QUESTIONS

(a) How do you read the following passage (lines 43-46):

43They gave him great ornaments, gifts

44No less magnificent than those men had given him
45Who long before had sent him alone,
46Child as he was, across the stretch of the seas.

(b) How do you account for the following passage (lines 50-52):
50 Mighty men
51 Beneath the heavens, rulers in the hall,
52 Cannot say who received that cargo.

( c) Comment please on the following passage:

Hrothgar won honour in war,

Glory in battle, and so ensured
His followers’ support – young men
Whose number multiplied into a mighty troop.
And he resolved to build a hall <…>

(d) Why do you think Beowulf calls Unferth “my friend” though the latter addresses him
rudely:
‘Are you the Beowulf who competed with Breca,
vied with him as swimming in the open sea
when, swollen with vanity, you both braved
the waves, risked your lives on deep waters
because of a foolish boast? <..>?

(e) Basing yourself on the below description in extract 2, please, speculate on the type of
a hero Beowulf seems to make:

<…> the mighty sea-beast

Was slain by my blow in the storm of battle.
In this manner, and many times, loathsome monsters
Harassed me fiercely; with my fine sword
I served them fittingly.
<…> But the next morning they lay in the sand
Along the shore, wounded by sword strokes,
Slain by battle-blades, and from that day on
They could not hinder seafarers from sailing
Over deep waters.