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Beowulf
The main hero of Beowulf is Beowulf, and a central villain is Grendel. I’ll start with Grendel. Grendel is definitely the "bad guy" and not simply because the hero fights against Grendel....
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Beowulf
Several scholars in the last century have created versions of the "heroic cycle." Joseph Campbell's version in 1949 included 17 stages, while David Adams Leeming and Phil Cousineau (in 1981 and...
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Beowulf
Beowulf itself is not a history, but rather an epic which includes some historical figures. The purpose of blending historical and imaginary information (such as the character of Beowulf and the...
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Beowulf
Often the answer lies in the framing of the question. Perhaps the major issue here is that the binary oppositions set out may not have been meaningful as oppositions for the original composer and...
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Beowulf
The character of Beowulf is typical of heroic epic. He is, in many ways, the ideal hero, evolving from a modest young warrior with great potential to one who does great deeds and finally to a wise...
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Beowulf
The epic hero is a literary convention that defines a specific type of character. This kind of character typically possesses a number of particular traits, including some sort of extraordinary...
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Beowulf
There may be a tension between New Testament Christianity as we understand it and the values of the Dark Age Danes portrayed in Beowulf. But the brand of Christianity apparently held by the poet...
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Literature
Art in the poem "Beowulf" is often a means of honoring kings and warriors. Poetry proclaims the bravery and might of leaders. For example, at the beginning of the poem, the poet writes, "the...
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Literature
The best way to ascertain what architecture represents in Beowulf is to closely analyze the poem's most important architectural structure: Heorot, Hrothgar's celebrated mead hall. Overall, Heorot...
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Beowulf
Grendel is jealous of the people celebrating in Heorot. The warriors sing and make merry in the mead hall until one night Grendel decides to attack. Under the cover of darkness, while the warriors...
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Beowulf
After Beowulf defeats Grendel, ripping off the monster’s arm in the process, the Danes celebrate the end of Grendel’s depredations by hanging his severed arm in Heorot. However, their...
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Beowulf
The epic poem Beowulf is the earliest surviving Old English work. It is believed to have been composed between 600-900 A.D., and then later transcribed by Anglo-Saxon monks in what is now known as...
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Beowulf
When Beowulf descends through the mere to the lair of the monsters, Hrothgar, his Scyldings, and Beowulf’s Geats wait on the shore of the lake for Beowulf to return. After the water of the lake...
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Beowulf
Grendel plagued Heorot and Hrothgar’s people until Beowulf heard of the monster and decided to face it. Grendel mercilessly attacked Hrothgar’s people when they gathered in Heorot, forcing the...
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Beowulf
Considered the first piece of formal English literature, Beowulf is an epic poem that recites the grisly tale of a warrior’s magnificent battle with monsters. Central to the poem’s structure,...
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Beowulf
Beowulf, an Old English epic poem, was written somewhere around 600-900 A.D. It is the oldest known major work in Old English. It's author is unknown. Much of the action takes place in a mead hall...
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Beowulf
The dragon in Beowulf could be said to symbolize several things, but many readers have noted that it likely symbolizes abstract ideas like greed, hoarding, and destruction. Indeed, the dragon is...
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Beowulf
I agree with you that the characters in Beowulf are not necessarily "motivated by rewards." In fact, they are motivated by honor. However, rewards are always a good bonus, and both of these ideas...
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Beowulf
Beowulf, the main character of the Old English poem Beowulf, fulfills many, but not quite all, of the usual characteristics of the epic hero. Most importantly, he exhibits the qualities esteemed by...
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Beowulf
Kennings are compound metaphors common in literature derived from Old Norse linguistic traditions. Functionally they appear may appear frivolous or unnecessarily abstract, but are intended to...
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Beowulf
When Beowulf hears that Grendel has been terrorizing Heorot, he decides to travel there to lend his aid to Hrothgar. This explanation begins on line 194. Beowulf is said to be beloved by the Geats,...
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Beowulf
This quote begins at line 788, in the midst of Beowulf's fight with Grendel. One of the difficulties in summarizing lines, rather than sentences or sections, of Beowulf or poetry of its lineage is...
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Beowulf
"The Battle with Grendel" is an excerpt of the Anglo-Saxon epic poem, Beowulf. This excerpt relates the events of Beowulf's fight against the monster, Grendel, who had been terrorizing the Danes...
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Beowulf
Beowulf's battle with Grendel begins on line 750 when Grendel seizes Beowulf's arm, not knowing that it is Beowulf, nor knowing anything of his strength. However, he immediately realizes that...
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Beowulf
The line you've chosen from Beowulf is a great example of the caesura, an important structural element in both Beowulf and Old English poetry as a whole. The caesura is a midline pause used...
