How To Write An Essay About Beowulf's Journey

Joseph Campbell’s term monomyth can be described as a hero’s journey. Many heroic characters follow the monomyth, no matter the time period or culture the literature was created in. The poem Beowulf is known to follow the adventure of the hero described in Campbell’s monomyth . The hero’s journey consists of three rites of passages: separation, initiation, and return. Beowulf endures each of these stages throughout the epic poem, so his journey does follow Campbell’s monomyth.

Beowulf had never been one to back down from a challenge, even though he may possibly lose his life. Beowulf, certain of his victory arrives to Hrothgar’s kingdom and assures him that he shall defeat Grendel. Beowulf eventually does defeat Grendel, but Grendel’s mother soon arrives to avenge her son. Beowulf once again arrogantly goes to fight with the mother, taking a group of both his and Hrothgar’s men. Beowulf’s fate seemed bleak as he fought with Grendel’s mother, but with his quick thinking he was able to decapitate the she-monster. Beowulf’s pride compelled him to finish his task of eliminating the problems of the Danish kingdom, refusing to be defeated by Grendel or his mother. Beowulf receives his reward from Hrothgar, who is eternally grateful for the deeds Beowulf has done for his kingdom. Beowulf selflessly gives most of his treasure away to those who helped him, because though he may be prideful Beowulf is not selfish or greedy.

Beowulf sees Grendel's mother in a cave. He tries to hit her with his sword, Unferth's Hrunting, but it fails to pierce her skin. So he throws the sword away and attacks the mother with his bare hands. He trusts "in his strength, his mighty hand-grip." Beowulf manages to throw Grendel's mother down; however, she quickly retaliates and is soon sitting on top of him. She tries to kill him with a dagger, but Beowulf's armor protects him this time. Beowulf managed to throw her off of himself and sees a sword of enormous size, which he immediately grabs.

From his astonishing strength, to his unmatched courage, Beowulf is the perfect embodiment of the Anglo-Saxon concept of a hero. Throughout his tail, Beowulf consistently shows his immense strength. For instance, when he decides to fight Grendel without a sword, and wins. In addition, a hero must show unwavering courage, especially in the face of danger. Beowulf displays his courage multiple times throughout his journey, but specifically in the cave when fighting Grendel's mother.

Grendel was an impossible opponent for them to combat, until Beowulf arrived. Beowulf had heard the call of the people and answered it. He decides to fights Grendel in hand to hand combat, and with his heroic strength he riped off the arm of the monster and slayed the beast. No man or group of men had been able to even wound the monster themselves, it took a hero and his strength for the foe to be beaten. Without his strength though, Beowulf would have been slain by Grendel like the hundreds of men before him, but by wielding his mystical weapon he defeated Grendel and overcame his trial.

At last, Grendel is confronted with Beowulf, who fights with great courage and strength, and Beowulf rises as a victor against the pure evilness and threat to society that Grendel represents.

This battle with Grendel`s mother is a person al battle for both parties. They welcomed him and praise him this is a personal battles for Beowulf. Those are his people now he protects them in their time of need. Beowulf grows as a character between the battles. HE understand that he can die.

However, their sleep did not last long. During the night, Grendel’s mother came to avenge her son’s death. She enters the hall and grabs Aeschere and her son’s arm. Beowulf goes to follow her and swims for an entire day in her pool before he sees the bottom of the mere. When Beowulf descends into Grendel’s mere, he loses ground as the fight progresses. It is then assumed that Beowulf is fighting desperately for his life. Then, the water closed over him. It was “the space of a day,” before he could see the bottom of the mere (Burlin 121). The hero’s physical powers grow far beyond human dimensions. Beowulf is about to attempt to use a weapon although they were useless against her; “then he saw, hanging on the wall, a heavy sword...but so massive that no ordinary man could life its carved and decorated length” (72). Once he is in Grendel’s mother’s mere, Beowulf remains underwater for more than a day (Burlin 120). Finally, Beowulf kills Grendel’s mother, and her blood melts his sword (Bloom 16).

The first major battle that Beowulf fights in is against Grendel. Beowulf’s motive for this particular fight is to get revenge for what Grendel did to the Danes. Grendel raided the Danes for a total of twelve years. As we learned throughout the book Beowulf was very selfless and was always willing to help out other people. When Grendel comes to Heorot, he devours and kills a Geatish warrior all while Beowulf watches very closely. After this, Grendel tries to reach out and get Beowulf, but is surprised to find his arm gripped with the great strength of Beowulf. Grendel tries to run back to his home in the swamplands because he knows that he will not be able to compete with the mighty Beowulf. At the end of the battle Beowulf summons great strength and rips Grendel’s arm off his body. Grendel, now fatally wounded, goes back to his home and eventually dies. Beowulf holds up the bloody arm of Grendel like a trophy and hangs it on the wall in Heorot as proof that he defeated Grendel. Around the

Before Beowulf goes into the sea, Unferth offers him his sword, Hrunting. During the ensuing battle Grendel's mother carries Beowulf to her underwater home. After a terrible fight, Beowulf kills the monster with a magical sword, probably put there by the Al-Weilder, that he finds on the wall of her home. He also finds Grendel's dead body, cuts off the head, and returns to

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.

When Beowulf heard of the mother’s revenge, he had to take action. “They wrestled, she ripped and tore and clawed at him, bit holes in his helmet” (Beowulf, p.60, ll.453-454). Beowulf battled with Grendel’s mother to show her that he was a great and mighty warrior; he couldn’t let her get away with what she had done. Battle between the two was nail bitter, Grendel’s mother wasn’t going down without a fight nor was Beowulf. “Caught her in the neck and cut it through, Broke bones all” (Beowulf, p.61, ll. 494-495).

He is willing to cross a boundary alone in order to protect the stability of his kingdom even if he must die in order to do so. However, instead of using his bare hands this time like when he killed Grendel because he “does not know the warrior 's arts" (681), Beowulf uses better judgment and uses weapons to defeat the mother. At this point it appears that Beowulf is maturing by making better decisions.

Beowulf’s first confrontation is with the “mighty beast” Grendel. The creature is killing the men of King Hrothgar during the night. When the Prince of the Geats comes over to help Hrothgar he seems ready for a fight. Beowulf and his bravest men gather in Herot Hall that night to wait for the beast. A few of the men are asleep when Grendel arrives and he gets ahold of one of them before snatching at Beowulf, and that’s when he strikes. He easily battles against Grendel’s long claws and gnashing teeth. As they fight all around the mead hall, Beowulf finally gets ahold of the demon’s arm and tears it from his body, all done with his bare hands. When the battle is won, Beowulf along with everyone else is extremely pleased with him. This battle was a easy win for the man and he knew it.

In the first battle, Beowulf does not face any difficulty fighting Grendel. Beowulf goes to fight Grendel to help the people of Herot, but more importantly to gain glory for himself. Grendel is described as a devious monster “who haunted the moors, the wild/ Marshes, and made his home in hell...” (Beowulf 1. 102-103). Most warriors would not be brave enough to even go up against this beast, but Beowulf takes on the challenge. He is a young brave, ferocious warrior. For example, Beowulf boasts, “Grendel is no braver, no stronger/ Than I am! I could kill him with my sword; I shall not...” (10. 677-678). This proves that he has no fear and believes that Grendel is such an easy opponent that he does not even need to use any weapons to defeat him. Thus making this the easiest battle of the three. For other warriors they would say Grendel uses difficult strategies when fighting like he moves “quickly through the cloudy night,/ Up from his swampland, sliding