Literary Analysis Of Beowulf

Beowulf is one of the oldest English Literatures in our time today. At the time of which England is being changed from Pagan to Christian. When people believed they had to fight for a place on earth against monsters. The writer of Beowulf took the character’s flaws and related them to actual life experiences. A critic says. “The poet, however, consciously used them to characterize human experience, stressing recurring ng patterns, and to represent the characters' attempts to understand their situation” (Constantakis). This helps to better understand the reading of Beowulf and to understand the poets’ ideas. Believing and living life based on fate. Throughout this poem a variety of literary devices are used to express the characters in the …show more content…
It is the describing or “characterizing” of a thing or individual. Beowulf in this case is seen as a slayer of monsters and proving that he has done so by saying, “…I’ve stood on these cliffs longer/ than you know, keeping our coast free/ of pirates, raiders sneaking ashore/ from their ships, seeking our lives and our gold” (lines 154-157). Characterized as a person who does what he is sent to do which is to detain things from happening. He is ready to kill this monster he was told about and stop the killing of the people at night. As he goes through the mounted officer and explains to him why he is there. Beowulf explains to him that all his intentions of entering Denmark are nothing but good. The officer feels as if nothing but trust is in him, he then states, “…I believe your words I trust in/ your friendship. Go forward, weapons and armor/ and all, on into Denmark I’ll guide you/ myself…” (lines 201-205). The mountain officer does not doubt in his word at any moment and sees him as an honorable and reliable person in which he knows he can trust to end this …show more content…
Often used to give the reader a visual or understanding of something by interpreting it with symbols and not specific details. In Beowulf symbolism is expressed in various ways, for instance the speaker reads, “… The monsters/ thoughts were as quick as his greed or his claws:/ He slipped through the door and there in the silence/ snatched up thirty men…” (lines 34-37). The speaker symbolizes his thoughts to be quick and fast moving like his claws are when he feeds on all the other humans. Snatching his men and feeding himself with their bodies. Another example used throughout the poem is when the speaker states, “Then the sword/ melted, blood-soaked, dripping down/ Like water, disappearing like ice when the world’s/ Eternal Lord loosens invisible/ Fetters and unwinds icicles and frost/ as only he can…” (lines 578-583). The speaker symbolizes the sword by comparing it to ice and the way it melts just like a piece of ice would. Blood soaked till tis