literary analysis essay of beowulf

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Welcome to the LitCharts study guide on Anonymous's Beowulf . Created by the original team behind SparkNotes, LitCharts are the world's best literature guides.

Beowulf: Introduction

Beowulf: plot summary, beowulf: detailed summary & analysis, beowulf: themes, beowulf: quotes, beowulf: characters, beowulf: symbols, beowulf: literary devices, beowulf: theme wheel, brief biography of anonymous.

Historical Context of Beowulf

Other books related to beowulf.

• Full Title: Beowulf
• When Published: Beowulf exists in a single damaged manuscript in the British Library. The manuscript was probably written in England in the early eleventh century, though the poem itself was probably first written down in the eighth century, and was passed on orally before that.
• Literary Period: Medieval; Anglo-Saxon
• Genre: Epic poem
• Setting: Northern Europe, especially Denmark and Sweden, around the sixth century
• Climax: Beowulf's final fight with a dragon
• Point of View: The unnamed speaker of the poem

Extra Credit for Beowulf

Old English Style. Beowulf is the longest poem written in Old English. Old English poetry uses alliterative meter, meaning that the stressed words in a line begin with the same sound. A line of Old English poetry has two halves, with a brief pause, called a caesura, in the middle of the line. The two halves of a line are linked by the alliteration (repetition of an initial consonant); at least three words in a line alliterate. Old English poetry also uses kennings , compressed metaphors like "heaven's candle" for the sun, or "whale's road" for the sea, or calling a woman married in an effort to gain peace a "peace weaver."

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Introduction of Beowulf

Despite its popularity during the previous few centuries, Beowulf, written by some anonymous author, is stated to have emerged between the period from 975AD to 1025AD. The whole manuscript is spread over a few pages comprising 3,182 lines. The storyline presents a Geats hero , Beowulf, who comes to help the Danish king, Hrothgar, to fight against the monster, Grendel. Not only he slays the monster but also attacks the monster’s mother to seal his victory and goes to Geatland to live a peaceful and comfortable life. However, when he gets old, he hears about a dragon and finally dies of wounds when battling and ultimately killing the dragon. The poem celebrates the victories as well as mourns the death of the brave king.

Summary of Beowulf

The storyline shows a Danish King, Hrothgar, from the linage of Shield Sheafson, a royal family head, living a prosperous and happy life with his subjects , enjoying great feasts in his Heorot, a mead-hall, when a plague strikes his subjects. It is a horrible monster or demon, Grendel, who appears and kills whom he sees at night . He has spread his reign of terror in the entire kingdom, making people stay ducked at their homes, forcing them to empty the hall. However, a young Geatish prince, Beowulf, happens to hear about this demon and reaches Hrothgar to offer his help to compensate for the assistance that he offered to his father when he was seeking refuge.

Having great regard for his father, Ecgtheow, Hrothgar jumps at the opportunity and welcomes Beowulf with a great feast. The great mead-hall is filled with his subjets to welcome the great hero but Unferth, a Danish warrior, mocks Beowulf for having won recognition without having executed any exploit. Boasts of Beowulf about his achievements, however, win him praise from the subjects. Finally, Grendel strikes during this pandemonium but finds Beowulf wrestling with the demon instead. With a torn arm left behind, Grendel escapes to the swamp.

Feeling boundless joy, Hrothgar profusely praises Beowulf and showers loads of gifts on him. A great feast is arranged in his honor with musicians displaying their skills. However, another threat appears on the horizon that his mother, who comes to Heorot and murders Hrothgar’s advisor in revenge. Aeschere’s death jolts the king into a rude awakening seeing whom Beowulf foams at the mouth and plunges into the swamp to kill Grendel’s mother. With his forged sword, he finally slays her and finds the dead body of the demon, Grendel. He also brings his head as a sign of his victory. The Danes celebrate this final victory with great pomp and show.

These two great exploits make Beowulf a household name in Denmark. He, however, has to depart to his land saying a sad adieu to King Hrothgar who is not willing to allow the warrior to depart, though, Geatland is calling him. Therefore, he returns to his land to unite with his people to help them live a prosperous life, leaving the royal couple to narrate his exploits. He then gives all his collection of treasures and gifts to the king who rewards him profusely for making Geatland a land of great warriors.

During the time, wars ensue and Hygelac gets killed battling the Shylfings, leaving only Beowulf to take the throne. Ruling for half a century and making his country prosperous and happy, Beowulf finally accepts the onslaught of age when he hears another plague that is of a dragon awakened in some cave by a thief. Seeing the destruction of the Geats, Beowulf again girds up his loins and battles the dragon in which he himself receives severe injuries, dying a bit later. However, he expresses his desire of having a good funeral pyre and a grave with the treasure extracted from the dragon’s grave.

