Beowulf: Ancient Warrior vs. Monsters

I’m doing my three page research paper over Beowulf, the story of a warrior from ancient times when monsters, goblins, and demons still plagued the Earth that we live on still today. Beowulf was a tall tale told for many, years to children before they fell asleep at night. It’s a story that has been around from 720-796 a. d. And hasn’t gotten old yet, because it inspires people and tells people what real hero’ s are capable of and what they’re made of and the limits they can surpass all on their own will and strength.

Beowulf isn’t just a play, a movie, or a video game…. t’s also a poem that is considered to be the longest and most amazing poems in existence in Old English. It has been taken care of in the Cotton Vitellius A XV manuscript, in the British Museum, which was written around 1000 years ago scientists do believe. Scientists have not found a literary source for the amazing story of Beowulf.

Many of the characters in Beowulf belong to the Germanic tradition of storytelling that has been shared throughout the years. The story of Beowulf, however, goes something along the lines of this….. Beowulf begins with a history of the great Danish King Scyld.

King Hrothgar, Scyld’s great-grandson, is well loved by his people and successful in war. He builds a lavish hall, called Heorot, to house his vast army, and when the hall is finished, the Danish warriors gather under its roof to celebrate.

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Now Grendel is a monster who lives at the bottom of a nearby swamp, and is provoked by the singing and celebrating of Hrothgar’s friends, family, and followers. He appears at the hall late one night and kills many of the warriors in their sleep. For the next twelve years, the fear of Grendel’s fury and anger casts a shadow over the lives of the Hrothgar and his followers.

Beowulf’s Tower

Hrothgar and his followers cannot think of anything to calm the Grendel’s anger. Prince of the Geats, Beowulf, hears about Hrothgar’s trouble with the monster Grendel, puts together a band of warriors of the bravest Geat warriors he could find, and sets sail from his home in southern Sweden. The Geats are greeted by the members of Hrothgar’s court, and Beowulf boasts to the king of his previous battles won as a warrior, especially his success in fighting the monsters that once lived in the sea….. well until he killed them anyways.

Hrothgar welcomes the arrival of all of the Geat warriors, hoping that Beowulf and his warrior friends will live up to the expectations that Hrothgar has for them. Because little did Beowulf know what he was up against this time around. On the same night that Beowulf and his warriors came, Grendel came in the pitch black of night and attacked! Beowulf, being the amazing and strong warrior that he is, bare handedly wrestled Grendel for his life and in the end Beowulf tore off Grendel’s arm and claimed it as a trophy of his glorious battle with Grendel.

The wounded monster, knowing that it was time to retreat, hurried back to his watery hell of a swamp. As Hrothgar promised, for Beowulf’s courage, bravery, and honor, Hrothgar gave Beowulf a great amount of treasure for his trouble and kindness. Little did Beowulf and his warriors know though that Grendel had a mother, and she was coming back with revenge. Grendel’s mother comes at night when all is quiet and all the warriors are sleeping, and she takes away with her one of Hrothgar’s followers in the dead of night. She also takes with her, her son’s claw that Beowulf had claimed from Grendel as a trophy.

Beowulf, being the hero of this whole story, goes to track down this fierce beast. So Beowulf goes down deeper and deeper into the watery hell where Grendel once lived and his mother still lives, and he comes upon Grendel’s mother. Thank goodness that before Beowulf had lept into the sea his warrior friend gave him his sword, and he called it Hurnting. Once Beowulf found the mother the fighting began, after a horrible, epic battle Beowulf won, stabbing Grendel’s mother through the chest with a magical sward he had found on the wall, (blessed with strong magic from Giants, so huge and massive that no ordinary man could pick it up and hold it).

Then, for good measure, Beowulf walks towards Grendels body and with his sward that’s blessed with Giant magic, slices off Grendel’s head. After the fierce battle that he had won, Beowulf had to say goodbye to Hrothgar, but he goes home and tells his father of the great, epic journey he had taken. After the battle he had won Hrothgar had also presented Beowulf with more treasure than he has ever imagined. Beowulf had also told the Geats that if they are ever in rouble again or just need his help, that he will be there once again when they need him to be.

That is the end of the first part of the story of Beowulf, the second part is about Beowulf when he’s already been the king of the Geats for about 50 years and a guy steals a jewelled cup from a dragon and the dragon gets really mad and starts burning down everything in its path until it finds its cup. Then Beowulf becomes the hero once again and defeats the dragon. Though after the battle with the dragon, Beowulf dies and in his honor his best friend builds a tower for him and calls it “Beowulf’s Tower”. Sites: http://www. beowulfepic. com/ http://csis. pace. edu/grendel/projf981e/story. html