Tensions Between the Heroic Code and Other Value Systems

In the story Beowulf is devoted to articulating and illustrating the

Germanic heroic code, which values warriors' strength, courage,
and loyalty; kings' hospitality, generosity, and political skill;
women's ceremoniousness; and everyone's good reputation. This
code is essential to warrior societies as a means of understanding
their relationships to the world and the dangers lurking beyond
their borders. It is traditional and well-respected. The moral
judgments of the characters are all based on the code's
mandates. As a result, individual actions can only be categorized
as either conforming to or violating the code.
The poem emphasizes the code's points of tension by recounting
situations that expose the code's internal value contradictions.
The poem contains several stories about divided loyalties, which
are situations for which the code provides no practical guidance
on how to act. The poet, for example, tells how the Danish
Hildeburh marries the Frisian king. Hildeburh is left doubly
bereaved when both her Danish brother and Frisian son are killed
in the war between the Danes and the Frisians. The code is also
frequently at odds with medieval Christian values. While the code
holds that honor is gained through deeds during life, Christianity
holds that glory is found in the afterlife. Similarly, while warrior
culture dictates that it is always preferable to retaliate rather than
mourn, Christian doctrine advocates a peaceful, forgiving attitude
toward one's adversaries. The poet strives throughout the poem
to reconcile these two sets of values. Despite his Christian faith,
he cannot (and does not appear to want to) deny the story's
fundamental pagan values.

The Difference Between a Good Warrior and a Good King

Beowulf grows from a valiant combatant to a wise leader over the
course of the poem. His transition demonstrates that each of his
two roles is associated with a distinct set of values. The disparity
between these two sets of values is evident early on in Beowulf
and King Hrothgar's perspectives. Whereas the youthful Beowulf
seeks personal glory because he has nothing to lose, the aged
Hrothgar seeks protection for his people because he has a lot to
lose. Though these two perspectives are somewhat diametrically
opposed, each character acts as society expects him to given his
specific role in society.
While Beowulf's example demonstrates warrior values throughout
the poem, the responsibilities of a king to his people are
discussed only in the poem's more didactic moments. According
to the heroic code, a king must reward his warriors' loyal service
with gifts and praise. It also states that he must protect them and
provide them with the sanctuary of a lavish mead-hall. Hrothgar's
speeches, in particular, emphasize the importance of establishing
stability in an unstable and chaotic world. He also discusses the
king's role in diplomacy, both with his warriors and with other
tribes.
Beowulf's reign as king expands on many of the same points. His
transition from warrior to king, and especially his final battle with
the dragon, rehash the dichotomy between heroic warrior and
heroic king duties. Beowulf's daring encounter with the dragon is
morally ambiguous in the eyes of several of the Geats because it
condemns them to a kingless state where they are vulnerable to
attack by their enemies. However, earlier in his life, Beowulf
demonstrates kingly restraint by refusing to usurp Hygelac's
throne, instead choosing to uphold the line of succession by
supporting the appointment of Hygelac's son.
Evil
Many readers have seen Beowulf’s monsters as embodiments of
evil, representing the idea that evil is a mysterious, inhuman
force. All three monsters emerge from darkness, inflicting fear and
suffering on the poem’s human characters. Grendel, in particular,
is closely allied with the forces of evil. He is a “fiend out of hell”
(l.100) and a descendant of the cursed sinner Cain. However,
none of the monsters acts out of sheer evil alone. Grendel’s
mother is legitimately seeking vengeance for her son’s death.
Even Grendel nurses “a hard grievance” (l.87), and we
understand that even if his deeds are evil, Grendel acts out of
isolation, envy, and fear. By giving the monsters comprehensible,
human motives and at moments even showing us their points of
view, Beowulf humanizes evil, suggesting that evil is both an
unspeakable threat from the darkness and at the same time an
ordinary part of human life. When we hear the poem’s stories of
war between humans, of Beowulf and Hygelac emerging from the
sea to slaughter their enemies, we might begin to wonder if
there’s anything inhuman at all about Grendel or his mother.

Treasure
Although “glory” (l.1388), is what motivates Beowulf and the other
heroic warriors of the poem, they measure their glory in treasure.
The gloriousness of Beowulf’s achievement in killing Grendel is
measured by the amount of treasure Hrothgar gives him as a
reward. At the same time, Hrothgar’s gloriousness as a king can
be measured by his generosity with his treasure. When Beowulf
gives the lion’s share of his reward to Hygelac, it shows us in
quantifiable terms how loyal Beowulf is to his king, and therefore
how well he upholds the warrior code, while also indicating how
excellent a king Hygelac is. However, Beowulf is deeply skeptical
about the value of treasure. The poem’s biggest hoard of treasure
belongs to the monstrous dragon, and it does him no good. When
Wiglaf enters the barrow to examine the hoard, he finds it already
“tarnished and corroding” (ll.2761-2). Many readers have found
Beowulf’s dying wish to see the treasure he has won disquieting.
To the poem’s original Christian audience, it may have been even
more disquieting: it’s a reminder that, in his final moments,
Beowulf’s mind is on temporary, worldly things instead of God and
eternal life.