Major Themes in Beowulf

• Heroic Code: Beowulf shows the heroic code of living and dying with honor that has been prevalent during the Anglo-Saxon age. The character of Beowulf shows that bravery, courage , and battling the demons and dragons win praise from the subjects and royals. When Beowulf expresses his desire to battle Grendel and settles the scores, he wins popularity in Denmark, and more so when he kills his mother too. The same goes when he dies in the last battle against the dragon. Thus he follows the heroic code and sets another example of bravery, chivalry, courage, and sacrifice.
• Good against Evil: Beowulf shows good versus evil through the character of Beowulf. Grendel kills the Danes for nothing, forcing Hrothgar to seek assistance from Beowulf who becomes a paragon of power as well as bravery. Later, the Geat leaves for his land and locks horns with the dragon when he is old to show that he has fought the evil during his youth and could fight if again when old even if he dies.
• Loyalty: Beowulf shows the theme of loyalty through Beowful and Unferth. When Hrothgar, the Danish king, faces the evil of Grendel and his mother, he accepts Beowulf’s offer. However, his own warrior, Unferth, is hellbent on making Beowulf fail. His taunts to Beowulf during the feast shows his prejudice toward the king. On the other hand, Beowulf’s companion Wiglaf stands in contrast to him that he supports Beowulf when death is staring in his face and yet he does not flee.
• Bravery: Beowulf shows the theme of bravery through King Hrothgar, Beowulf, and even Wiglaf. Beowulf’s offer to King Hrothgar to fight against Grendel is based on partly bravery and partly desire to repay his debt of providing shelter to his father. He even battles the dragon by the end of the story to demonstrate his bravery and this desire for popularity for bravery takes his life .
• Revenge: The epic shows the theme of revenge through the character of Grendel and Beowulf. Although the arrival of Beowulf is just to repay his debt to his father that Horthgar sheltered him in the past, his main desire is to exact the revenge of the killed Danes from Grendel. Then it moves the vicious circle of revenge in which Grendel’s mother, too, gets killed by Beowulf. The same goes for the killing of the dragon in which Beowulf suffers fatal injuries.
• Generosity: The heroic code of generosity is another theme that runs through Beowulf . The first example of this generosity is the act of Hrothgar to extend refuge to Ecgheow, when he was fleeing during his tribal feud. The second act is Beowulf’s offer to Hrothgar to battle Grendel to save the Danes. Although the royal couple, too, demonstrates this generosity, it is the rule of Beowulf that shows his generosity toward his subjects in that he loses his own life when battling the dragon.
• Hospitality: King Hrothgar shows the trait of hospitality when he extends refuge to Ecgheow. When Beowulf offers to repay the old debt, he also enjoys the same hospitality, though, he is a guest who has come on his own will to fight Grendel.
• Death: The theme of death has been shown through the heroic acts of Beowulf who defies all ancient norms and chases the demon to his swamp. He even battles the dragon that takes his own life, but does not budge from his stand of saving his subjects. This brave act of dying for one’s people wins him the praise of the poets.
• Duty of the King: The character of Beowulf shows the theme of the duty of the king in that a king is responsible for the lives of his subjects. That is why Hrothgar accepts his offer to help him get rid of Grendel and Beowulf loses his own life when he battles the dragon by the end of his rule.

