The Motivation Of Beowulf In 'All That You Do'

Beowulf proclaims “In the blackness of night, hunting monsters out of the ocean, and killing them one by one; death was my errand and the fate they had earned. Now Grendel and I are called together” (liens 156-160). Beowulf claims that he must go to defeat Grendel, as it was his errand, or his duty, and his fate. This speech he makes to King Hrothgar reinforces his true reason to come to the King, not for any pride. Another vow Beowulf makes is when he says “That this is one favor you should not refuse me—That I, alone and with the help of my men, many purge all evil form this hall” (lines 163-166). In this line, Beowulf is pleading for the King to do one thing, which is to give him the permission for him and his men to go and fight Grendel, what Beowulf had arrived for. The fact that Beowulf asks the king for only one thing, which is to fight Grendel, shows Beowulf’s selflessness and concern for the safety of others. At no part does he ask for a reward, but even says that if fate is in favor of Grendel to give his armor back to his family. These words help paint the image of Beowulf being concerned for others, not for his

In the Anglo-Saxon epic poem Beowulf, the stupendous hero’s many great deeds often appear to be for other’s benefit, yet Beowulf’s final conquest exposes his lust for glory and fame, thereby showing his lack of concern for anything else. This lust for immense glory and fame feeds his ego and causes his death and the imminent downfall of his great people the Geats.

The storyline of Beowulf illustrates the epic battle between good and evil, and demonstrates to the readers that external war is not the only conflict hero’s face. Beowulf struggles a lot with his pride. Beowulf’s biggest internal battle was experienced when he was preparing to fight the dragon. He decided to go into battle, ignoring the fact that he had aged, but his pride, and warrior code wouldn’t let him run. What makes matters worse, he decided to go into the battle alone. His hero pride overcame the actions a normal king would’ve taken. The hero ideology at the time was strictly against a warrior running from a battle, and if Beowulf had done so, he would’ve been persecuted by society, as well as his own conscience.

When most people do something heroic it’s usually for a certain reason. Everyone has motivations by just about every single thing they do. Some people choose to do heroic things like become a firefighter for example these men and women choose to do this is by volunteering they could get killed it’s very dangerous and they still choose to be in the line of fire literally for some reason or another. When they choose to do something heroic like this they usually have some sort of one or even various different reasons for it. Beowulf is an epic hero himself he goes to the land of the Danes and basically kills a monster named Grendel for them without any reason behind why he actually went. Some people may say well Beowulf is just a hero and that’s what he’s supposed to do without and real reasoning behind it. Although if you read the epic for each monster Beowulf fights there is a motivation behind it. For each different monster there is a different motivation behind Beowulf fighting first is Grendel, next is Grendel’s mother and finally the dragon.

When Beowulf fights, he always has a reason. Beowulf is a strong, brave and heroic figure to the Danes. He is always looking to protect them. Beowulf encounters three fights and uses different methods, techniques, and weapons for each one. He uses these to show that sometimes doing the same thing over again doesn't always work.

In “Beowulf and Grendel”, Beowulf tried to find reasons why Grendel was attacking the Danes. Grendel refused to fight Beowulf unless Beowulf gave him a reason to, which he did by him and the other Geats going into his cave and destroying Grendel’s father’s head. Beowulf makes it his mission in life to kill Grendel and save the Danes, and also the Geats. Beowulf shows that he cares about the Danes and acts like an honorable man and makes the Danes feel safe. Beowulf ended up ending Grendel’s life and then has to deal with his mother because she kills the Danes.

Beowulf’s charismatic leadership style is adequate for him to achieve the role he deserves over the Danes, although it comes along with several drawbacks. Beowulf comes to power by being a courageous figure that comes to help the Danes in their time of need. He often brags about his courageous acts to show his greatness, we see this when he is confronted by Unferth, "The fact is, Unferth, if you were truly as keen and courageous as you claim to be Grendel would never have got away with such unchecked atrocity, attacks on your king, havoc in Heorot and horrors everywhere" (590-594). After defeating Grendel, the Danes look to him as their invincible hero

The epic poem portrays justice. Not only did Beowulf himself bring justice to his people but in a way so did Beowulf’s death. “The first time in life that famous prince fought with fate against him, with glory denied him” ( line 63-65 ). This shows that Beowulf risked his own, to save his own. Meaning he risked his own life to save his people. This is similar to the brave people that decide to join the military and fight for their countries. Even more similar to the ones that unfortunately do not make it home to their families.

Beowulf is from the great land of the Geats. When he hears about the terrible monster, Grendel, that is plaguing the land of the Danes, he gathers fourteen men to accompany him to fight. When the Geats arrive in the land of the Danes, Beowulf is granted permission to attempt to kill the terrible Grendel. He goes forward with this quest, ultimately saving the Danes while risking his own life. Quickly after, he risks his

Though Beowulf was god-like and he was able to be successful when faced with decisions and adversity, he eventually succumbed to the destructive forces of nature and threw his nation into conflict. As aforementioned, Beowulf’s battle with the dragon depicts unpreventable death and destruction that afflicts everybody, his last battle also symbolizes that even the most seemingly perfect people are chained to hostile acts of nature and fate. Beowulf’s death is not a product of pride, it was a result of his altruistic nature to do good, however, his death forecasts war in his country as described by Wiglaf when ordering a messenger to tell the Geats of Beowulf’s death, “And this people can expect fighting, once/ The Franks, and the Frisians, have heard that our king/ Lies dead.” (Beowulf 2910-2913). Beowulf’s main purpose was to do good, and though killing the dragon was an act of goodness, he traded in his life for an act of good, however his death brought the large possibility of war to his

The character Beowulf embodied the Pagan heroic code (comitatus), but he also exhibited Christian values. Overall, he was a warrior and a hero who sought fame and reputation. Most of his actions were motivated by his desire to be remembered after his death as a courageous and loyal warrior. When Beowulf hears about Hrothgar’s trouble he goes to help him. He wants to help him for a few reasons, all of which relate to the comitatus. He wants to acquire fame and he wants lifelong honor. By beating Grendel he would receive honor and his reputation would be enhanced. Also, Beowulf wants to repay Hrothgar for settling a feud for his father years before. Beowulf is willing to do battle for the old king even though it means that he could die.

In many of his battles Beowulf fights not for gold or treasure but for honor. The main reason he goes to fight and risk his life to fight Grendel is because of his honor and how he has put his trust in other peoples hands. Beowulf stays and defends the kingdom that his father once leadand shows his loyalty by creating his battles as a fair and even fight. Beowulf says “I’d use no sword, no weapon, if this beast could be kill without it” (Beowulf, 630-632).

To begin, when Beowulf gets to the land of the Danes he is only there because of his duty. In Anglo-Saxon culture, if you were able to do something to help someone else it was your

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 last battle that Beowulf partook in was perhaps the most heroic of all. Although the battle ended his life, it proved that of all the men in the story, Beowulf was the only true Anglo-Saxon hero. All of his troops proved to be fickle. They abandoned him in a time when they were needed the most. Though his men lived, they lived as cowards, yielding to the dragon apprehended by all the Geats. Never the less, Beowulf’s strength of heart and mind gave him the will to fight the dragon, although none of his men were there to help him. In this part of the tale, Beowulf was older and his physical strength had dwindled. But despite this, his tremendous heroism remained. He fought the dragon to his death and died with a pride, gallantry and chivalry that no man at the time had