles upon a magical castle, built in the middle of the forest. It wasn't seen with the fight against Grendel, but is being revealed with the fight against Grendel's mother. Within this speech, he shows his youth and his strength. To fight a beast that has been killing strong honorable soldiers for such a long time, with shield and armor and sword alone would be crazy; to do it with no armor or sword would be labeled suicide. Sir Gawain though is the most praised and highest knight of King Arthur's round table, and easily thwarts her evil seductive plans. He soon spots the maiden of the castle, the lords' lady, and he greets her and her hag of a friend, as they walk him to his room.
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Acceptance Essays
