Consequences Of Beowulf And The Challenger Seven

“None of them expected he would ever see his homeland again…” (lines 691-3) This quote explains that Beowulf and his entourage knew very well how likely they were to defeat Grendel. They’ll be lucky if two or three of them survive. This mindset can, however, be beneficial. All the fear and dread that would likely be within the men at that time can actually inspire determination, and people become more ferocious in combat when fear is in control, rather than confidence. Considering what his thoughts were, and the outcome of the battle was Beowulf ripping off Grendel’s arm, and the monster then fleeing, Beowulf was, in this moment, a hero.

Beowulf sacrifices his life numerous times, unafraid and prepared. In the beginning, our warrior faces a beast named Grendel, who inhabited a neighboring kingdom. During his face-off with the monster, Beowulf makes the decision to fight without weapons. Although this decision seems ignorant, the hero found it honorable, due to the fact that Grendel didn’t wield any weapons. Beowulf ended up taking the beast's arm and making him flee as he bled out to his inevitable death. Sometime later, the kingdom’s king, Hygelac, died. Beowulf, the nephew of Hygelac, took the throne. A true sacrifice as he gave up his normal life and took on an entire kingdom into his hands. The people welcomed him and he ruled well for 50 years. Nearing the end of those years, someone agitates a dragon, causing massive chaos. Beowulf decides to investigate, bringing men with him.

Though in Beowulf there is no war going on between two tribes, Beowulf fights many supernatural monsters such as the sea-monsters and Grendel. When Beowulf was sinking down to the bottom of the lake to fight Grendel’s mother, he was not only going to fight Grendel’s mom. She had various sea-monsters in her cave to help tear Beowulf apart. Luckily for Beowulf, the only thing that kept him alive was his unbreakable chain-mail. He does fight the sea-monsters, but his main goal was to kill Grendel’s mom. “…a bewildering horde came at him from the depths, droves of sea-beasts who attacked with tusks and tore at his chain-mail in a ghastly onslaught” (105). Not only was killing Grendel’s mom not going to be easy, it is even harder when there is a group of terrifying sea-monsters that are trying to kill you too! As king, Beowulf fights a dragon because some stupid thief could not keep himself from taking a piece of its treasure. Not only does the dragon try to kill the thief, but it tries to burn the whole city down in flames. Beowulf says he will fight the dragon and that he could possibly die, “… I shall pursue this fight for the glory of winning…” (171). Beowulf does finally pass away after this fight because of a fatal wound to the neck from the

Beowulf has killed a lot of the king’s men he stands alone and alarmed ready to fight. “So the Spear-Danes in days by and the kings who ruled them had courage and greatness we have heard of the heroic campaign”. The Spear-Danes bravery/heroism was celebrated. Beowulf’s fight with Grendel shows off his true strength.

Beowulf, now an old man, says in his final boast, “I’ve never known fear, as a youth I fought in endless battles. I am old, now, but I will fight again” (lines 607-609). Beowulf realizes the dangers of going into battle as an old man, and despite still knowing that his strength and fighting skills were not what they used to be still goes into battle against the ferocious dragon in order to protect his homeland from the villain. Unfortunately, as Beowulf was fighting saw that “for a time (the shield) held, protected Beowulf as he’d planned; then it began to melt, and for the first time in his life that famous prince fought with fate against him, with glory denied him. He knew it, but he raised his sword and struck at the dragon’s scaly hide/And the Geats’ ring-giver did not boast of glorious victories in other wars” (lines 666-671/678). As Beowulf fights the dragon, he comes to realize that he is not going to win and is going to meet his fate. All the battles he had previously fought had him fighting alongside fate, not against it, but now he realized that this is the battle he would not win. Still, Beowulf fights on knowing he would die. He, as stated in the quote, does not seek any pride nor has he in any of his battles and would valiantly fight until his death. These actions Beowulf has portrayed ultimately

Another detail of Beowulf is that he is very self confident, almost showing that he thinks of himself as indestructible, as said in this quote from the book “My lord Higlac might think less of me if I let my feet go where my feet were afraid to, if i hid behind some broad linden shield: my hands alone shall fight for me, struggle for life against the monster”(264-269). He did this by fighting Grendel without any weapon or armor to aid him, even wearing little to no clothes for that matter. Comparing this to today’s society, young people are characterized as seeing themselves as indestructible and that with their youth they can conquer anything. At the end of the battle Beowulf took one of Grendel’s arms to keep as a trophy, “No Dane doubted the victory, for the proof, hanging high from the rafters where Beowulf had hung it, was the monster’s arm, claw shoulder and all”

Fortunately Beowulf was ready and willing to sacrifice himself to repay the debt of Ecgtheow, Beowulf’s father, to Hrothgar. This Geat warrior possesses almost miraculous qualities: “He was the strongest of men alive in that day, mighty and noble.”  Upon spotting Beowulf approaching, the sea-guard of the Danes says, “Never have I seen a greater man on earth…”  King Hrothgar of the Danes says of Beowulf, “Seafarers who took gifts to the Geats say that he has the strength of 30 men in his hand grip.” Beowulf chooses to fight Grendel by himself and without shield or weapons; previously the hero slew nine sea monsters with his sword. And he is fully willing to sacrifice his very life for this: “… I alone will fulfill the wish of your people … or die in the foe’s grasp.” Beowulf consciously chooses to act in a superhuman manner: “I shall perform the deeds of a hero or I have passed my last day

Beowulf is always seeking to help his enrich his image. This flaw in his character, as well as his feeling of invincibility leads to his downfall later in life. “Again and again the angry monsters made fierce attacks, I served them well with my noble blade, as was only fitting. Small pleasure they had in such a sword-feast, dark things in the sea that meant to eat me, …I had chanced to kill some nine sea-beasts. I never have heard of a harder night-fight under heaven’s vault, or a man more oppressed on the ocean streams.”(Beowulf p83) It is very apparent here that Beowulf is extremely proud of what he had accomplished, and was not going to let some other person who had done no major heroic deed try to put him down. In fact, he goes on to say that no one in the world has fought such a hard fight as he did that night.

