Preview

Beowulf Good Vs Evil

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1356 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Beowulf Good Vs Evil
Beowulf

Beowulf is a story that takes place in medieval Europe, the main part of the story is about a knight, Beowulf, that has to fight evil creatures such as a dragon. No one is exactly sure who wrote Beowulf, Paleographers believe from characteristics of the scribal hands that wrote the soul surviving text, that the manuscript was copied down in the late tenth century or early eleventh. This early copy of Beowulf is still around today. This single manuscript can be found in the British Library in London. Scholars believe that the story itself was written between 650-800. In the medieval, warriors were looked up to greatly. To die as a warrior was one of man's greatest achievements. Children adored them and women wanted to get with
…show more content…
evil was another part of the story. Like just about any story, you must have a good guy and a bad guy. In this case u have Beowulf vs. Grendel and the dragon. Beowulf as I said earlier was viewed, as somewhat of a savior and Grendel is somewhat of a Satan type character, since Grendel wants to wipe out mankind. Pride is looked at as evil also, even though Beowulf had much pride in himself, he considered what he did selfless acts which was highly held up as good. Goodness is not only selfless acts though, but also the ability to pure and cleanse evil. After Beowulf slays Grendel, the poem says "(Beowulf) Had purged of evil the hall of Hrothgar, and cleansed of crime; the heart of the hero." All evil and crime done at Heorot was gone, and it was now ok to return to Heorot. Certain articles I have read about Beowulf say that, he was meant to win because Grendel was the descendant of Cain and God was not going to let the good guy die. Some other article also said that "evil never wins" but when you think about it evil does win sometimes because Grendel kills all the people in Heorot and Cain killed his brother. Evil does win …show more content…
Some people are not sure if Grendel is monster or human, he is a child of Cain yet in the story it says that, he is described as being strong enough to grab thirty men and rush to his lair, which is not human. Just because Grendel is banished from society, does not mean he is a monster. But Grendel kills people and eats them, which if he is human, cannibalism is not that odd, even now days people perform endo-cannibalism. The only monsteristic part would be that he could kill so many people with out weapons, which is nonhuman of this time. Most men in the medieval times treated their weapons as a child. The other monster of the poem is the dragon that appears at the end. Unlike Grendel, we all know for a fact that the dragon is a monster. The dragon is the evil of money in the story, Beowulf died trying to kill the dragon and take the gold. When they are both dying the money is brought out, and it is corroded and worthless, this part of the story reminds me of a movie I once saw called There Goes the Neighborhood, about an upper class neighborhood and one of the house's has a pile of money buried under it. As two groups of people battle it out for the money, they come to realize that the money had turned to mush, but it was to late for one group of people because they end up going to jail for a really long time and the other group has just about destroyed their own house.

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Archetypes In Beowulf

    • 605 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Although good and evil may exist in ways that they aren’t typical archetypes, they are there nonetheless. In Beowulf, good and evil are the driving factors in how the story progresses. Without evil, there would not be a chance for Beowulf to be good. Grendel…

    • 605 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The sound of battle echoed from the halls of Heorot to the plains of geatland, Beowulf in all his glory was a conquering hero that was approaching his twilight years as king. As such he faced a new challenge, in his youth he fought and defeated Grendel and his mother to defend the people of Denmark and Heorot, he was now called to defend his land from this dragon. This beast which had awakened from its dormant rest and was now on a rampage to defend its treasure. These monsters shared many similarities that tie together with a unifying message. In Beowulf, the values and views of Anglo-Saxon society are reflected in the idea that both Grendel and the Dragon serve as warning that no man is immortal or god like and that we will all face judgement.…

    • 1276 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    * Warriors come up with belief that they’re fated to die→ follow fate by going into battle…

    • 3169 Words
    • 13 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Epic poems and tales give valuable information on how people were to attempt to live. They also give information on what a good person was supposed to be. In Beowulf, the poem tells us about certain qualities that we should not have. A monster that Beowulf was to defeat represents each of these qualities.…

    • 950 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Beowulf was written by an unknown Anglo Saxon poet from 700 A.D. and has been passed on ever since then. The story has been said to have taken place in 500 A.D. It is about a Kingdom called Denmark ruled by King Hrothgar whom is said to be a good ruler. The kingdom has been cursed for hundreds of years by a monster named Grendel. Every time the people of Denmark gathered in the hall of the kingdom Grendel would hear the music of god and it would hurt his ears because he was a Son of Cain. Then one day Beowulf King of Geats, comes to the Danish Shore and without fear stands up to guard and boasts about himself and explains to the guard that he is there to defeat the monster that has cursed the land. There are two different stories to the tale…