Major Characters in Beowulf

• Beowulf: Major character and hero, Beowulf moves the storyline of the epic forward with his background, his parentage, his exploits, and his heroic death. A Geat by ethnicity, he leads from the front and takes his warriors to Denmark when he hears that the former benefactor of his father, Hrothgar, is facing a demon, Grendel, and feeling helpless to save the lives of his subjects. He offers his assistance and battles not only the demon but also kills his mother, diving deep into the swamp after her. After winning a heroic success, he leaves for his land to rule the Geats until he is quite old when he has had to fight the dragon – a battle which also takes his life. However, he advises Wiglaf, his aide, to take charge of the Geats and rule them like him.
• King Hrothgar: The second main character of Beowulf, King Hrothgar is a peace-loving person who wins the allegiance of the adjoining tribes and expands the frontiers of his kingdom. He is the second son of Healfdene, a Danish King, and has succeeded his brother Heorogar to rule Denmark after his death. Despite his bravery, courage, and boldness, he feels helpless in the face of Grendel, a demon that attacks his mead-hall and kills his soldiers in his attacks. Finally, Beowulf arrives to assist him in this battle, though, it is actually a return of his act of extending shelter to his father.
• Grendel: Grendel, the demon that attacks Hrothgar’s warriors and subjects when they are engaged in festivities in Heorot, represents evil to be conquered by Beowulf. He appears when the Danes are engaged in merrymaking and disappears when Beowulf cuts down his arm and makes him flee to his den under the swamp. However, his mother appears to exact revenge to whom Beowulf slays when he chases her down the swamp.
• Grendel’s Mother: Although she is a female character and anonymous as well, she attacks the Danes to avenge her son’s death. However, Beowulf chases her to the swamp and kills her after a fierce battle with her.
• The Dragon: The significance of the dragon lies in that he wounds Beowulf when he has witnessed a glorious period of prosperity and laid the example of a generous rule. The Geats, however, find themselves in hot waters when a thief mistakenly awakens the dragon, making him go on the killing spree. Thus, it becomes Beowulf’s responsibility to face the dragon and save his people. Ultimately he kills the dragon with the aid of his companion, Wiflag, but at the cost of his own life.
• Shield Sheafson: Despite being a minor character, Sheafson plays an important role in the upbringing of a good offspring of the kings. Hrothgar proves this when he orders the building of Heorot and later by accepting the assistance from Beowulf to relieve his subjects from the pangs of the death spree launched by Grendel. Sheafson receives heroic mourning from his subjects when they hand over his dead body to the sea waves.
• Unferth: Despite having a minor role, Unferth follows Hrothgar after his death and lacks the qualities to lead like him. Both of them have a brawl in Heorot where he dispises Beowulf’s qualities, while the latter accuses him of killing his brother. Later, both of them reconcile after Beowulf wins the swimming match and Unferth awards him his family sword.
• Wiglaf: The character of Wiglaf is significant in that he sides Beowulf against the dragon and wins that battle. In this way, he proves himself a suitable person to lead the Geats after Beowulf though his persona does not prosper under the towering shadow of Beowulf.
• Ecgtheow: The significance of the character of Ecgtheow lies in that he is the father of Beowulf and has trained him in chivalrous acts in that Beowulf immediately comes to the aid of the benefactor of his father when he hears about Dane’s problem of Grendel.

Writing Style of Beowulf

The writing style of the epic, Beowulf, by Seamus Heaney is quite plain and simple. The language, however, is rich with different types of images and other literary devices . The most prominent feature of this version is its terseness and conciseness interspersed with compound words such as “bone-house” and “whale-road.” Its alliterative verses create a melody, making it a fit read for gatherings as the use of two syllables in each half-line enriches its melodic impacts. Yet, it preserves its grandiose style that is fit for such classical epics.

Analysis of Literary Devices in Beowulf

• Action: The main action of the epic comprises the attack of Grendel at Heorot and then Beowulf’s battle with him, his mother, and then with the dragon. The rising action occurs when Beowulf enters the swamp to chase the mother of Grendel, and the falling action occurs when the dragon injures Beowulf.
• Alliteration : The epic shows the use of alliteration . For example,
• For the killing of Abel the Eternal Lord had exacted a price: Cain got no good from committing that murder because the Almighty made him anathema and out of the curse of his exile there sprang ogres and elves and evil phantoms and the giants too who strove with God time and again until He gave them their reward. (97-115)
• “It bothers me to have to burden anyone with all the grief Grendel has caused and the havoc he has wreaked upon us in Heorot, our humiliations. (474-478).
• An attendant stood by with a decorated pitcher, pouring bright helpings of mead. (494-497).

These examples show the alliterative sound of  /c/, /m/ in the first, /h/ in the second, and /p/ in the last.

3. Antagonist : Beowulf shows Grendel, his mother, and the dragon as antagonists of the epic as they kill the people mercilessly just to satisfy their instincts.

4. Allusion : There are various examples of allusions given in the epic such as;

• Cain’s clan, whom the Creator had outlawed and condemned as outcasts. For the killing of Abel the Eternal Lord had exacted a price: (96-99)
• There was no hoard like it since Hama snatched the Brosings’ neck-chain and bore it away with its gems and settings to his shining fort. (1197-1199)
• Fate swept him away because of his proud need to provoke a feud with the Frisians. (1205-1208)

These two allusions are the biblical allusions taken from the religious setting to shed light on the existing setting. However, the third one is a historical allusion .

5. Conflict : The conflict in the epic, Beowulf, is between the good and evil on one level and between the representative characters on the other level. Beowulf stands for good and Grendel, his mother and the dragon stand for evil.

6. Characters: Beowulf presents static characters . The reason is that all the characters stay almost the same from the first to the last, representing either good or evil such as Beowulf, Grendel, the dragon, Hygelac, and Hrothgar.

7. Climax : The climax occurs when Beowulf fights the demon and his mother.

8. Foreshadowing : The epic shows the following examples of foreshadowing ;

• There was Shield Sheafson, scourge of many tribes, a wrecker of mead-benches, rampaging among foes. This terror of the hall-troops had come far. (4-6)
• That doom abided, but in time it would come: the killer instinct unleashed among in-laws, the blood-lust rampant. (84-87)
• Then the gold hilt was handed over to the old lord, a relic from long ago for the venerable ruler. (1677-1680)
• He carried the arms to the victim’s kinfolk, the burnished helmet, the webbed chain-mail and that relic of the giants. (2615-2619)

These quotes from Beowulf foreshadow the coming events.

