Family Values In Beowulf

Words: 1186
Pages: 5
Open Document
The world of Beowulf an epic poem, is almost unrecognizable to the one we know of today. Their culture, family values, and morals are all so different now from their ancient world. They believed that courage and honor was what they needed to live for. Beowulf kills Grendel for honor while he waits for the revenge from Grendel’s mother. “She has taken revenge for your victory over Grendel. / For your strength/ your mighty grip/ and that monsters death.” (1334-1336). Even when Grendel’s mother kills Beowulf’s men out of revenge he still fights for honor.
“…A powerful monster, living down/In the darkness, growled in pain, impatient/As day after day the music rang/Loud in that hall, the harp’s rejoicing” (1-4). As the warriors gathered in The Great …show more content…
The devil made his tool Grendel kill Hrothgar’s men to torment him for worshiping the stone gods and not being loyal. “Killing as often as he could, coming/Alone, bloodthirsty and horrible. Though he lived/In Herot, when the night hid him, he never/Dared to touch king Hrothgar’s glorious/Throne, protected by God—God,”(80-84). The way the devil gets to Hrothgar is by killing his men and then his best friend, but it is for twelve winters long. Hrothgar gets to the point where he is worn down and and does not know where to turn to. He drifts to different religions to try to get the killing to stop, but it only makes it worse. The devil plays this against the king and all of his …show more content…
What they do not know is that Grendel’s mother will be coming for Beowulf and to get to him she will kill anyone or anything her way. “...As dark as the air, as black as the rain/That the heavens weep. Our only help,/ Again,lies with you…”(562-564). Beowulf is the only one that can now kill Grendel’s mother because God has set up this as his mission; to defeat all of the devil. Beowulf must do the impossible to save the Lord’s name. To make the people believe in God once again. “God, who sent him victory, gave judgment/For truth and right, Ruler of the Heavens…” (630-632). When fighting against Grendel’s mother, Beowulf is at the point of defeat, but with his power the Lord saves Beowulf. He shows him the path to defeat the monster. The truth is shown here how God will save those who believe in him and those who put their trust in him. If Beowulf would not have believed in God he would have died in that cave with a terrible monster. He would have endured much pain and would have suffered, but because he believed he was
Show More

Related Documents: Family Values In Beowulf

Gold In Beowulf

for their economic value than their social value. In fact, gold can be seen as a symbol of social interaction: a lord rewards loyalty with gold, and in doing so inspires further loyalty.The Anglo-Saxon culture gave gifts of gold out of honor for heroism.The Anglo-Saxon poem Beowulf is not only a great story of valor and honor, but it shows the significance of values gold is when Scyld funeral, Beowulf shows his bravery when fighting Grendel and Grendel's mother, and when Beowulf perish. Scyld Scefing…

Words 772 - Pages 4

Beowulf Achilles Hero

Beowulf and Achilles Hero Analysis Beowulf is known as the best warrior in all of the Anglo-Saxon land. He’s a man who values his friends, as he would always fight for his people. Slaying the monsters that threatened the land, he proved to never be afraid of anything. Beowulf is a fierce warrior, who should always be recognized and remembered for the great things he did. Achilles is a warrior for the Greek army. He was the leader of the army during the Trojan war. Leading the Greeks to success…

Words 511 - Pages 3

Literary Elements In Beowulf

help to describe and imagine the time, as well as moving the plot along. Beowulf is an epic that has all these literary elements in it. In Beowulf three of the prominent devices are kennings, allusions and symbols. Throughout the story kennings,word phrases that emphasize a character’s nature, describe the terrible monsters and the great warriors. Grendel, who is an evil beast, is described as “a prowler through the dark” (Beowulf line 86). This makes Grendel seem like a creepy and sly creature. It…

Words 822 - Pages 4

Essay Beowulf and Epic Poem

Hero’s have long been the subject of many genres in literature. One of the most revered epic poems is Beowulf. But what makes this poem epic? In the Beowulf unit module from Georgia Virtual School an epic poem “must be a long narrative poem that possess elevated language, suggest a wide setting scope, achieve a legendary hero, and reinforce the cultures social values”. The poem Beowulf is most certainly long and in a narrative format. With that in mind let us review the remaining aspects of…

Words 424 - Pages 2

Christian Themes In Beowulf

Beowulf is believed by many historians to have been written sometime between the eighth and eleventh century by an Anglo-Saxon poet. In the book, The Audience of Beowulf, it is stated that Beowulf was written for a Christian Audience and that the author himself was also most likely a Christian (Dorothy Whitelock 1951, 5). Today, Beowulf is one of the oldest long poems still in existence and is also noted to be one of the most important works of Old English literature. The poem follows a brave man…

Words 588 - Pages 3

Similarities Between The Odyssey And Beowulf

Through the epics The Odyssey by Homer and Beowulf written by an anonymous anglo saxon poet, we can learn about the values and beliefs of different cultures through the actions of their heroes, but these heroes are from different cultures and therefore have different values, sometimes even conflicting ones. So what common ground do these heroes share, and when their ideals differ how dose the differences make them a hero in it’s own way? They both have a belief in a higher power a source of fate…

Words 163 - Pages 1

Middle Ages and Beowulf Essay examples

model. Same as, Beowulf, the epic character can also be considered as a hero due to his heroic traits. Each of these heroic traits emphasizes an Anglo Saxon value. These heroic characteristics are loyalty, bravery, and honor. These three heroic traits that Beowulf had were very important to the Anglo Saxon. The loyalty Beowulf shows to the Danes illustrates the importance of loyalty to the community of the Anglo-Saxons. Also his bravery and honor also illustrates how the Anglo Saxon values the important…

Words 1640 - Pages 7

Renaissance Drama: Anglo Saxon Essay

ANGLO SAXON VOCAB: Cower: Crouch down in fear./ Purge: to remove or purify./ Relish: Great Enjoyment./ Spoils: Diminish or destroy the value or quality of./ TERMS: Kennings: phrases that are an elaborate and indirect way of naming nouns./Scops: professional minstrels who recited pomes for hours, even days./ Runes: first devised alphabet of the Anglo Saxons used for inscriptions on buildings and states./ Bede: Anglo-Saxon theologian and historian whose major work, Ecclesiastical History of the…

Words 1001 - Pages 5

Essay on The Theme of Father/Son Relationships in Beowulf & the Song of Roland

of Father/Son Relationships in Beowulf & The Song of Roland Thomas Lazzaro Professor Fisher Literary Patterns of European Development Paper #1 2/6/97 The representation of father-son type relationships in early Medieval literary works is a key theme early authors used to give their works more depth and meaning. Two works that use the theme of father-son relationships are Beowulf and The Song of Roland. In Beowulf, the relationship between Hrothgar and Beowulf is one in which there is no actual…

Words 1660 - Pages 7

Use Of Gold In Beowulf

Beowulf is a story of an epic hero set in present day Europe between 400 A.D. and 600 A.D. Beowulf is a larger than life hero who faces many enemies throughout his life. He battles Grendel, Grendel’s mother, and the Dragon. In each of these battles, the reader learns something new about the characters and the themes of the story. In Beowulf’s last battle, he fights a dragon that is terrorizing his kingdom because someone stole a treasure. The treasure that the dragon is guarding is a very important…

Words 1101 - Pages 5