Thoughts on Beowulf.

I've always liked stories (games too) set in the fictional pre-technological era. You know, castles, swords, magic, dragons, gladiators, hobbits and other things of the sort. Beowulf is no exception to this genre. This story, like many others, has a brave hero who has overcome many obsticles in his life.

Beowulf seems to be almost super human as we hear the tales of his competative swim across the sea and the fight with all the sea beasts. Once the battle with Grendel begins you would assume he is crazy to leave his sword behind, but then he succeeds in the battle raising his superman status even more.

It was interesting how Hrothgar allowed Beowulf to feast in his mead-hall, even though Beowulf's people have had wars with Hrothgar's forefathers and other local tribes. It is always nice to be given a second chance to prove yourself worthy of someone's kindness.

If there is one thing about the story that I don't like it is the overall length. It would be neat to explore some of his adventures before Grendel and the mead-hall. I also wonder what adventures he may of experienced between Grendel and his burning demise.


There are several areas in the poem which highlight Anglo-Saxon beliefs and ways of life. One of which is the religious belief that dragons guard hoards of treasure and sometimes warriors' graves. This is demonstrated in the lines "And this dragon's treasure, his gold, and everything hidden in that tower. . ." Another way of life is that there are many lords to keep control of small segments of the country, "The king sends Wulfgar, one of his thanes (or feudal lords), to greet the visitors." The Anglo-Saxons also glorify being brave warriors and Beowulf is not one to let them down as seen before his final battle, "'I'd use no sword, no weapon, if this beast could be killed without it, crushed to death like Grendel, gripped in my hands and torn limb from limb, but his breath will be burning hot, poison will pour from his tongue.'"

To compare Beowulf to more modern heroes, you could think of him as an ancient Batman minus the utility belt. They both are normal human beings who seem many times stronger than the average man because of training and honing their skills over the years. You really see Beowulf's amazing strength as he tears Grendel's arm off. In the movie "Batman Begins," Batman is trained by a man who later is revealed to be the 'evil' character. Throughout the movie Batman is forced to fight off multiple foes at once.

Unlike most modern heroes, Beowulf's fatal flaw does get him killed as he duels the dragon. His flaw is that his pride gets the best of him. He always wants to find another challenge to best and hear his name echoing across the country.

In the final battle when Beowulf finally dies, the first I look at is how in all his greatness he is unable to beat the dragon by himself. Near the end, Wiglaf finally grows the courage to run back toward the battle unlike the rest of the warriors. As he runs back he is yelling at the other men, because after all that Beowulf has given them in return for nothing but loyalty, they run in his time of need.

I believe that Beowulf died an honorable death. He was trying to defend his country, his people, and died as a great warrior who would be remembered forever. If he had not died while fighting the dragon, but instead died running away from the battle, we would not have a great story to read.