9. Hyperbole : Hyperbole or exaggeration occurs in the epic at various places such as;

• greedy and grim, he grabbed thirty men from their resting places and rushed to his lair, flushed up and inflamed from the raid, blundering back with the butchered corpses. (121-125)

These verses show the exaggerated killing of the demon, Grendel.

10. Imagery : Imagery means using images such as given in the novel . For example,

• Then as dawn brightened and the day broke Grendel’s powers of destruction were plain: their wassail was over, they wept to heaven and mourned under morning. (126-130)
• The bloodshot water wallowed and surged, there were loathsome upthrows and overturnings of waves and gore and wound-slurry. With his death upon him, he had dived deep into his marsh-den, drowned out his life and his heathen soul: hell claimed him there. (846-852)
• the old dawn-scorching serpent’s den packed with goblets and vessels from the past, tarnished and corroding. Rusty helmets all eaten away. Armbands everywhere, artfully wrought. (2760-2764)

These examples show the use of different images such as sound, color, and sight.

11. Litotes : The epic shows the example of litotes . For example,

• Cain got no good from committing that murder because the Almighty made him anathema and out of the curse of his exile there sprang ogres and elves and evil phantoms. (8-12)

Here instead of using “bad,” Heaney has used negative “no good.”

12. Metaphor : Beowulf shows good use of various metaphors such as;

• I have heard, who was Onela’s queen, a balm in bed to the battle-scarred Swede. (62-63)
• Hrothgar, the helmet of Shieldings, spoke (456)
• Every bone in his body quailed and recoiled, but he could not escape. (752-753)
• This terror of the hall-troops had come far. A foundling to start with, he would flourish later on as his powers waxed and his worth was proved. (6-8)

These examples show that Onela is compared to balm, Hrothgar to the helmet, and bones to recoils.

13. Mood : The epic, Beowulf, shows festive mood and enjoyment in the beginning but then it turns out tragic in the middle and the end.

14. Motif : Most important motifs of Beowulf are the monster, the oral traditions, Heorot, the sea, and the dragon.

15. Narrator : Beowulf has been narrated by a third-person omniscient narrator .

16. Personification : Beowulf shows the use of personifications such as;

• My armour helped me to hold out; my hard-ringed chain-mail, hand-forged and linked. (550-551)
• Through my own hands, the fury of battle had finished off the sea-beast. (557-559)
• Then his rage boiled over, he ripped open the mouth of the building, maddening for blood. (723-724)

Here armor, hands, and rage have been shown as if they have lives of their own.

17. Point of View : The epic has been narrated from the third person point of view based on the views of the omniscient narrator.

18. Protagonist : The Geatish hero, Beowulf is the protagonist of the epic. The epic starts with his entry in Denmark and moves forward as he fights the demon, his mother, and finally the dragon until his death.

19. Rhetorical Questions : The epic shows good use of rhetorical questions at several places. For example,

• how could they know fate, the grim shape of things to come, the threat looming over many thanes as night approached and King Hrothgar prepared to retire to his quarters? (1233-1237)
• Then Hrothgar, the Shieldings’ helmet, spoke: “Rest? What is rest? Sorrow has returned. Alas for the Danes!  (1320-1323)
• How did you fare on your foreign voyage, dear Beowulf, when you abruptly decided to sail away across the salt water and fight at Heorot? Did you help Hrothgar much in the end? Could you ease the prince of his well-known troubles? (1987-1992)

This example shows the use of rhetorical questions posed but different characters not to elicit answers but to stress upon the underlined idea.

20. Setting : The setting of the epic, Beowulf, spreads over Denmark and then some areas of Geatland.

21. Simile : The epic shows a good use of various similes such as;

• Over the waves, with the wind behind her and foam at her neck, she flew like a bird. (217-218)
• Every nail, claw-scale and spur, every spike and welt on the hand of that heathen brute was like barbed steel. (983-987)
• King Hrethel kept me and took care of me, was open-handed, behaved like a kinsman. (2430-2431)

These are similes as the use of the word “like” shows the comparison between different things.

