BeoWulf

What is it All About?

Learning Intentions:
To learn about the Anglo Saxons.
 To understand and learn about runes.
To study the film version of Beowulf.
To learn about the characters of Beowulf.
To understand the idea of a hero.

How shall I do this?

I will use this unit.
I will discuss and share ideas with my peers and my
teacher.
I will watch the film and take notes.
I will need my pen and my jotter.
I may use a computer (if available).

By the End of this unit I will be able to:

Tell you about the Anglo Saxons and their lifestyle.
Explain the tale of Beowulf.
Understand the idea of a hero.
Create a graphic novel hero story.
Write a biography on my hero.

Who were the Anglo Saxons?

The Angle, Saxon, and Jute tribes who invaded Britain in the 5th Each boatload of
and 6th centuries are known as the Anglo-Saxons. They left their people formed a
homelands in northern Germany, Denmark and northern Holland settlement with its
and rowed across the North Sea in wooden boats. own leader.

Historians are not sure why the Anglo-Saxons came to Britain. It When the Romans
may have been because their land often flooded and it was left in AD 410,
difficult to grow crops, so they were looking for new places to Britain no longer
settle down and farm. Some sources say that Saxon warriors had a strong army
were invited to come to England. to defend itself.

The Anglo-Saxons took control of most of Britain, although they Offa was King of
never conquered Scotland, Wales and Cornwall. They divided the Mercia in the 8th
country into kingdoms, each with its own royal family. The century. He built a
stronger kingdoms often took control of the weaker kingdoms. long earth wall and
ditch along the
By around AD 600 the five main Anglo-Saxon kingdoms were border with Wales
Northumbria, Mercia, Wessex, Kent and Anglia. in order to keep
the Welsh tribes
 out of his kingdom.
It is called Offa's
Dyke.

In the 8th and 9th centuries the people of Scandinavia, who were The first Viking
known as the Vikings, began to come to Britain. Anglo-Saxon raid was on the
accounts describe terrible Viking raids in which people were monastery at
massacred, churches destroyed, and animals and precious Lindisfarne. The
objects stolen. By the end of the 870s, the Vikings occupied most Vikings stole
of eastern England. Their territory was called the Danelaw. precious treasures
and killed many of
the monks.
 The six centuries of Anglo-Saxon rule have had a lasting Story tellers could
influence on England. Many places are still called by their Anglo- not read or write
Saxon names, and many Anglo-Saxon words are still used today. so they had to
Our system of law is also based on ideas that can be traced back recount long
to Anglo-Saxon times. poems from
memory.

Words used today

faether - father
sunu - son
dohtor - daughter
chese - cheese
Anglo-Saxon place-names
ford - river crossing
ham - settlement
den - hill
ton - farm or village
wic - farmstead

Anglo Saxon Runes

When the Anglo-Saxons became Christians, they began to use the Roman alphabet for
writing (as we still do today). Before that time, they wrote in runes like these:

Each rune had a name, such as 'joy' or 'ash tree' . The runes were all made of
straight lines, which made them easier to carve. Runes were often carved on precious
objects - like an ivory box - or on stone monuments. Sometimes runes told the maker's
name.
You can see that some of the runes are quite like our capital letters:

Some are easier to guess if you turn them upside down,

although some are not at all what you might expect:

The word RUNE means secret or mystery. Runes had a religious meaning and were
used in religious ceremonies. They were a charm or a spell as well as a way of writing
messages.

This is why TO SPELL (meaning to put down the right letters in the right order) and
A SPELL (as in a magic spell) are the same word in English. The Anglo-Saxons
believed that if you used the right runes in the right order, they could have magical
powers. For example, a prisoner could magically release himself by carving certain
runes.

Even our words READ and WRITE are connected with runes. The Anglo-Saxon
words

writan (= to carve runes) and ridan (= to interpret runes) became our words write and
read.

Why not try using runes like a code to write secret messages to your friends? Look at
the alphabet of runes again. As you can see, Anglo-Saxon had some sounds (like æ - )
that we don't use any more, but some letters you might need (q for example) are
missing. You can make up your own runes for these. Remember to make them out of
straight lines.

The original opening page of

Beowulf.
The plot
Set in Denmark, the film opens with King Hrothgar (Anthony
Hopkins) celebrating the construction of his new mead hall, Heorot.
The noise of the celebration echoes into Grendel's (Crispin Glover)
cave and torments him. In a mad fury, Grendel breaks into the hall
and kills many people. After being challenged by Hrothgar, Grendel
runs off into the night. Back at his lair, Grendel is admonished by his
unseen mother for attacking the humans and possibly inviting
retribution. She calms down after Grendel tells her that he did not
harm Hrothgar.

Meanwhile, Hrothgar closes Heorot and proclaims that he will give

half of his kingdom in gold to any man who can defeat Grendel.
Beowulf (Ray Winstone) and his men arrive by ship from Geatland
and convince Hrothgar to reopen Heorot. Beowulf's credibility is
challenged by Unferth (John Malkovich), the King's most trusted
advisor. Beowulf proceeds to tell a tale to convince the people of
Heorot that he is capable of killing Grendel. Hrothgar offers Beowulf
his Golden drinking horn, a trophy taken after a battle with the dragon
Fáfnir, in the event that Grendel is destroyed.

