1. Beowulf
Plot
 The Danes struggle with Grendel because he kills people in the mead hall called Heorot.
 Nobody is able to kill Grendel until Beowulf comes to help. Beowulf, a young Geatish (Swedish)
warrior, fights Grendel and kills him – he tears Grendel´s arm off. Then he also kills Grendel´s
mother too.
 He then returns to Geatland, and after Hygelac and his son died, Beowulf ascends to the throne of
the Geats.
 He rules for fifty years.
 But when a thief steals something from the dragon´s barrow, the dragon is angry and begins
destruction.
 Beowulf fights and eventually kills the dragon with the help of Wiglaf, but the dragon manages to
bite Beowulf in the neck which kills him.
Setting
Place: Scandinavia, Denmark
Time: Around the year 500 A.D, in the territories of two tribal groups, the Geats and the Scyldings
Characters
1. Beowulf is valiant and powerful because he comes to fight Grendel and then his mother too.
Despite the powers he was given, he didn´t exploit them but used them to save others.
2. Grendel
A monster, an outcast, descendant from Cain´s clan. He is lonely and jealous which drives his
atrocious actions.
3. Hrothgar
A wise and aged king of Denmark. He is a father figure to Beowulf. As an experienced king, he
is able to pass on some knowledge to Beowulf – he warns him not to give in to pride.
Symbols
The golden torque - The collar or necklace that Wealhtheow (queen of the Danes) gives Beowulf is a
symbol of the bond of loyalty between her people and Beowulf - and, by extension, the Geats.
The banquet - The great banquet at Heorot after the defeat of Grendel represents the restoration of
order and harmony to the Danish people, a rebirth of the community
Theme – Evil/Mortality/Bravery
Verse
-
unrhymed verse
no stanzas
lines divided into halves
each half has two stressed syllables
number of unstressed syllables varied
accentual prosody – four accented syllables in a line
the number of unstressed syllables was not fixed – therefore, no metrics was used – accents
supplemented by extensive use of alliteration