Related posts:

• Beowulf Characters
• Beowulf Themes
• Beowulf Quotations

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Home — Essay Samples — Literature — Beowulf — The Poem “Beowulf”: Literary Analysis

The Poem "Beowulf": Literary Analysis

• Categories: Beowulf Literature Review Poetry

About this sample

Words: 1514 |

Published: Jan 21, 2020

Words: 1514 | Pages: 3 | 8 min read

Works Cited

• Alexander, M. J. (1987). Beowulf and the Grendel-kin: Politics and poetry in eleventh-century England. Speculum, 62(4), 771-782.
• Baker, P. (1998). Beowulf: basic readings. Routledge.
• Chickering, H. (2002). Beowulf: A dual-language edition. Anchor Books.
• Donoghue, D. (2006). Beowulf. Norton.
• Heaney, S. (2000). Beowulf: A new verse translation. W. W. Norton & Company.
• Hill, T. D. (1996). The textual history of Beowulf. Cambridge University Press.
• Kiernan, K. S. (2003). Beowulf and the Beowulf manuscript. University of Michigan Press.
• Mitchell, B. (1998). Beowulf: An edition with relevant shorter texts. Blackwell Publishers.
• North, R. (1996). Heathen gods in Old English Literature. Cambridge University Press.
• Orchard, A. (1995). Pride and prodigies: studies in the monsters of the Beowulf-manuscript. University of Toronto Press.

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A Summary and Analysis of Beowulf

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

What happens in Beowulf , the jewel in the crown of Anglo-Saxon poetry? The title of the poem is probably the most famous thing about it – that, and the fact that a monster named Grendel features at some point. But because the specific details of the story are not widely known, numerous misconceptions about the poem abound. When was Beowulf  written?

This is a matter of some conjecture, with guesses ranging anywhere between the eighth century and the first half of the eleventh century. Critics can’t even agree on what the first line of the poem means . In the following post, we offer a short summary of  Beowulf , and an introduction to its main themes.

Plot Summary

We’ll start with a brief summary of  Beowulf  before proceeding to some textual analysis and critical reading.  Beowulf is a classic ‘overcoming the monster’ story. Most people know that the poem documents the struggle of the title character in vanquishing a monster named Grendel.

But what is less well known is that Beowulf has to slay not one big monster, but three: after he has taken care of Grendel, the dead monster’s mother shows up, and she proves even more of a challenge for our hero (though ultimately Beowulf triumphs and wins the day).

The poem then ends with Beowulf, now in his twilight years, slaying a third monster (this time, a dragon), although this encounter proves his undoing, as he is fatally wounded in the battle. The poem ends with his subsequent death and ‘burial’ at sea.

But the poem doesn’t begin with Beowulf. It opens with an account of a Danish king named Hrothgar, who was the one responsible for building a great hall (named Heorot), a hall which is now being terrorised by the monstrous Grendel. Beowulf hears that Grendel is killing Hrothgar’s men at Heorot and so our hero departs from home to go and help rid Heorot of this monster.

Beowulf is from a different kingdom – the nearby Geatland, in modern-day Sweden – so we have one of the classic tropes of adventure narratives, that of the hero leaving home to go and vanquish some foe in a foreign land. Think of Bilbo Baggins leaving the Shire, or Frodo for that matter, in  The Hobbit  and  The Lord of the Rings (and, indeed, we’ll return to Tolkien shortly).

Beowulf and his men spend the night at Heorot and wait for Grendel to turn up. When the monster appears, Beowulf and his men attack the troll-like monster with their swords.

But the monster – which is described as resembling a troll – cannot be killed with a blade, as Beowulf soon realises. So he does what lesser men would fear to do: he wrestles the monster with his bare hands, eventually tearing off one of its arms. Grendel flees, eventually dying of his wound.

The next night, Grendel’s mother – angered by the attack on her son – turns up to wreak vengeance, and once again Beowulf finds himself having to roll up his sleeves and engage in fierce combat, which this time takes place in the underwater lair of the monster deep beneath the surface of a lake.

Although he has been given a strong sword (named Hrunting) by Unferth (a man who had previously doubted Beowulf – the sword is given as a token of friendship), Beowulf finds this sword useless against Grendel’s mother. (Immunity to swords evidently runs in the family.) But this time, hand-to-hand fighting, which had proved handy against Grendel, is equally useless.

Beowulf only succeeds in vanquishing the monster when he grabs a magic sword from the pile of treasure lying in the monster’s lair, and is able to behead the monster with the weapon.

Travelling deeper into the monster’s lair, Beowulf comes across the dying Grendel, and – armed with his new magic sword – decides to lop off the son’s head as well, for good measure. Both monsters have now been slain, and Beowulf is a hero.

Following his victory over the two monsters, Beowulf then returns to the water’s surface (at ‘noon’ – which, interestingly, when the poem was written, was actually three o’clock in the afternoon, or the ninth hour after dawn) before rejoining his men and journeying back to the hall for mead and rejoicing.

