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Beowulf Theme Analysis

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Beowulf Theme Analysis
The central theme is the main idea told through out the story. The purpose of the theme is to tell the moral of the story. Some of these stories only have one central theme while others have several. Beowulf is one of the stories that has more than one theme. The themes of Beowulf are Good vs. Evil, Loyalty, and Courage.

Loyalty is a very prevalent theme in Beowulf. As shown in the end of the epic, Beowulf was loyal to his king, King Hygelac. "The treasures that Hygelac lavished on me I paid for when I fought, as fortune allowed me, with my glittering sword. He gave me land and the security land brings, so he had no call to go looking for some lesser champion.". What is shown here is that Beowulf is loyal to King Hygelac because in exchange for his loyalty he is given treasures. Wiglaf is also loyal to Beowulf when he decides to risk his life to fight the dragon with Beowulf. "Your deeds are famous,so stay resolute, my lord, defend your life now with the whole of your strength. I shall stand by you." …show more content…
Evil is shown in Beowulf very clearly. Beowulf went to kill Grendel because he was terrorizing a village. This sets up the Good vs. Evil theme. A quote from the story says, "So times were pleasant for the people
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