Beowulf Analysis

What is it about?: 

• Beowulf is an Old English poem about a Geat hero, Beowulf, who comes to the help of a Danish king Hrothgar who's kingdom is attacked by a hideous monster named Grendel. Beowulf comes from his land to Denmark and battles the monster ( Grendel), killing him with his bare hands, since man made weapons do not effect the monster. 
•  After a night of celebration,danger arises. 
• Grendel's mother, a monster even more hideous and powerful than her son, come to avenge her son's death.
•  Beowulf again battles her in the depths of a lake and kills Grendel's mother with her own sword.
•  He finds Grendel's corpse and cut off the head, bringing it back to Hrothgar as a trophy
•  Hrothgar showers Beowulf with gifts and praise and the young hero returns to the land of the Geats. 
• He becomes King of the Geats and rules for 50 years.
•  A slave steals a golden cup from the hoard of a dragon and the dragon becomes enraged. 
• He starts terrorizing the towns in blind anger. 
• Beowulf and his men come to fight the dragon. 
• Beowulf goes on alone but finds the dragon too powerful to slay alone.
•  His friend, Wiglaf comes to his aid and together they slay the dragon. Beowulf, however, is mortally wounded and dies not long after.
• He is burned then is buried in a cliff facing the sea with the dragon's treasure around him, preventing the supposed curse on the treasure from being spread to his people.

What historical significance does it represent?

• Beowulf is the oldest major work of literature in English. In fact, it's in such old English (technical name: "Old English") that it seems like a foreign language to us today, because our words have changed so much since it was written. 
• It's a glimpse of an ancient Anglo-Saxon (Germanic People) and Scandinavian culture.
• Because of the time period the story was told, it holds many different worldviews.
•  Within the story are found ideas common in the Christian faith, alongside the values of Germanic warriors of the Teutonic tradition.
• Information about the culture:
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teutonic_Knights  
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germanic_peoples  
• http://www.experiencefestival.com/teutonic_tradition

• The Anglo-Saxon poetry allows readers to get a picture of the beliefs held by society of that time, and these beliefs are illustrated through the uses of the main characters Ex: Quote used below

Quotes: "And a young prince must be prudent like that,giving freely while his father lives so that afterwards in age when fighting starts steadfast companions will stand by him and hold the line. Behaviour that’s admired is the path to power among people everywhere.(20–25)"

•  This gives us a view on the code of rights used by the people of this time, and what you were excepted to do in society or war. 

Thoughts: The poem is dreadfully long, thank god for spark notes... I also found out that it was called an "Epic" which i would say greatly summarizes it's length, purpose and plus it's an " Epic" name lol but seriously it was used for story telling which would indeed capture the attentions of children and adults.

• The story connects with our studying of Norse Culture!

SparkNotes Editors. “SparkNote on Beowulf.” SparkNotes.com. SparkNotes LLC. 2003. Web. 11 Jan. 2013.