Beowulf Essay, Research Paper

Beowulf, the son of Ecghtow, lived in Scandinavian Islands in the early 10th century. Those were the times of battles, wars, and sure there were warriors. Beowulf was one of them. He was the best warrior of Hygelac, the king of Geats. He was brave, confident, and strong. There were three hard battles ahead of him, and each of his three enemies was going to give him higher levels of hard time.

Becoming a hero took a lot of talent, strength, and courage. Beowulf as an ordinary warrior, couldn’t have figured these characteristics out of his if he had not gone to foreign lands to help Hrothgar to fight Grendel. Ecghtow, Beowulf’s father owed the king of Danes a death price, but was not able to pay. Therefore, Beowulf decided to pay his father’s death price by helping the king. He had a lot of confidence of himself, and gathered only fourteen men along with him, and sailed across the sea to Danes. He did not know what kind of a danger was waiting for him, however he was ready to face anything.

He arrived to Danes to fight Grendel, and to save the Kingdom. It seemed like Hrothgar was going to refuse his request at the first place, but then he accepted him, and left Hereot’s keeping in Beowulf’s hands. Beowulf started waiting for the monster impatiently. He was feeling as strong as Grendel, and even stronger than he was. Everybody was waiting to see what was going to happen. The Geats also were waiting for Grendel’s attack. All of Beowulf’s warriors were armed, except himself. ” No weapons, therefore, for either this night: unarmed he shell face me if face me he dares” (line 683) Then, out of the night came stealthy and swift when the hall guards were asleep. Grendel came in breaking the doors, and the walls, seeking for blood. He walked through the hall, and killed one of the warriors while he was asleep on the bench. He was about to attack Beowulf when he suddenly turned around and armlocked the monster. His grip was so strong that Grendel could not even move. Beowulf’s fingers ripped his arm off killing it.

By defeating Grendel, Beowulf now raised to a higher rank of becoming a hero. He saved the lives of many people along with the King’s. King Hrothgar gave a speech regarding this victory of Beowulf’s. King Heremod was remembered, and contrasted with Beowulf. Hrothgar gives Beowulf suggestions on how to behave, and not to get spoiled as King Heremod has. Beowulf was still mature, calm, proud, and confident. This victory made him gain nothing else but good things.

At this battle, Beowulf was so confident of himself, and neither he needed any weapons, nor any help from his men. He was the one who attacked, and surprised his enemy. Fighting at his own territory gave him even more confidence, with all his men around. Beowulf was so strong, that his grip did not allow Grendel to move, and ripped his arm off.

Another threat was about to come to Danes, and that was Grendel’s mother. She was coming for revenge. The only human being who had the skills to defeat Grendel’s mother was again Beowulf, and he would not say no to another battle. However, this battle with the mother was to take place under water. He got ready and armed for the underwater fight, and accepted the sword, which Unferth handed him. Beowulf took his leave to achieve another victory, but not as confident of himself this time as he was at his first battle. “With hrunting I shell gain glory, or die”. (Line 1491)

As he gets in the water, when he expected Grendel’s mother, sea-monsters attacked him, however Grendel’s mother managed to catch him, and pulled him deep below the sea into a cave where they started to fight. The sword Unferth Gave to Beowulf failed to damage her, so he started fighting barehanded. Outside, on the shore, everybody was curious, however with no hope. Beowulf suddenly saw a blade in the cave from ancient times, when it was used to kill monstrous creatures. He grabbed the blade and swung it deep into her neck bone, severed it entirely. She fell on the floor and died.

At the second battle of his with Grendel s mother, things for Beowulf had changed a little. This time he was not as confident. Beowulf now had fought against a mother whose heart was filled with revenge, and he knew this was not going to be an easy battle. Therefore he wore a helmet, a fine-webbed mail, and accepted the sword, which Unferth gave him. This battle took place underwater, and it was the enemy s territory. When he first got in the water, he had to face sea monsters before he fought Grendel s mother. He had a hard time defeating her neither the weapon, nor the grip had worked. He was lucky to find an ancient sword, which happened to be within his reach.

Nobody has expected Beowulf to defeat Grendel’s mother and come out of the water, however he did. Everybody was shocked, and also happy. Beowulf got out of the water with the sword’s hilt and Grendel’s head which he later is going to display it in Hereot. Now Beowulf had what it took to become a hero, and a king. He returned to his own land and became a king, where he would stay as a king for fifty years.

Beowulf became the King of Geats and ruled it very well for fifty years. He grew old not only in terms of body, but also in terms of mind. He became a mature, more confidants, and a wise king. Then, there was a time when a thief awakened a deadly dragon unwillingly. “One began to dominate the dark, a dragon on the prowl from the steep vaults of a stone-roofed barrow where he guarded a hoard; there was a hidden passage, unknown to men, but someone managed to enter by it and interfere with the heathen trove”. (Line 2211). The hoard was hidden in the earth house by the last survivor of the forgotten race, and the dragon had been sleeping on it since then, guarding the gold. When the dragon woke up, and saw the footprints of the thief, he went mad, and decided to go on Geats for revenge. Beowulf the King would have to fight the dragon once again. However this time he knew that this was going to be his final battle, because he now was around his seventies. He got ready to fight a fire-blowing, sword-melting dragon. Now that the king is old, and does not have the power he used to, he picked up his best ten men along with the thief. King wore his armor, and took his sword. He’s now ready to face the evil. However, the dragon terrified his warriors, and they went running off. Beowulf trying to stab the dragon broke his sword, and the dragon injured him with his teeth, biting Beowulf’s shoulder. Wiglaf, a warrior, and also Beowulf’s nephew stabbed the dragon from a lower part of his body, injuring him badly. Than, Beowulf got up, and cut the dragon apart with his sword, killing it. This final battle was Beowulf s hardest fight. First of all he was at his seventies, and not as confident of himself as he used to be. Therefore, unlike his first two battles, he gathered his best men to help him kill the dragon. Beowulf wore a helmet, a mail, took a sword along with a knife. I will rather not use a weapon if I knew another way to grapple with the dragon and make good my boast as I did against Grendel in days gone by (line 2518). Thing were much harder this time. Fight took place at enemy s territory, the enemy was angry because he was woken up from a threehundered years of sleeping, and the treasure he had been sleeping on was tried to be stolen. This dragon was more dangerous than Grendel, and Grendel s mother. Neither of them was able to blow fire from their mouths, which had made it easy to get close to them.

This was Beowulf’s final battle. He had lost a lot of blood and could not manage to survive, but he did manage to save his people from the deadly evil. His dead body was burned. His people sent him to the open sea, instead of burying him. Everybody was sad and also thankful to their king once again.