Examples Of Evil In Beowulf

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Throughout history, the idea of good vs evil has been written into many stories, and told in different ways. In the epic Beowulf, the story is told in such a way to emphasize this theme as the main character, Beowulf, defeats many evil beings and overcomes somewhat “evil” thoughts on his journeys. Over the course of his life, Beowulf proves that when good is against evil, goodness will always triumph. Many of the obstacles that Beowulf comes across are monsters, who are inherently evil. He has to defeat these monsters, the first being Grendel, in order to save the people and remain a hero. The first battle involves Beowulf fighting Grendel with his bare hands, and without any armor. While it would seem that he would be outmatched by a large monster, Beowulf ends up being …show more content…
His motives for battle change over the course of the epic. In the beginning, Beowulf wants to defeat these monsters, not only to save the people, but for fame. The first two battles end up giving him exactly that, only to make him somewhat arrogant about his victories. At the end of the story, he fights a dragon who has been guarding many treasures. Although he is old, Beowulf wants to defeat the dragon, and ends up completing his goal. This time however, he fights the dragon only for the purpose of saving his people, not for fame. Beowulf does not care that he will not be one of the people receiving the treasure, rather he is glad that it will go to the people. The theme of good versus evil is one that many stories include, and yet Beowulf presents a very strong for the theme. Not only does Beowulf defeat many monsters, his motives for doing so improve as time went on. No longer does he want to battle for fortune, rather he wants to battle just so his people can be saved. Both aspects of this theme are great examples of when good curses evil, good will always

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The epic poem Beowulf follows the timeless tale of the hero Beowulf as he triumphs over evil time and time again. Grendel by John Garden extends upon this timeless tale and explores in detail the antagonistic figure from Beowulf, Grendel. Despite both works weaving stories in the same world, both explore key elements in vastly different ways. Through their similar but often time different interpretations of key ideas such as heroism, religion, and good vs. evil, both Beowulf and Grendel explore the…

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Examples Of Grendel In Beowulf

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