Beowulf-The Warrior And The Warrior

In the story of Beowulf there is a transition from a great young warrior to an even nobler king. Beowulf, a Danish Prince, fights and earns enough respect to obtain a great reputation as a notable leader. There are two sides to Beowulf - the warrior and the leader. In the beginning, he fights alone for one purpose, but by the end of the story he rallies troops to help him fight. Beowulf, being the mighty warrior he is, hears about Grendel and sails to Hrothgar’s town to help defeat Grendel. Beowulf tells us that “all knew of my awesome strength. They had seen me boltered in the blood of enemies when I battled and bound five beasts, raided trolls-nest, and in the night sea slaughtered sea brutes” (lines 418-421). Beowulf knows
Hrothgar trusted Beowulf to defend his home, his town, and his kingdom. “I will compensate you for settling this feud as I did the last time with lavish wealth, coffers of gold, if you come back” (lines 1380-1383). Beowulf being a chivalrous person, walked away with Grendel’s head after beating Grendel’s mother when he could have grabbed all the treasure he wanted. “With high hearts they headed away along footpaths and trails through the fields, roads that they knew, each of them wrestling with the head they were carrying from the lakeside cliff, men kingly in their courage and capable of difficult work” (Lines 1632-1637). After Beowulf returned to his home land he ruled in peace for fifty more years until a dragon awoke and started to terrorize his town. Even though Beowulf’s men abandoned him at the sight of the dragon he still stayed and fought because he knew he had to kill the dragon to protect his people. Beowulf says “I risked my life often when I was young. Now I am old, but as a king of the people I shall pursue this fight for the glory of winning, if the evil one will only abandon his earth fort and face me in the open” (lines 2511-2515). Beowulf was a very brave and courageous leader that protected not only his land, but the land of others for glory. Beowulf is a great story about strength, glory, and honor and the life he chose to live. Beowulf went from being a great warrior to and even better king that would fight a dragon for his people. He was a well-respected king to his people and a friend to Hrothgar. Beowulf had people who doubted him and did not think he would be able to kill the beasts, but being the great warrior he was allowed him to prove everyone who doubted him