The Monsters In Beowulf

In the epic, we see examples of Beowulf glorifying himself in the path of righteousness. He is portrayed as being the hero while Grendel is the monster needed to be slain. Good cannot be present without evil. How do you determine who fills each role? We must remind ourselves that there are two sides to every story.

In Beowulf there are three archetypal types of monsters. Grendel, Grendel’s Mother, and The Dragon. Each one of the monsters symbolized a factor of Beowulf’s life. Grendel represents the sin in a man’s life. Grendel’s mother represents evil of the people in the anglo-saxon age.

Monsters are born in literature through their words, origins, thoughts, and actions. Into Thin Air, by Jon Krakauer, as well as Burton Raffel’s Beowulf, contain such monsters that are large impediments to the hero’s quest. Also the expeditions or quests are affected in terms of intimidation by the monsters who are always overwhelming at first to the pessimistic eye such as how the Israelites viewed Goliath, the Philistine, when David went to fight him. A monster’s thoughts, origins, and words are often used to construct the description of monstrosity in literature and are very critical.

Beowulf fights in three battles and wins them all. That shows his bravery and strength. After Beowulf defeats Grendel, people of all ages were “retelling Beowulf’s bravery”(Beers II.

He uses his fiery breath to attack Beowulf. “Its breath came first.\ a streaming cloud pouring from the stone” (668-669). When the dragon is battling Beowulf, he mainly uses his breath to melt Beowulf’s shield. However, the dragon is the only monster thats attack is strong enough to defeat Beowulf. All three monsters have unique attack methods to try and defeat Beowulf and his

Where do Monsters lurk In every superhero book or movie there is a form of a monster. It does not have to be and actual monster, it can be just the villain that 's apart of t he story. A monster is an imaginary creature that is typically large, ugly, and frightening. In the book Beowulf there is a monster by the name of Grendel, this monster was a great terror and destroyer of Denmark and he mostly targeted the Danes, a town led by King Herod. This monster was unlike any other monster, he had a tactic to what he did whenever he would come and and eat the people of the town.

Monsters and enemies have been in books and stories for a long time. Monsters usually play the role of the “bad guy”, that tries to stop or defeat the main character from completing his task. The monsters in the poem represent and show that there are many fearful enemies that you have to defeat and save your town from if you want to be a hero. The monsters in the poem reinforce the heroic code because the missions Beowulf had to do always reinstated how fierce and dangerous the monsters that Beowulf had to defeat were. They showed how brave and strong Beowulf had to be to defeat these monsters and prove himself as a hero.

Monsters have been a driving force in human literature for as long as storytelling has existed, and has been the focal point of many tales passed down in time. Some of these monsters have even embedded themselves into our culture and changed with it. With that being stated not all monsters are concrete, many spawn from the hatred and fear created in the mind and put on paper to be dealt with in a way more possible than before. Most people know that a radical pure and evil do exist, and are very prominent in many religions this being another vessel for monsters to manifest themselves. Due to them existing so deep into history a radical change in the view of the monster in things like Frankenstein, Beowulf, and The Death of Arthur are very obvious

A monster is not determined by its appearance, shape or form, but rather by its character. A true monster is one that is a ruthless, unemotional being who takes pleasure upon the suffering of others. The two different stories of Beowulf and Grendel portray Grendel, his mother, and the dragon in different ways. In Beowulf, because the protagonist of the story is a human and not a creature, the focus of the story is portraying Beowulf as a hero and his rivals (Grendel, his mother and the dragon) as monsters. No thorough analysis of the creatures is incorporated and they are mainly judged by their frightening appearances.

In the epic poem, Beowulf, there are clear distinctions between an epic hero and a monster. Beowulf is the prime example of a epic hero possessing characteristics such as superior strength, courage, and loyalty. On the other hand, Grendel and Grendel’s mother are characteristized as evil and immoral based off of their actions. These characteristics are presented throughout the poem, and monsters are given grotesque, hideous appearances to further prove that they are evil. After Beowulf kills Grendel, Grendel’s mother reaction revealed how the full presentation of a character can allow readers to react differently than before and even sympathized with them.

Beowulf makes known that “no man but [himself] could hope to defeat this monster, [and] no one could try.” Beowulf wants to have this fight all to himself, so he can take all of the glory. He is too selfish to conclude that only he could defeat the monster alone. Beowulf cannot be thought of as a hero because “Beowulf only longed for fame.” Beowulf does not perform heroic deeds just to save the citizens, but to receive more admiration from the citizens.

He could send troops and let someone else deal with the dragon but he does not. He faces the dragon himself like a true hero would. Knowing an enemy this strong could kill him he fights regardless in order to protect his people. Beowulf killed the dragon and gave his life for his people truly the actions of a hero. Even as a king he has nothing to prove to anyone by facing the dragon, which shows that he does not fight for himself he fights because he believes he needs to.

The first monster that Beowulf had to conquer was the monster Grendel. Grendel was terrorizing the village and they needed a hero. Beowulf to further his legacy wanted to fight him with no weapons what so ever. As it states in the Epic of Beowulf (lines).

Monsters, hideous ferocious beasts, or just things that bring us down , are obstacles everyone encounters in life. Times have changed since the almighty Beowulf fought Grendel, the evil hairy monster. In modern times, evil hairy beasts are not so easy to come by. The term monster has changed with the times, becoming more of a symbol than anything. It was easy to believe in such a beast as Grendel in the times of Beowulf.

What many don’t know is monsters of today are much like monsters back then in the Anglo-Saxon times. A specific monster of those times is Grendel, an antagonist in Beowulf that is bent on killing and eating people. In this epic, Beowulf is a well renowned hero that has great strength and abilities. He is sent to defeat the monster Grendel that has been wreaking havoc on the Geats, located in present day Sweden, for 14 years, murdering and eating their people. Grendel is portrayed to be a typical