    • 460 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Evil is a common thing in all stories. The story tellers usually create monsters to represent these evils that are in the stories and many people can see the evil that they represent. Sometime this in not the case and those people need someone to tell them what that monster represents that applies to real life. Most of these story evils represents an evil in the real world, like the evil in the beloved Lion King was Scar, who represents the evil of envy. The ancient story of Beowulf also has evils represented by the monsters that are in the story. Each of the three Beowulf monsters, Grendel, Grendel’s Mother, and the Dragon, represent three different types of evils of the world.…

    • 564 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Beowulf’s first villain Grendel is an exceptionally diverse character. His nature is ambiguous. He is a mix of man and beast and his fury is based on very human feelings of resentment and jealousy. Although Grendel is portrayed as an animal like demonic creature of some sort, upon further examination the reader begins to sympathize with the very human emotions that drive him to kill.…

    • 735 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Good And Evil In Beowulf

    • 1022 Words
    • 5 Pages

    We’ve grown quite a lot through time with technology, architecture, and even through our ideals. In the Beowulf the epic (Heaney 2000), we see right and wrong through the eyes of the past and it is strange to say the least. The author wrote this for their intended audience, meaning they were reflecting the cultural values of the ancient Anglo-Saxons. In the movie, Beowulf and Grendel (Gunnarsson 2005), we see changes from the original work that seems to match to modern ideas of right and wrong. Two characters, Hrothgar and Grendel, one who was a man of the light and kin of the dark respectively, were changed to match the ideals we hold today into completely different people that we had known them to be.…

    • 1022 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The theme of Beowulf had the good vs.evil theme to the story when the monster is Grendel is the monster and his mother also a threat to herot and Beowulf is the hero to solve the problems of Grendel is making. Beowulf is the hero in the story and Grendel is the villain. Beowulf is the faced with many trials throughout the story with unferth and the Grendel.…

    • 502 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The epic tale of Beowulf. How are the good and evil presented in Beowulf? First thing Beowulf had three enemies. His mom which betrayed him. And Grendel who hated people who was happy.…

    • 194 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    In times before printed books were common, stories and poems were passed from generation to generation by word of mouth. From such oral traditions come great epics such as England's heroic epic, Beowulf. In Beowulf, the monster Grendel serves as the evil character acting against the poem's hero, as shown by his unnatural strength, beast-like qualities, and alienation from society.…

    • 715 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In the story beowulf faces a lot of evil throughout this whole story but there is also good in the story as well such as grendel, grendel's mother, the dragon, and all other monsters were examples of the evil of the story and beowulf and his people represented the good in the story and i think this is true because everyone was in peace until grendel attacked and well beowulf was just trying to protect his people and his home and so beowulf went and defeated him by ripping his arms off. So when beowulf ripped off grendel's arms he took his arms to his people and hung the arms so his people known that he had defeated grendel and so when the people saw what he did everything was back to normal or so they thought after the battle with grendel then…

    • 309 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Combat and Beowulf

    • 1743 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Beowulf was one in many men who has been described to have a monster in him. The way a person deals with it and how they choose to deal with it, made them who they were. Beowulf had great character and the way he used the monster within had many people questioning his true abilities as a hero and as a king. He fought in so many battles, many described as being monstrous or an animalistic. The most famous mentioned is the fight with the monster Grendel. He was somewhat compared to Grendel because they had many things in common. Beowulf as a monster was not a bad thing at all. He used his abilities to fight for the greater cause, but it had some downsides. What makes a man a true monster? Is it how a man fights or the way he fights? There were many pros and cons considered the fights he had with the monster within. A man that lived his life for the adventure that caused him to be alone a lot or the specific way he fought all were described as monster characteristic. He was a different kind of monster. He gave back even when he did not have to and he respected other men and their reputations. He used these monstrous characteristics for to do positive with which helped him to become a better hero; and because Beowulf had a positive influence on people as a hero; it made it easy for him to become a great king. Beowulf monstrous characteristics helped him to develop a protective mode and helped him to be strong for others when they needed him to. I also gave him great leadership skills. These characteristics were what made a king, a king.…

    • 1743 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    He was loyal to the people he protected, not worrying about the cost of his own life. He was a prideful man, who faced good and evil situations to prove his strengths or praise. Three evil monsters, who sought vengeance upon one of mankind’s most powerful warrior. Beowulf was considered to be of God, whereas the monsters were of the devil. It’s like the old saying one bad apple spoils the bunch. Each monster had an evil agenda to kill, steal, or destroy. Beowulf possessed good qualities and the monsters, and creatures possessed evil, and as I stated in the beginning like oil and water it does not…

    • 2088 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Evil In Beowulf

    • 330 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The epic poem Beowulf is a memorable because opens to the Anglo-Saxon literature. It is a synthesis between to the Greek, Latin, Germanic and Christian Literature. Beowulf is an imaginative poem that realizes a deep human drama as the fleeting of existence.…

    • 330 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays

Related Topics