The poem then moves forward fifty years to Beowulf’s last fight, his run-in with the dragon (which has been angered by the theft of some of its treasure – shades of The Hobbit once more?). This fight results in one last victory for our great hero, followed by his own death from the mortal would inflicted by the poisoned horn of the beast (though presumably Beowulf was rather advanced in years by this point anyway).

The poem ends with Beowulf’s burial at sea, which is described in much detail – why this might be is discussed below. But this much constitutes a reasonably complete summary of the plot of  Beowulf . So, what about the context for the poem?

Facts about  Beowulf

Although it is celebrated nowadays as an important work of Anglo-Saxon – indeed, ‘English’ – literature, Beowulf was virtually unknown and forgotten about, amazingly, for nearly a thousand years. It was only rescued from obscurity in 1815, when an Icelandic-Danish scholar named Thorkelin printed an edition of the poem.

And although it is seen as the starting-point of great English literature – at many universities, it is still the earliest literary text studied as part of the literary canon – it is very different from other medieval poetry, such as that by Chaucer or Langland, who were writing many centuries later.

It is set in Denmark, has a Swedish hero, and – when read in the original Anglo-Saxon – seems almost more German than ‘English’. This is, of course, because Anglo-Saxon (i.e. the language of the Angles and Saxons from north Germany)  was  Old English (the two terms are used synonymously), and at the very latest the poem was written down some time in the early eleventh century, before 1066 and the Norman invasion, which would bring many French words into English and would pave the way for Middle English (or the English of the Middle Ages).

In ending with the tale of a dragon attempting to defend a mound of treasure, the poem prefigures not only the works of J. R. R. Tolkien (who, as well as being the author of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings , was also an influential Anglo-Saxon scholar who translated Beowulf   and wrote an important article on it   – of which more below) but also, more surprisingly, other poems like Lewis Carroll’s nonsense masterpiece, ‘Jabberwocky’ . It also looks back to Greek and Roman epics like Homer’s Odyssey and Virgil’s Aeneid .

Indeed, during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries many scholars endeavoured to show that the author of Beowulf had been influenced by these classical works, but, in summary, the truth appears to be far more interesting. Rather than directly drawing on the work of Homer and Virgil, the Beowulf poet simply seems to have hit upon the idea of using similar plot devices and character types.

This suggests that different cultures, in these old days of oral storytelling, utilised the same methods in very different works of literature, without having direct knowledge of each other. We can compare Beowulf , too, with the legend of King Arthur (which began to appear in written sources around the same time), specifically in terms of the magic sword which the hero of both stories uses in order to fulfil his quest.

These aspects seem to be hard-wired within us and to be integral parts of human nature: for instance, ideas of bravery and of triumphing over an evil, superhuman force.

This plot, as our brief summary of Beowulf above suggests, shares many of the typical elements of heroic narratives. Although the analogy might seem a little crude, the mechanics of the plot are not so far removed from, say, a James Bond or Indiana Jones film, or a fast-paced fantasy novel or superhero comic strip. The hero takes it upon himself to save the kingdom at immense personal risk to himself.

The foe he faces is no ordinary foe, and conventional weapons are powerless against it. Despite the odds being stacked against him, he manages to ‘overcome the monster’, to borrow Christopher Booker’s phrase for this type of narrative . But this action has consequences, and is in fact merely the prologue to a bigger conflict that must take place: that between Beowulf and Grendel’s mother.

This is why it is odd that the story of the poem is generally thought of as ‘Beowulf versus Grendel’. But this next conflict will prove even more difficult: as well as swords being useless, the strong sword (Hrunting) given to Beowulf by Unferth will also be powerless against Grendel’s mother. But hand-to-hand combat – which was deployed successfully in the vanquishing of Grendel – is also of no use now.

The odds continue to be stacked against our hero, the difficulties multiplying, the tension raised to an almost unbearable pitch. Can he still save the day, when everything he tries seems to be of no avail? Well, yes – though for a while the chances of Beowulf triumphing are looking less and less likely.

The final encounter, with the dragon years later, will prove the most difficult of all – and although he is successful and overcomes the monster, he will pay the ultimate price: victory will come at the cost of his own life.

This patterning of three – three monsters, each of which proves successively more of a challenge to the hero – is found in numerous adventure plots. To a greater or lesser extent, it can be seen in much modern fantasy fiction – such as that by Tolkien.

One thing that the basic overarching story or plot summary of  Beowulf makes clear is just how formative and archetypal it is, not just in heroic ‘English’ literature, but in fantasy literature, too.

Interpretations of  Beowulf

Talking of Tolkien, it was his influential 1936 essay, ‘Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics’, which was really responsible for a shift in the way that people read Beowulf.  Rather than viewing it as a historical document, Tolkien urged, we should be reading and appreciating it as a work of poetry.   Tolkien also argued that the poem is not an ‘epic’ but an  elegy , ending as it does with the moving account of its hero’s funeral.

