Beowulf – The Epic Poem.

Kevin Lopez.

The epic poem, Beowulf, is centered around three main battles that held great importance
throughout the story. The main character, Beowulf, is very skilled in the art of war. Beowulf
it is considered the representative masterpiece of the ancient period of English literature.It
is a fictional story inspired and based on an authentic geographic, political, historical and
social context. Its author is anonymous, it is said to have been written in England.

Beowulf the son of Ekto. Beowulf was a man given to God. considered in the poem as the
prince of an entire army of the brave. Beowulf reflects the values of the culture in which it
was created. The Anglo-Saxon culture and the poem share many of the same values.
They shared a heroic ideal that included loyalty, strength, courage, courtesy, and
generosity. Like all epic poems Beowulf is a long narrative work that tells the adventures of
a great hero and also reflects the values of the society in which it was written. Both
Beowulf and the Anglo-Saxons believed in those qualities as an individual.

Grendel the dreadful and sinister enemy,the demon is a giant demon lurking in the
presence of obscurity, haunting remote areas of darkness. A monster that for more than 12
years had had the Danes frightened. Beowulf also brings light to darkness as Beowulf
goes into the dragon’s barrow of treasures which is also a dark symbols of the clash that
occurs. Reputation was a big part of Beowulf identity he was used to never losing a battle
and never needing to ask others for help. Grendel on the other hand doesn’t have quite as
clean and pure background. Grendel is an outcast in the poem he is the byproduct of the
sin that Cain committed by killing Abel, pure evil he (Grendel) is “Malignant by nature, he
never showed remorse. He battles the monster himself and tears off the monsters arm.
The monster runs back to the sea to die, and Beowulf hangs his arm in the hall to show
that they have won. time after,a new event arrives. Grendel's mother attacks. Grendels
mother comes to the hall to get revenge for his sons death. Beowulf takes a magic sword
given to him by Unferth to battle Grendels mother. Beowulf goes into the deep sea, finds
Grendels mother and with superhuman strength, bravery, and courage. Beowulf unleashes
a great battle of much blood the he kills her.

His troops said that he had never had such a great and noble leader Beowulf has real
bravery and courage which heros of the times possesses. The last quality of a hero is the
ability to perform super human feats. Beowulf performs super human feats along with his
courage, his bravery, and his desire to help others. When he gave an account of his
exploits to people who want to know more about this brave man, he always said that he
fights Grendel he does this without using any weapons only his bare hands. He pulls the
monsters arm right out of its socket, a super human feat. Plus, when battling Grendels
mother, Beowulf goes under the waters of the sea to find the monsters mother and to kill
her with a magic sword. He does this feat, with his great strength.

Lastly, Beowulf greedy in victory and have more riches to share with his own. Beowulf
returns to his own land after helping Hrothergar and becomes king of the Geats. He rules
for many years. When he is an old man, his land is ruined by a fire dragon. This dragon
has a great treasure which it is protecting. Beowulf goes out to fight this dragon to protect
his people even though he is too old. While fighting the fire dragon with his sword, the
dragon cuts Beowulf at the neck. Beowulf takes help from a young man who inherits his
father's bravery and who fought alongside him to destroy the dragon. His name was
Wiglaf. Wiglaf is the only man who overcomes his fear of the beast. But Beowulf fights
back and ends up killing the dragon with one blow of his sword. He cuts the dragon right in
half. The killing of this fire dragon uses uper human feats, courage, and bravery which
definitely shows that Beowulf has hero qualities.

To show his honor and concern for others, Beowulfs last request is that the treasure of the
fire dragon be given to his people and that a monument be built to show all other sailors
the safe way home. Beowulf teaches us that he fought for glory. This last request certainly
shows Beowulf is a real hero of the Middle Ages. Beowulf a man who always battled in the
name of God, a man who enhances the honor and protection of a great people.