Later Hrothgar and Queen Wealtheow (Robin Wright Penn) argue.

Hrothgar states that he needs an heir. Wealtheow refuses to comply
due to Hrothgar's earlier involvement with Grendel's mother (thus
conceiving Grendel).

That evening, Beowulf sheds his armor and tells his men to sing
loudly, to attract the monster. Grendel is agitated once again and
attacks the hall with a fury. While fighting Grendel, Beowulf
discovers an external eardrum, the source of Grendel's pain, and
begins to attack it directly. This disorients Grendel, who shrinks in
size from the attack and attempts to escape. Beowulf snares him with
chains and slams the door on his arm breaking it off. Beowulf is
proclaimed a hero and Grendel's arm is nailed above the door of
Heorot.

After Grendel returns to the cave to die, Grendel's mother shrieks out
in an unearthly fashion in grief over the loss of her son. Determined to
avenge his death, she flies to Heorot in a murderous rage. She initially
appears to Beowulf in a dream disguised as Wealtheow. When
Beowulf wakes from the dream he finds that all of his men are dead
except for Wiglaf, who (stricken with grief at the deaths of some of
the other men in Beowulf's band) had elected to forego the festivities
and tend to the ship. Beowulf confronts Hrothgar, whose evasive
answers imply that he knows more of Grendel's past than he will state
openly, tells Beowulf how he can find Grendel's mother. Unferth, who
has by this time converted to Christianity, appears before Beowulf
and apologizes to him for his previous behavior, offering him the use
of his ancestral sword Hrunting, which Beowulf accepts.

Beowulf and Wiglaf find the cave. Beowulf enters it alone, eventually
confronting Grendel's mother (Angelina Jolie). She appears to him as
a beautiful nude woman with golden liquid dripping from her skin.
She promises him fame and power if he gives her a son. She also
demands the Horn of Hrothgar with the promise that as long as it is in
her safekeeping, Heorot will be safe. As she entices Beowulf, she
melts Hrunting with her bare hands. Beowulf gives in to her
temptations.

Beowulf returns to Heorot with Grendel's severed head and tells a

disbelieving Hrothgar that he killed Grendel's mother. Hrothgar states
that his curse has been lifted (implying that it has passed to Beowulf)
and then publicly proclaims Beowulf heir to his kingdom — and its
queen. Hrothgar then proceeds to throw himself from the balcony and
falls to his death. Stunned, Beowulf is duly crowned king and marries
Wealtheow.

Many years pass. King Beowulf is now old and disillusioned, a

shadow of his former glorious self. One day, Unferth's servant, Cain,
now grown up, finds the Horn of Hrothgar upon a stretch of moors.
Unferth proceeds to present it to the king. Beowulf is furious to see it
and realises Grendel's mother has reneged on their bargain. That
evening Beowulf dreams of a man in gold threatening both the old
Queen Wealtheow and Beowulf's young mistress, Ursula. The next
day, a fierce dragon attacks a village outside Heorot. The dragon slays
Unferth's wife and children before his eyes, and leaves a message
with Unferth for Beowulf. Unferth, badly burned and mad with rage
from seeing his family burned alive, gives Beowulf the dragon's
simple message: 'The sins of the fathers!'

Beowulf, intending to break the cycle of the female demon's curse,

rides with Wiglaf to the cave of Grendel's mother to kill the dragon
and end the madness. Beowulf tells Wiglaf that he has instructed the
heralds to proclaim Wiglaf king should Beowulf fall in the coming
battle. Beowulf also tries to confess his past sins to Wiglaf, but his old
friend refuses to listen and provides encouragement for the King.
Beowulf enters the cave alone and attempts to mollify Grendel's
mother by returning the Dragon Horn to her. To his dismay, the
demon tells him it is too late. The demon then sends the dragon to
attack Heorot. The dragon overcomes a desperate attempt by
Beowulf's army to hold-off and kill it and fails to drown Beowulf by
diving into the sea. It then proceeds to the castle and attempts to
attack Queen Wealtheow and Ursula. Beowulf kills it by a daring
maneuver, remembering advice on dragon-slaying given to him by
Hrothgar. Beowulf, while dangling from the dragon on a chain, is
unable to reach the dragon's heart with his sword. Beowulf severs his
own arm in order to be able to reach the dragon's heart. As Beowulf is
feeling through the dragon's chest to reach its heart, the dragon jostles
the sword from Beowulf's hand. Beowulf rips the heart from the
dragon with his bare hand. Wealtheow and Ursula survive.

Beowulf and the dragon fall to the shores far below. The dragon
reverts to the golden man of Beowulf's dream, whom Beowulf
realizes is his son. Beowulf then dies in Wiglaf's arms. The latter, still
refusing to believe his friend is anything but a hero, finally listens to
Beowulf's confession.

Wiglaf later prepares a traditional Viking funeral for Beowulf. As he

watches the burning boat loaded with Beowulf's treasure that serves
as a funeral pyre, he sees Grendel's mother kissing the corpse amidst
the flames shortly before the boat sinks. The Dragon Horn washes
ashore at Wiglaf's feet. As he picks it up, Grendel's mother emerges
from the sea, beckoning him. The movie's ending is ambiguous
(uncertain) about what Wiglaf will do next.
Enjoy the Film.