Tolkien also argues that Beowulf’s death following his combat with the dragon represents a fitting and more ‘elemental’ end for the hero, who had successfully vanquished the monster Grendel and Grendel’s mother (who, although not human, were nevertheless closer to man than a dragon).

The story is about overcoming an evil foe, only to have to give way to death at the end: even heroes must accept that they will not live forever, even if their names will. ‘Men must endure their going hence’, as Shakespeare has it in  King Lear (a line borrowed for C. S. Lewis’s tombstone).

But Beowulf’s life has been a life well lived because he stood up to evil and was victorious. And Grendel and his mother are ‘evil’ in the Christian sense of the word: the author of  Beowulf tells us that they were spawned from Cain (the first murderer in the Bible) when he was cast out of Eden. Grendel and his mother, then, are similarly outcasts, something that has been rejected by mainstream society and whose violence must be overcome. (For more on Tolkien, have a read of our five fascinating facts about him .)

Beowulf’s name, by the way, was long thought to mean ‘bee-wolf’, as in the two animals. The ‘bee’ theory appears unlikely, however – as does the idea that it is from the same root as our word ‘bear’, suggesting bearlike strength.

No, it turns out that the first part of Beowulf’s name is more probably related to a pre-Christian god named ‘Beow’. Beowulf has an almost divine strength, but also something primal and temporal, but just as valuable: the courage of a wolf.

If you enjoyed this brief summary of, and introduction to,  Beowulf , then you can learn more about the poem here  at the British Library website.

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26 thoughts on “A Summary and Analysis of Beowulf”

Beowulf is indeed a fascinating work and I always look forward to introducing my students to this foundation of hero motifs. Beowulf, despite his tendency to boast a bit (isn’t that where we get kennings?), he was pretty much the perfect hero–intregrity, strong, clever, self-sacrificing.

Reblogged this on Willow's Corner and commented: We read a snippet of Beowulf in Jr. High School (the dragon part) and I’ve always found the story fascinating. I can’t quite read the Old English, but I love to read the different translations. And anyone who’s a Tolkien fan should read his essay.

I would argue that Grendel’s mother (who is interestingly only ever referred to as “the mother”) commits her acts of revenge out of grief, as well as anger. Also, Beowulf is most commonly described as an epic poem; the label makes its main character, Beowulf, an epic-hero. By virtue of being a hero, Beowulf is set-apart from the society presented in the heroic epic. However, in order to be recognized as heroic hero, Beowulf must participate in society in some meaningful way. Thus the character’s role is split and this binary role is portrayed in different ways depending on the translation of Beowulf. There are more than 85 translations of Beowulf, and each one is slightly biased in its interpretation. Nobel Laureate Seamus Heaney’s translation in particular equates Beowulf with the dragon, another “other” figure, in a way that is not replicated by the other translators to emphasize Beowulf’s role as a distinct hero. Since translation is a form of interpretation, I believe Heaney’s translation is particularly biased in thinking about Beowulf in the ancient Ango-Saxon tale and makes Beowulf a more complex character than the original tale describes, torn by his glorious role as epic hero and his duty to his people within a carefully constructed social structure. As the author of this post writes, the morals, tropes, and figures create a bases for understanding many other English works that were to follow, so it’s interesting to see how relatively young Britain works with this tale and interprets its own history.

Tolkien was also heavily influenced by the old Norse (Norwegian/Icelandic) prose Edda and Voluspa; this was where he found the names of his dwarves. In addition, the poem Havamal also speaks of how everyone must die, except a man’s reputation.

Reblogged this on F.T. McKinstry and commented: Some interesting thoughts here on a classic, with references to J.R.R. Tolkien’s take on it.

Reblogged this on Mistrz i Małgorzata .

Fantastic article, it was education and entertaining all at once. I definitely want to go read Tolkien’s essay.

I have often wondered why the Beowulf story was lost for so long. The Arthurian story was passed down for generations, but Beowulf and his bravery forgotten. I think it is because people could relate to, and thus embrace, the faults of Arthur over the heroism in Beowulf.

Reblogged this on Storey on a Story Blog and commented: This is a great commentary on the story of Beowulf. I wanted to share it with you all.

The poem actually begins with Scyld Sheffing’s funeral, and it ends with Beowulf’s. This is deliberate. The central section is the killing of the monsters. The pattern is the establishment of the house of the Geats, the rescue of the house of Heorot by destroyng the house of Grendel, and the end of the house of the Geats with Beowulf.

How utterly fascinating! I have a copy of Beowolf which I confess to my shame I’ve never read despite it being on my shelf for more than 30 years. I must make amends!

