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Tommy Dang
Mrs. Hohl
Literature in Modern Media
5 October 2014

The Good, The Bad, and The Sacrifice

The archetype theme of Good vs. Evil has always been present throughout history. We
can see this from the Anglo-Saxon time and even to this day in the present time. A perfect
example of this, is the story of Beowulf. In the story of Beowulf, We see the struggle between
Good vs. Evil in the battle with Grendel, with Grendel's mother, and a great big Dragon.
Throughout the epic story, the poem tells us that the continuous battle between Good and Evil is
never over and that there is always a price to pay.
The battle with Grendel is the first time we see the struggle between Good vs. Evil.
Gendal was a great big monster that had taken shelter in the meat hall of the Geats. Gendal so far
had no match and it was unstoppable. No ordinary men had survive one of Gendal attacks. Until
Beowulf arrived to the Geats aid. As Gendal was battling Beowulf, the author told us that Gendal
fought for his freedom, wanting no flesh but retreat, desiring nothing but escape; his claws had
been caught, he was trapped. (285-288). In this quote, It shows that no matter what the forces
of Evil tries to do, it can never escape the grip of Justice. Good will never let Evil go if it again
can hurt others. Sadly, the battle of Good vs. Evil always comes with a price, and that price was a
fellow Geats soldier life. Gendal snatched at the first Geats he came to, ripped him apart, cut
his body to bits with powerful jaws. (262-264) As sad as that sounds, The Geats soldier knew
what they had sign up for. They knew that there was a good chance that they werent going to
make it back. Even though they knew all that, they still made the sacrifice (especially the that got

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eaten) for the common good. Though the battle was won by the Good side, the war is not yet
over and Gendal, like all creatures, has a mother.
Another great example of Good vs. Evil is the battle with Grendel's mother. Even though
the battle was won against Grendel, another monster was lurking up to the surface. The monster
was none other than, Grendel mother. After she had hear about the death of her son, she became
full of vengeance. She raised from the dark lake and kill every geats in sight. She then proceed to
the meat hall where her son was slayed. She took her son arm and went back to her dark lake.
When the news got to Beowulf, he immediately armed up and went to the dark lake where
Grendel mother was waiting for him. When had finally arrived at the dark lake, he leaps into the
lake and waited for her to come. As Grendel mother came out, she came out swinging. She tried
to hurt him but with little effect. Unfortunately, Beowulf also found out that none of his weapon
could hurt the monster. When the weapons didnt work, He dropped it, if weapons were useless
hed use his hands the strength in his fingers.(489-490) This is great because when the weapons
that Beowulf brought to fight didnt work, he didnt give up. Instead, he summons up the
strength from within and use his bare hands to battle Grendel mother. Using his hands were
proving to be useful, but he found that even with his strength, he is only evenly match with
Grendel mother. He then found a magic sword that helped Beowulf to defeat her. After the battle,
the soldier didnt see their hero rise from the lake and went home in sorrow. However, the ones
that stay was sad but then they saw their hero rise from the water and the nobles protector of
all seamen swam to land, rejoicing in the heavy burden he was bring with him. He and all of his
band of geats thank God that their leader had come back unharmed. (579-582) This shows that
the bonds between Beowulf and a few of his follower is unbreakable. Although the only sacrifice
in this story was that the kings trusted adviser was killed, but the bonds that came out of this was

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so much more. In conclusion, the battle of Good vs. Evil will always continue, even if it may
take a few years Evil will reemerge again. But next time it might require a big sacrifice.
The third and last and final story is a tragic one. This story is called Beowulf last battle. It
had been 50 years since the battle of Grendel mother. Everything up to this point had been a time
of peace. Beowulf became king of the Geats and had protected them for years. But then one day,
a Thief disturb a dragon that had been guarding a hundred year old treasure, by stealing a golden
cup from the treasure. The Dragon began terrorizing the Geats and Beowulf, now an old man,
take on this challenge. As Beowulf gets ready for battle, He uttered his final boast: Ive never
known fear, as a youth I fought in endless battles. I am old now, but I will fight again.(607-610)
This is a great example of how heroic Beowulf is by being selfless. Even though he is now an old
man, he still finds the courage to keep on protecting others even at the cost of his own life. As he
was battling the mighty dragon, the ancient blade broke when he try to slash the dragon skin. The
mightiest weapon had now deserted him and he is now left defenseless. As the dragon was
beating down on Beowulf hard, none of his comrade came to his rescue. They instead cowardly
ran for their lives while their king was laying on the floor getting the stuffing beat out of him. All
but one soldier had ran, and his name was Wiglaf. Wiglaf was watching Beowulf, he could see
how his king was suffering, burning. Remembering everything his lord and his cousin had given
him, armor and gold and the great estate Wexstan family enjoy, Wiglaf mind was made up; he
raised his yellow shield and drew his sword... (699-705) What Wiglaf did was a sign of loyalty
and camaraderie. He stood by his king even though it could had met that he would die. Sadly
after Beowulf and Wiglaf defeated the monster, Beowulf life was slipping from this world. That
was the ultimate sacrifice for the battle of Good vs. Evil. Even The battle of Good and Evil will
never end, at least Beowulf and Wiglaf had defeated this one. Before Beowulf part from this

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world, He told Wiglaf to build him a tower so big that sailor would remember him as they pass it.
That is a great example of what the Anglo-Saxon believed in which was to build a legacy that
would last.
To summarize this all up, the battle of Good vs. Evil would never end and that there will
always be a sacrifice each time a battle occurs. We saw that in Battle with Grendel, Grendel
mother, and in Beowulf last battle. In each one of those battles, shows us that the battle of Good
vs. Evil will only get harder, but each time Evil gets a little stronger Good will always find a way
to defeat it.