The Tale of Beowulf Analysis

Table of Content

Introduction

Basically we can survey carefully that; Beowulf is classified as an epic because of the fact about a famous history.

Setting

The tale of Beowulf was set around the Anglo-Saxon dates, which is in the range of 8th and 11th century. Although the background wasn’t sited in Britain. The tale occurs in the estate of the Danish people (Know as Denmark in modern day) and the home of the Geats (Sweden in the present).

This essay could be plagiarized. Get your custom essay
“Dirty Pretty Things” Acts of Desperation: The State of Being Desperate
128 writers

ready to help you now

Get original paper

Without paying upfront

Thus, if somebody questions you what the location of Beowulf is, you can tell them that it’s 5th or 6th Century Scandinavia. (Scandinavia is the part of Europe that includes Sweden and Denmark.) Consequently the Anglo Saxons express tales for the early-medieval Scandinavians. Fortunately, because some of them were Scandinavians or had ancestors, which were. The villages in the Danes recollection, were beginning to be repaired along with some reminisce of tomb embankments.We can recount that there are a vast amounts of tribes, which set this story the way it is. For example the Danes, the Swedes and the Geats, resided in continuous conflict with each other. Rulers remained a farther than native warriors who took a lot of fortune and several influential generals were there in that time and place to help them in their time of need. Each person in the kingdom can wait to perish in combat, or in a invasion from a bordering clan.

Throughout the period of Beowulf, individuals in Denmark had not yet been transformed, so there were no genuine god fearing ministries or convents. The King of the Danes at the time was Hrothgar and unlike some of the kingdoms, his has less populace.

Characterization

Beowulf turns out to be huge throughout his life long accomplishments. An instance of this would be battling the terrors beast known as Grendel in face-to-face fight and battling a vicious dragon that sends all his fellow fighters into a panic. Nonetheless what is truly imperative is to show how in the story of Beowulf no one is following how he fights or combat style. Barbaric soldiers remained profoundly conscious that, it would be about time that they would be faced to fight to the death or some would run away cowardly. Some characters are described directly. Beowulf obvious is describing as the conqueror of evil. Grendel is also directly described as being an ugly monster that has caused a reign of terror on the mead hall of Hrothgar.

Another character that is slightly pointed out is Unferth who is jealous of Beowulf because of his past encounters and lack of credit given for helping him. On the line of Beowulf and his journey, there isn’t that much comparison between him and his men. Though it is mentioned briefly that he is courageous while battling Grendel and some of his men are loyal and give him weaponry like that special sword, while others cowers in fear and panic. It is different in the book we see Grendel’s mother as a swampy creature just like Grendel, however in the movie she is portrayed as seductive and tries to convince Beowulf to join her with eloquent dialect.

Themes

In Beowulf it is observed that one of the main themes good versus evil. Beowulf represents the light and very survival of the Geats, but it’s often conveyed from his physical physique more than his attitude.

The villains who are, Grendel, Grendel’s mom, and a vicious dragon. They mainly represent the darkness of Beowulf’s trials. We can see, that Beowulf is a warrior guarding civilization instead of just his people. Another key theme in Beowulf is Bravery, which he clear shows through his journey. We can see that bravery is the basis of the combatant background that motivates the tale of Beowulf. In this classic epic, we can see a genuine fighter’s boldness comes from a fully accepting assertiveness regarding his own existence and apathy to loss. Knowing that sometime soon, he will become overwhelmed and perish. From here we observe all is occurring from Christ’s workings. The only thing that Beowulf can do is conquering each obstacle and pursues the end of his life and the final test.

Finally a theme that I see as somewhat overlooked is loyalty. In the tale we can see that Beowulf is willing to sacrifice himself for his kingdom. While others aid him who are jealous and some are not. It can also be shown when Grendel’s mother tries to seduce Beowulf that his allegiance is put to the test. Another instance would be when He goes to face the dragon and parishes.

Genre

Beowulf is an alliterative rhyme. That being said it’s the style of verses that the Anglo-Saxons participated to tell their stories. In this kind of poetry, we can see that it would use two to five words that start with the same letter and sounds a like. In some cases it is complex to understand the pattern, but due to repetitive rhythm. The tale of Beowulf is clearly an epic because of the heroic actions of the main character himself. An epic usually has a one on one plot; fortunately for Beowulf he has helpers. It could be dangerous but more suspenseful that Beowulf fights Grendel, his mother and the dragon alone.

Language

The linguistic or language was known as Anglo-Saxon, which had suggests a story burdened with attack and takeover. Proceeding to the age period of 449, here was now a great deal of war in the kingdoms. The British clashed with, the Scottish and the Celtics. Similar to this earlier the constant raids by the Anglos, the Saxons and the Romans. While the language preserved certain origins of the many cultures, it continued that most people have the German tone or dialect due to the language that the trespassers introduced them to.

On the lines of language, the Anglo-Saxons had a verbalized custom. Elegies, tales, ballads are how they were able to spread some of their language dialect. This has caused some the language to be a little rough to present day, due to its dramatic tone. For languages in Beowulf, the changes appeared mostly in meaning of diverse texts. The dialectal is often split hooked on four languages determined by geographic.

The Main Ones in Beowulf

Western Saxon, American, Northumbrian and Kentish. A little while after the time of 900, the Western Saxon remained progressively reused the orthodox inscribed grammar. It is proven to today, that students studying Old English are normally trained to use the Western Saxon spelling styles.

Analysis

So throughout the analysis it is clear that Beowulf was around in a time where there was not much support. This had caused him to do almost everything on his own, in a rugged landscape. You can also take in account that the mead hall did nothing to secure itself after each attack by Grendel. It is also correctly shown about the landscape of the story when the narrator talks about Beowulf’s trials.

As usual in all epics we can see that Beowulf has some supporters, envy individuals and enemies. In the mist of it clearly shows us that he is willing to face death whether or not he has a team by his side. Though he has defeated Grendel it can be displayed that there are complications when Grendel’s Mother who is indestructible confronts him. We can see again that good prevailing over evil as he is given a special weapon to defeat her.

Towards the end of our story we can see that Beowulf’s heroics aren’t finished yet. He must go back on another journey to conquer a dragon who has threatened his people. As he does this he has slain the dragon, however he is killed in the process. From this point forward the Geats honor Beowulf’s legacy but still have to worry about tomorrow.

Cite this page

The Tale of Beowulf Analysis. (2021, Oct 25). Retrieved from

https://graduateway.com/the-tale-of-beowulf-analysis/

Remember! This essay was written by a student

You can get a custom paper by one of our expert writers

Order custom paper Without paying upfront