Interesting post (!) and it struck a chord (!) funnily enough with a podcast i was listening to yesterday made by a music blogger, who did a 20 minute podcast on the 12 bar blues https://goodmusicspeaks.wordpress.com/good-music-speaks-podcast-3/ . Which of course is heavily dependent on the rule of 3 – line A; repeat line A; variation/resolution. And funnily enough, listening to a Mozart piano concerto, the same pattern was in the phrases, with the third line, the variation, leading of course to a musical resolution /transformation which enables the lead on the the complete next stage – so, in this, there is Beowulf triumphs, Beowulf triumphs again, Beowulf triumphs but in this third phrase his ‘phrase’ resolves with transformation/death.

I guess the ‘rule of three’ is viscerally satisfying!

There’s an excellent film called ‘The Thirteenth Warrior’, in which an exiled Islamic poet joins a band of Vikings to defeat what appears to be a Beowulfian monster attacking a hall. The producers showed some respect for scholarship by including authentic details, for instance the rituals surrounding the ship burial of a Viking chief.

The film being referenced in the comment above by poetmcgonagall, is a film adaptation of Michael Crighton’s excellent ‘Eaters of the Dead’ which gives a facinating take on the Beowulf/Grendel legend. Pay particular attention to his treatment of the Dragon which is all the more horrifying for not being a giant lizard.

I’ve read Beowulf many times over the years (was introduced to the Old-English version back in High School) and you’ve provided an excellent summary.

“not so far removed from, say, a James Bond or Indiana Jones film, or a fast-paced fantasy novel or superhero comic strip” Yes–but also, surely, the Western? What this tells us, I think, is how deep-rooted is the human need for the idea of the stranger who rides (all right, comes by boat) into town, deals with the monster/fear/rich landowner/evil bandit who is terrorising the townfolk and rides out again. No?

Reblogged this on Blogging Beowulf and commented: A great post on one of my favorite works.

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Reblogged this on cjheries and commented: If, in my first year at Reading University in 1964/65, we had studied Beowulf instead of extracts from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (so dull!) maybe I should have stuck with reading English instead of switching to Philosophy and obtained a better class of degree than the Gentleman’s I ended up woth (a pass, just like T S Eliot).

I’ve just startd reading Seamus Heaney’s translation and I must say it’s easy to follow so far!

I’ve had the Heaney translation on my shelves for years, but your post has piqued my interest. It will be moved to my TBR pile. Thank you!

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Reblogged this on beocorgi and commented: Very Interesting. I never thought of Jabberwocky like that but now that its pointed out I can definitely see it

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The Poem “Beowulf”: Character Analysis Essay (Critical Writing)

Beowulf presents one of the most important pieces of English literature from the Anglo-Saxon period because of its epic nature and historic value. The poem depicts the heroic deeds of the warrior Beowulf and captures the Anglo-Saxon culture of the medieval period. The poem is divided into three parts for each of Beowulf’s heroic battles with Grendel, Grendel’s mother, and the dragon. In each part of the poem, Beowulf demonstrates different heroic traits, ultimately creating his image of an epic hero.

Firstly, Beowulf’s story in the poem starts when he offers to help King Hrothgar defeat the monster known as Grendel. The character proves the seriousness of his intentions by boasting about his previous victories in battle with nine sea monsters, demonstrating his courage. In the poem, Grendel is depicted as a monster that appears “bigger than any man” and stronger than the main character (Heaney, 2008, p.93). During his fight with Grendel, Beowulf demonstrates bravery by fighting the monster bare-handed to gain great fame and honor.

Next, in the part of the poem which depicts Beowulf’s battle with Grendel’s mother, the character demonstrates his commitment to duty and King Hrothgar by killing Grendel’s mother. Furthermore, Beowulf demonstrates his intelligence when he discovers that his sword cannot hurt Grendel’s mother and finds a magic sword inside her cave. Thus, in addition to bravery and courage often associated with epic heroes, Beowulf possesses such heroic qualities as loyalty and intelligence.

Lastly, Beowulf enters the fight with the last monster as the king of Geats. During his last battle, Beowulf demonstrates care for his soldiers, contrary to his actions in the first parts of the poem. He also shows the will to self-sacrifice, which resonates with one of his loyal soldiers. Together, they kill the dragon, and Beowulf dies not only as a famous hero but also as a responsible leader and ruler.

In conclusion, this essay explored heroic traits in the character of Beowulf. The essay defines how each chapter of the poem captures different heroic traits exhibited by Beowulf, such as bravery and courage, loyalty and intelligence, wisdom and self-sacrificing. Thus, the paper explains how the combination of different heroic traits creates the image of Beowulf as an epic hero and captures the character’s progression from a brave warrior to a wise and responsible ruler.

Heaney, S. (2008). Beowulf: An illustrated edition. W.W. Norton & Company.

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