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Beowulf
In Beowulf, the battle with Grendel is set at Heorot, the royal hall of Hrothgar, the Danish king. Prior to Beowulf's encounter with Grendel, the monster had engaged in regular pillaging of Heorot...
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Beowulf
Beowulf is written in alliterative verse. The poetic unit of the poem is a single line that is divided by a strong pause (known as a caesura) and that employs alliteration in some of the line's...
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Beowulf
After the King of the Danes, Hrothgar, builds a mead hall called Heorot, the Danes enjoy singing and playing the harp there. Their rejoicing evokes ire in Grendel, who was a "prowler about the...
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Beowulf
The main conflict in Beowulf is that of the human hero versus the monster. Although some degree of intelligence is required of the hero in planning tactics, the conflict is overwhelmingly physical;...
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Beowulf
Beowulf depicts several social customs of its time, and one of the most significant customs is the process of gift giving. Within the world Beowulf describes, the process of giving gifts is seen as...
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Beowulf
Beowulf appeals to modern audiences because it strips away the veneer of a socially sensitive, sophisticated, and gentler society. In fact, it has some of the same appeal that video games about war...
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Beowulf
I have taught Beowulf for years, and I've never run across what I would call the four most famous lines of the epic. However, there are several key points in the story that might have passages...
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Beowulf
In Anglo-Saxon culture, stories were often passed down orally. A poet or bard would sing/recite the stories without writing them down. By the time Beowulf was finally written down near the year...
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Beowulf
Hrothgar's speech in lines 655-661 is significant for several reasons. First of all, Hrothgar, King of the Danes, transfers full control of the mead hall to Beowulf. As a member of a different...
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Beowulf
The term wergild in Beowulf literally translates as 'man payment' or 'man compensation' but is usually translated simply as 'man price'. The concept of wergild was a legal principle under...
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Beowulf
Grendel, the antagonist of Beowulf, is in some ways similar to an epic hero. Like an epic hero, he has a noble or unusual birth. His ancestor is Cain, who killed his brother Abel in the Old...
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Beowulf
English literature reflects the view that civilization has declined in its morality over the centuries, even as it's made progress technologically. In Beowulf (written down around 1000 CE), the...
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Beowulf
In British literature, nature was originally regarded as threatening, but before the modern era, nature came to be associated with noble simplicity and goodness. By the turn of the 20th century,...
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Beowulf
In Beowulf and Paradise Lost, women are very powerful characters. Grendel's mother in Beowulf avenges her son's death by slaying Hrothgar's most beloved friend. The she-monster's power comes not...
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Beowulf
Beowulf is the oldest existing major work written in English. It was composed during the Anglo-Saxon era, somewhere between 700-1000 A.D. It is usually classified as an epic poem because it...
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Beowulf
Beowulf is an ancient epic poem set in Sweden and Denmark. It was translated into Old English by monks, probably around 700 BC, give or take a couple of centuries. As an epic, it focuses on an...
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Beowulf
It has been claimed that elements of Christianity were included in the story about Beowulf by Christian translators who sought to ensure the story complied with Christian religious beliefs. In this...
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Paradise Lost
First, we should distinguish between two terms, "hero" and "protagonist." A protagonist is the most important character in a story but can be admirable or despicable or sympathetic or abhorrent. A...
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Beowulf
"Epic simile" is also called Homeric simile, after its use in the Iliad and the Odyssey. As opposed to the standard simile, which tends to make a more straightforward comparison of "X is like Y,"...
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Beowulf
Lines 81-85 of Beowulf finalize the initial description of Heorot and allude to the future destruction of the estate in a fiery inferno. Likewise, the first stanza of Sir Gawain and the Green...
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Beowulf
Lines 81-85 of Beowulf describe how Hrothgar's hall, Heorot, is prosperous and pleasant for the time being, but a darker future is foreshadowed; a time when the hall will burn, and family feuds...
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Beowulf
Beowulf and Grendel fight without weapons, and Beowulf, of course, defeats Grendel by ripping his arm out of its socket through sheer strength. In this warrior society, a leader's skill and...
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Beowulf
Beowulf has many qualities that make him a hero. Two major ones for his role as this sort of hero are his bravery and his fighting prowess. In other words, he is brave and a powerful fighter. His...
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Beowulf
Beowulf derives from Scandanavian epic, a form of oral traditional literature. As is true in most oral epic, the characters of the poem are what literary critics refer to as "flat", as opposed to...
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Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Some of the differences in the portrayals of nature between these two works have to do with a change in time, culture, and religion. Beowulf is an Old English poem, composed some time between the...