Mortality
On one level, Beowulf is from beginning to end a poem about
confronting death. It begins with a funeral, and proceeds to the
story of a murderous monster. Beowulf enters the story as a hero
who has chosen to risk death in order to achieve fame. As
Beowulf fights Grendel’s mother at the bottom of the mere, even
his close friends believe he has died. Some readers have seen
his journey to the bottom of the mere as a symbolic death,
drawing on the Christian story of the “Harrowing of Hell,” in which
Jesus, after dying on the Cross, descends to Hell in order to
divide the saved from the damned. The final third of the poem is
devoted to Beowulf’s death and funeral. Some readers have
argued that the poem presents pagan mortality as tragic: Beowulf
and the other heroes lead frightening, death-filled lives, and die
without any hope of salvation. However, other readers have found
Beowulf all the more heroic because he accomplishes his deeds
in the shadow of certain death, without hope of resurrection. For
these readers, Beowulf suggests that a good, brave life is worth
living at any cost.

Title implication
Today we call this long epic poem Beowulf, but in the original
manuscript, it doesn't have a title, just like it doesn't have an
author. Anglo-Saxon scribes didn't care much about those things.
So maybe we shouldn't make too big a deal about Beowulf's
name being the title.

SUMMARY
King Hrothgar of Denmark, a descendant of the great king Shield
Sheafson, enjoys a prosperous and successful reign. He builds a
great mead-hall, called Heorot, where his warriors can gather to
drink, receive gifts from their lord, and listen to stories sung by the
scops, or bards. But the jubilant noise from Heorot angers
Grendel, a horrible demon who lives in the swamplands of
Hrothgar’s kingdom. Grendel terrorizes the Danes every night,
killing them and defeating their efforts to fight back. The Danes
suffer many years of fear, danger, and death at the hands of
Grendel. Eventually, however, a young Geatish warrior named
Beowulf hears of Hrothgar’s plight. Inspired by the challenge,
Beowulf sails to Denmark with a small company of men,
determined to defeat Grendel.

Hrothgar, who had once done a great favor for Beowulf’s father
Ecgtheow, accepts Beowulf’s offer to fight Grendel and holds a
feast in the hero’s honor. During the feast, an envious Dane
named Unferth taunts Beowulf and accuses him of being
unworthy of his reputation. Beowulf responds with a boastful
description of some of his past accomplishments. His confidence
cheers the Danish warriors, and the feast lasts merrily into the
night. At last, however, Grendel arrives. Beowulf fights him
unarmed, proving himself stronger than the demon, who is
terrified. As Grendel struggles to escape, Beowulf tears the
monster’s arm off. Mortally wounded, Grendel slinks back into the
swamp to die. The severed arm is hung high in the mead-hall as a
trophy of victory.
Overjoyed, Hrothgar showers Beowulf with gifts and treasure at a
feast in his honor. Songs are sung in praise of Beowulf, and the
celebration lasts late into the night. But another threat is
approaching. Grendel’s mother, a swamp-hag who lives in a
desolate lake, comes to Heorot seeking revenge for her son’s
death. She murders Aeschere, one of Hrothgar’s most trusted
advisers, before slinking away. To avenge Aeschere’s death, the
company travels to the murky swamp, where Beowulf dives into
the water and fights Grendel’s mother in her underwater lair. He
kills her with a sword forged for a giant, then, finding Grendel’s
corpse, decapitates it and brings the head as a prize to Hrothgar.
The Danish countryside is now purged of its treacherous
monsters.

The Danes are again overjoyed, and Beowulf’s fame spreads

across the kingdom. Beowulf departs after a sorrowful goodbye to
Hrothgar, who has treated him like a son. He returns to Geatland,
where he and his men are reunited with their king and queen,
Hygelac and Hygd, to whom Beowulf recounts his adventures in
Denmark. Beowulf then hands over most of his treasure to
Hygelac, who, in turn, rewards him.

In time, Hygelac is killed in a war against the Shylfings, and, after

Hygelac’s son dies, Beowulf ascends to the throne of the Geats.
He rules wisely for fifty years, bringing prosperity to Geatland.
When Beowulf is an old man, however, a thief disturbs a barrow,
or mound, where a great dragon lies guarding a horde of treasure.
Enraged, the dragon emerges from the barrow and begins
unleashing fiery destruction upon the Geats. Sensing his own
death approaching, Beowulf goes to fight the dragon. With the aid
of Wiglaf, he succeeds in killing the beast, but at a heavy cost.
The dragon bites Beowulf in the neck, and its fiery venom kills him
moments after their encounter. The Geats fear that their enemies
will attack them now that Beowulf is dead. According to Beowulf’s
wishes, they burn their departed king’s body on a huge funeral
pyre and then bury him with a massive treasure in a barrow
overlooking the sea.