Question

Describe the battle between Beowulf and Grendel.

Accepted Answer

The battle between Beowulf and Grendel is an intense scene and begins when Grendel attempts to devour Beowulf. Beowulf suddenly grabs Grendel by the arm and tightens his grip when the monster attempts to escape. Grendel begins to thrash wildly, and the two nearly destroy the mead hall during their struggle. The Geat soldiers try to intervene, but their weapons are useless. The violent battle ends when Beowulf tears Grendel's arm off, and the monster escapes the hall.

Answer

The dramatic showdown between the great hero Beowulf and Grendel takes place in the magnificent Herot Hall, which Grendel has been terrorizing for twelve consecutive years. The audience has been anticipating this battle and knows that Beowulf will fight the God-forsaken beast without using weapons to prove his strength and valor. Grendel proceeds to tear the door off the hinges and immediately consumes a sleeping Geat warrior. Grendel then makes the mistake of grabbing Beowulf, who is ready to strike back. Beowulf suddenly clutches onto Grendel with an iron grip, proving that he is more powerful and dominant.
 
Rather than let go or flee from the mead hall, Beowulf tightens his grip and refuses to allow Grendel to escape. Grendel panics and struggles with all his might to break free from Beowulf's grip. Beowulf's grip is so tight that it crushes Grendel's talons, rendering them useless. During the course of their struggle, Grendel and Beowulf destroy the inside of Herot Hall, and Beowulf's soldiers try in vain to help him. However, Grendel's magic skin protects him from their weapons, and Beowulf must finish the battle on his own.
 
The violent battle ends when Beowulf rips Grendel's arm from his body, and Grendel slinks off to his den to die. Beowulf fatally wounds Grendel and keeps his detached arm as a victory trophy. Following the battle, the Geat warriors and Danes celebrate Beowulf's victory, and Grendel's mother begins plotting her revenge.

Answer

The battle between Beowulf and Grendel is long, brutal, and bloody. It was always expected that the great showdown between the Geatish warrior and the hideous bloodthirsty monster would be like this. After all, there's something not of this world about Grendel, and so it would always take something a bit special to defeat him.
Enter Beowulf, the proud Geatish warrior. He doesn't flinch when Grendel attacks him and tries to devour him as he's done with countless Danish warriors in the past. When Grendel grabs Beowulf by the arm, our hero keeps his cool. Instead of trying to extricate himself from the creature's fearsome grasp, Beowulf grabs hold of Grendel, indicating to the monster in no uncertain terms that he's not dealing with just any regular warrior.
In the ensuing melee, Grendel tries to escape from Beowulf's iron grip, but Beowulf won't let him; he's got the monster right where he wants him. While Grendel tries desperately to thrash himself free, his talons are broken, which makes him much less of a danger. Even so, he's not done yet. He comes at Beowulf, attacking him as his very life depended on it. But Beowulf gives as good as he gets, and Heorot shakes as the hero and the monster throw each other all around the mead hall.
Finally, Beowulf gains the upper hand as Grendel senses his strength draining away from him. He rips off the monster's arm, and Grendel, mortally wounded, slinks off to his den to die, never to darken Heorot's door again.

Answer

When Grendel arrives at Herot, he finds the Geat warriors deep in sleep and plans on devouring each of them alive. However, Beowulf remains awake and patiently waits for the perfect opportunity to attack the ferocious monster. Grendel proceeds to rip the door open and savagely eats a sleeping Geat warrior. Grendel then attempts to devour Beowulf, who quickly grabs him by the arm and does not let go. The instant Beowulf clutches onto Grendel, the monster recognizes that he has met his match and tries to free himself. However, Beowulf tightens his grip and prevents Grendel from escaping the hall. As Grendel begins to violently thrash his body, Beowulf breaks his talons in his strong grip.
Beowulf and Grendel engage in an intense struggle as they throw each other against Herot's walls and overturn the heavy benches and tables. The entire mead hall shakes during the violent battle, and the Danes are horrified by the sound of Grendel's chilling shrieks of pain. The Geat soldiers attempt to help Beowulf during the struggle by hacking at Grendel's body, but their weapons cannot pierce the creature's skin. As the battle continues, Grendel recognizes the futility of opposing God and can feel his strength diminishing. After a prolonged, violent struggle, Beowulf ends up ripping off Grendel's arm, and the mortally wounded monster returns to his den at the bottom of the marsh. Following the bloody, intense battle, Beowulf hangs Grendel's claw, arm, and shoulder from the rafters of Herot.

Answer

The battle between Beowulf and Grendel is full of a mixture of excitement, horror, violence, and glory. To begin with there has been a lot of suspense rising in the 735 lines leading up the battle. We know that Grendel has so far been undefeated and killed a countless amount of men prior to Beowulf's arrival. Beowulf himself recognizes the danger he will encounter and does not seem particularly worried that he could die in the upcoming fight.
When Grendel arrives at the hall where Beowulf and his men are housed, he attacks immediately by mauling and devouring one of the men. He is then about to pounce on Beowulf too, but Beowulf seizes him in an arm-lock more intense than anything Grendel has ever suffered before. Grendel panics and tries to retreat at this point, but Beowulf does not let go. Locked in Beowulf's grip, Grendel starts thrashing around, causing the two of them to crash into everything in their way as they grapple with one another. Even the mead benches are being smashed. All the Danes within earshot are horrified by the pain-filled wail of Grendel as he tries to free himself. The fight apparently lasts for quite some time, and eventually Grendel feels himself losing his strength. Beowulf has not stopped clutching him the entire time. Suddenly the hide and muscles of his shoulder split apart leaving Grendel with a bloody hole where his arm had been. Only then is he able to flee back into the countryside and go home to die in his lair. Beowulf is left holding the arm as a trophy and hangs it up on display.

Beowulf

Describe the battle between Beowulf and Grendel.

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