Dramatic Irony

- Dramatic Irony is a scenario in which the audience knows what actually

happens, but the characters think something different took place. In
Beowulf, this is when Beowulf takes on Grendels mother under the lake.
His men watch from above and see blood rising to the surface, they
immediately assume its Beowulf and that he was slain in battle. But what
the audience knows is that Beowulf was the victor, the blood is Grendels
mothers after she was killed with an antique sword.

Tragic Irony/Catastrophe
- In Beowulf, the tragic irony and catastrophe devices are found in the same
scene. At the very end as Beowulf dies, he does not die as vikings feel is the
most honorable and viking way to die. Beowulf was fatally wounded and
eventually

killed after the battle, when the dragon bites off beowulfs neck
and shoulder as a last, dying move. Beowulf is attacked in battle but is not
killed during it, he dies slowly outside of the dragons den when all is said
and done.