Beowulf Close Reading

Victoria Yim AP English Dr. Cottingham Due: 9/13/13

Throughout the poem, the Beowulf poet has made it clear that the Germanic warrior tribe society is unstable and ridiculous, by undermining the most prominent aspects of its culture. Beowulf, raised under the proud and violent Germanic warrior culture, is the quintessential example of a hero. When confronted by skeptical Unferth, Beowulf calmly describes his fight with countless sea monsters saying, Time and again, foul things attacked me,/ lurking and stalking, but I lashed out,/ gave good as I got with my sword./ My flesh was not for feasting on,/ there would be no monsters gnawing and gloating/ over their banquet at the bottom of the sea (559-564). He is a boastful and honorable as well as extremely powerful. Beowulfs immense strength is evident in the impressive number of beasts and monsters he claims to have killed. In the telling of his story, Beowulf emphasizes the fact that the monsters, however fierce, were no match for his stamina and cunning. Even when fighting about to fight Grendel, Beowulf says, [Grendel] has no idea of the arts of war/ of shield or sword-play, although he does possess/ a wild strength. No weapons, therefore,/ for either this night: unarmed he shall face me/ if face me he dares (681-685). Beowulf sees Grendel as strong but ignorant in the arts of war. He implies that he is more civilized than Grendel when in fact, he and Grendel are very similar. This mindset, although appropriate for a young, fit Beowulf is unsuitable for an old, weaker Beowulf. Yet even as he prepares to fight a dragon (as an elderly man), he demands to fight him singlehandedly. As a result, Beowulf is finally slain.

Victoria Yim AP English Dr. Cottingham Due: 9/13/13 When describing Beowulfs funeral, the poet says, They let that ground keep the ancestral treasure,/ gold under gravel, gone to earth,/ as useless to men as it ever was (3166-3168). Beowulf, a foil of his culture, was brought to his defeat by his own reckless audacity and sheer brutality. Even though, he was finally able to slay the dragon, the action took his life as well as the safety of his people. In the end, the killing of the dragon was as useless to his people as the treasure was to his corpse.