Beowulf (/ˈbeɪoʊwʊlf/ Old English: [ˈbeːo̯ ˌwulf]) is an Old

English epic poem consisting of 3,182 alliterative lines.

The manuscript was produced between 975 and 1025.[2] The

author was an anonymous Anglo-Saxon poet, referred to by
scholars as the "Beowulf poet".

The full poem survives in the manuscript known as the

Nowell Codex. In 1731, the manuscript was badly damaged by
a fire that swept through Ashburnham House in London that
had a collection of medieval manuscripts assembled by Sir
Robert Bruce Cotton.[5] The Nowell Codex is currently housed
in the British Library.
Characters
Protagonist
• Beowulf - Hero of the Geats
Antagonists
• Grendel - Troll-like monster
• Grendel's Mother - 2nd monster that Beowulf fought.
• The Dragon - Last monster in the story.
Other Characters:
• Hrothgar - King of the Danes
• Wealhtheow - wife of Hrothgar
• Æschere - Hrothgar's most loyal fighter.
• Wiglaf - Beowulf's young Swedish relative who dared to
join him to follow the dragon to its lair.
Setting:

• Heorot - great hall that Hrothgar made for himself,

for his wife and fir his men.

• Earnanæs - lair of the dragon

• Geatland - Beowulf's homeland

Great hall of Heorot with King
Hrothgar, his wife and warriors
spending their time singing and
celebrating
Grendel, a troll-like monster is pained
by the sounds of joy and attacked the
hall.
Beowulf, a young warrior from
Geatland came to the aid of Hrothgar.
He fought Grendel and tore its arm.
Beowulf displays
"the whole of
Grendel's shoulder
and arm".
This display fueled
Grendel's mother's
anger in revenge.
After fifty years, a slave stole a golden cup from the lair of a
dragon. When the dragon learnt that his cup was missing, it
came out of its cage burning everything in sight.
Beowulf and his warriors come to fight the dragon.
One of Beowulf's men, Wiglaf, in great distress at
Beowulf's plight, comes to his aid. The two slay the
dragon.
Beowulf was mortally wounded and eventually died.
Wiglaf remained by his side grief-stricken.
Beowulf was ritually burned
on a great pyre in Geatland
with his burial mound by
the sea erected in his
honour.
The end