Beowulf’s two main positive attributes are his selflessness for the people that he does not consider friends initially as well as confidence to go into battle whenever certain death is prevalent. During the story Beowulf goes against four different enemies, three that are monsters where typical weapons would do no good and an impossible battle against the Swedes. In all he is the only person save Wiglaf at the end that is willing to fight these enemies. The moments leading up to Beowulf’s fight with Grendel, the narrator implies the sheer animosity of the enemy, “None of them expected he would ever see his homeland again or get back to his native place and the people who reared him.They knew too well the way it was before, how often the Danes had fallen prey to death in the mead-hall. (Heaney 47)” Nobody, likely including Beowulf even saw the remote possibility of him defeating even, only the first monster, yet he showed a willingness to fight and powered through and won. It is heavily implied that he only did this for his own glory and the pure danger of the situation, but by many especially the characters in the book, this is interpreted as someone without a fear of death.

The narrator even gives mention to the reminiscence of Beowulf to his days of prestige, glory and honor. This reminder of Beowulf’s age prompts the thoughts that all lives must end eventually, regardless of the victories which have been faced. Although Beowulf seems to understand that he is not the man or warrior that he used to be, he still seems to face the idea of fighting this new enemy, the dragon, as if he were a youthful warrior of the Geats. Regardless of his age, he plans to face the dragon with no hesitation or regard for the ways that years may have aged him. Beowulf, who ended the life of Grendel without the help of many men and without his weapons or armor, seems to take on the same confidence in this battle. He does not enlist the help of a large troupe in the fight against the Dragon. His hopeful approach gives another surge in the reader's expectations for his victory, but also begs the question of whether he has overestimated the persistence of his abilities and is going to face a grave

In Beowulf the classic epic, Beowulf, the hero of the epic, and other major characters reflect heroic ideals and beliefs of courage, generosity, unquestioning loyalty and devotion. Courage is most evident throughout Beowulf Beowulf does not back down from any challenge that stands in his way whether it be Grendel, Grendel’s mother, or the dragon. His bravery is most evident in his preparation for his fight with Grendel, Beowulf, “took off his shirt of armour, the helmet from his head, handed his embellished sword, best of irons to an attendant,…” He chose to bravely fight his foe, man to beast without weaponery for he knew it would be “cowardly” to defeat Grendel with a sword and armor when Grendel himself had none. Even in his

Not only is Beowulf honorable and well respected, he is brave as well. His courage is shown by not hesitating to risk his own life to pursue the Dane’s enemies. By being self-assured, Beowulf is able to successfully defeat the fiends, Grendel and his infamous mother. At the time Beowulf is planning to pursue the vindictive dragon, the epic poem states, “I’ve never known fear, as a youth I fought in endless battles. I am old now, but I will fight again, seek fame still, If the dragon hiding in his tower dares to face me.”(ll. 2511-2515). He feels no fear, is confident in fighting the dragon alone, and has no qualms in risking his life to save others. He declares his bravery by saying, “When he comes to me I mean to stand, not run from his shooting flames, stand till fate decides which of us wins... No one else could do what I mean to, here, no man but me could hope to defeat this monster.”(ll. 2525-2534). In his actions, Beowulf’s bravery is clearly shown throughout the poem.

Beowulf is from a time where heros never die. They would live on through stories. There would be amazing tales, poems recited, and songs sung about what the hero had done. To be a hero you had to follow the Anglo-Saxon codes. Which meant showing respect to those who had raised you and in turn helping them when they are in need. It means proving yourself and doing what was expected of you, even when it is something like dieing for your people. To live on through stories, Beowulf fought because of his duty, for glory, and as a sacrifice.

The day we lost Beowulf was a mournful day. Though it happened many years ago, people still mourn to this day. He was a heroic man that always put his life on the line. People honored the ground that he walked on because he was immortal like. He was the mightiest of them all, and though he was mortal, we all knew this day would come because of all the dreadful battles he was in. His good deeds will never go unnoticed, and his values will never be forgotten. For this man was a warrior, and a great one. By the end of his time, the whole world had depended on this earthly man. When Hrothgar’s tribe had stopped believing in the almighty, they had become desperate. That is when the mighty soldier sailed to save the day. When Grendel came to destroy,

“Beowulf's appearance, size and armor command immediate respect and attention” (Group Beowulf Passage). Beowulf’s appearance enough gave him that heroic effect even before anyone knew him. Beowulf wore a chainmail suit when fighting most battles, but when it came to fighting Grendel he did not because Grendel was not skilled in human fighting and he wanted a fair fight between him and the ogre. Chainmail suits are meant to protect the person from slashes and penetration from weapons. The reader could then infer that Beowulf was actually scared of getting hit from weapons and that he was not actually as brave as he put off initially. Which would the reader to believe he was being a coward when fighting most of his battles depending on his armour to save him.