Essay: Beowulf – characters’ traits

Beowulf, is essentially a hero, a warrior, and because of all the great battles he fought and lived, he almost seems in the beginning of the poem, immortal. Besides the villains and monsters he has approached before, he is to face three monsters in which he has battle for victory and ultimately, his life and reputation as the best warrior. Beowulf battles these monsters and the audience is able to not only analyze these monsters lives, but Beowulf’s life too. The monsters that Beowulf confronts on his journey are part of the supernatural aspect of the story and the supernatural world they live in. Despite the monsters being constructed to only represent evil and the supernatural world, they do show characteristics of that of a regular person. And that is what the audience mostly dismisses when reading the poem or watching the movie.
The structure of the poem uses these monsters that Beowulf encounters as how the audience can differentiate between the real and the supernatural world in the poem. Essentially, the story becomes even better when one delves into the structure that helps reveal how certain characteristics are not only restricted to the mortal world. A demon can have human qualities, while a human can have supernatural almost immortal qualities.
One of the instances in which we see the character traits switch is in Heorot, initially the Hall of Heroes. Heorot not only represents the famous hall of hero’s, but it symbolizes a place of enlightenment, comfort, and gratification . However, the demon, Grendel, resides in the marshes of a swamp. The poem explains that the reason Grendel, his mother, and other demons such as him, are descendants of Cain. Cain is a biblical character and was punished for having killed his only brother Abel. And anyone who descends from Cain are evil and are banished to live in the supernatural world. In the poem the description of where Grendel lives is a much outlying place to live, only fit for a demon or a descendant of “Cain”. Grendel’s living conditions are not normal compared to how humans, such as, Beowulf live in. All descendants of Cain are banished to live in swamps or ruined down places and are identified as demons. Realizing this, Grendel’s is jealous of those that live in Hrothgar because it is a regular civilization and unfortunately he did not chose to be born as a descendent of Cain. One can see how he is demon with human characteristics because he is envious of those that live well, while he is stuck in isolation. The result of his jealousy is that he kills and instills fear among those that live in Hrothgar because he cannot live their himself. Eventually, Beowulf comes to the rescue. Beowulf is not just any warrior, he creates this illusion that he is almost immortal because he is undefeated. When he begins his fight with Grendel, he does not put on any armor and insists he fight him with his bear hands. Speaking about the battle he will have with Grendel he says, “He has no idea the arts of war,/ of shield or sword play, although he does possess/ a wild strength. No weapons therefore,/ for either night: unarmed he shall face me/ if face me he dares.” (681-685) When Grendel’s arrives and sneaks up on Beowulf the text says, “When the alert hero’s comeback and armlock forestalled him utterly./ The captain of evil discovered himself in a handgrip harder than anything he had ever encountered in any man/ on the face of the earth.” (747-753) Beowulf defeated Grendel with an armlock so tight, it ripped off his arm. This is the first scene where the reader witnesses Beowulf’s supernatural strength in order to defeat a demon.
The other monster that Beowulf is to face is Grendel’s mother; she is only known as this and was never given a name. Just as natural as it is for a mother the defend their child and feel immense sorrow after the death of a loved one, Grendel’s mother seeks revenge over the death of her child. She came in the night to find Beowulf, but he was not there. She tore apart a man that was in the wrong place and the wrong time. She then grabbed Hrothgar’s trophy, her son’s arm. This can be noted for Grendel’s mother having human characteristics for vengeance and retaliation. Having been notified later, Beowulf begins his mission to vanquish Grendel’s mother by having to swim to the bottom of the sea in order to reach her. The reader can see that in this scene the supernatural facet to hold his breath under water for a long period of time, which in actually it is physically impossible to not only hold ones breath for that long, but also swim that deep considering the pressure of the water.
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