NAME_____________________________________
Instructions: Illustrate the scenes below, using not only details in the quotes found here, but
context clues from the text. Be very careful about those little details… giving someone a sword
who isn’t holding one…crowns for kings who didn’t wear crowns… easy way to lose points!
Drawings don’t need to be works of art, but they do need to be clear, detailed and accurate.
1. Hrothgar builds “a hall that would …reach
2. “A powerful monster, lying down in the
3. “Then, when darkness had dropped,
higher toward Heaven than anything that had
ever been known to the sons of man.”
darkness, growled in pain, impatient as day
after day the music rang loud in the hall”
Grendel went up to Herot”
4 Grendel “found them sprawled in sleep…. he
5. Grendel “snatched up thirty men, smashed
6. “Grendel snatched at the first Geat he came
slipped through the door and … in the silence”
them…”
to, ripped him apart, cut his body to bits with
powerful jaws, drank the blood from his veins
and bolted him down, hands and feet”
7. “Then he stepped to another still body,
8. “Down the aisles the battle swept, angry
and wild.”
9. “Beowulf’s band had jumped from their
clutched Beowulf with his claws… and was
instantly seized himself, claws bent back as
Beowulf leaned up on his arm.”
beds, ancestral swords raised and ready….
They could hack at Grendel from every side…
but their points could not hurt him, the sharpest
and hardest iron could not scratch at his skin”
10. “He twisted in pain, and the bleeding
11. “Grendel escaped, but wounded as he was
12. “No Dane doubted the victory, for the
sinews deep in his shoulder snapped, muscle
and bone split and broke.”
he could flee to his den”
proof, hanging high from the rafters where
Beowulf had hung it was the monster’s arm,
claw and shoulder and all”
13. “They gaped with no sense of sorrow…
14. The people celebrate; the women carry
15. “Grendel’s Mother, living in the murky
went tracing his bloody footprints… to the
edge of the lake…”
drinks around the tables…
cold lake…. Seeking vengeance … kills
Hrothgar’s closest friend”
16. “Beowulf … leaped into the lake…”
17. Beowulf and Grendel’s mother fight:
18. Beowulf takes down the giant’s sword
19. Beowulf kills Grendel’s mother and
beheads Grendel.
20. Beowulf as King of the Geats:
22. A man stole “a gem-studded cup, and
23. The dragon attacks the nearby towns,
fled”
burning them:
25. Wiglaf comes to Beowulf’s assistance
26. Beowulf transfers command to Wiglaf
21. “a dragon awoke from its darkness… [he]
slept in a huge stone tower, with a hidden path
beneath… [guarding] ancient treasure, the
pagan jewels and gold.”
24. Beowulf confronts the dragon:
27. The funeral pyre and the burial/ the tower
QUESTIONS
Most of these probably should be discussed with 1-2 peers, and then answered alone. Write down who you
worked with, or if you chose to work alone. Do NOT simply copy each other’s answers!!!!!!! (I can divide
your grade by three with ease)
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Why does Beowulf, a Geat, want to help Hrothgar, a Dane?
It’s kind of shameful for a king to admit that he can’t kill one measly monster; what helps Hrothgar save face
as he accepts Beowulf's offer?
What effects has Grendel had on Hrothgar's people?
Why might the composer/ scribe have chosen TWELVE as the number of years the hall was empty?
No one can help Beowulf in his fight with Grendel. Typically, we take our fights outside. Yet, Beowulf waits
inside the hall to fight Grendel. Why?
Why is it Grendel's ARM that gets torn off? Why didn't the battle consist of some other body part/ stabbing
etc? Why barehanded? Suggest some ideas about the symbolism of the arm, hand, etc.
What symbolic significance can you find for the fact that the battle with Grendel's mother occurs in a cave
under water? THINK.
What happens to the first sword Beowulf tries to use? What might this symbolically suggest?
Why does Beowulf need a giant's sword to kill Grendel's mother?
What motivations might Beowulf have had for seeking out Grendel's body? Give three reasons.
In what ways does Beowulf change from when he fought Grendel and his mom, to when he fought the
dragon? (He gets older isn’t much of an answer!)
Do you think Wiglaf will make a good king? Better, perhaps than Beowulf? Why?
What qualities make Beowulf a true Anglo Saxon hero?
Would Beowulf be considered a “hero” today? A HEROIC hero? For all his actions, or only some? Explain.
No one is perfect, not even Beowulf. What weaknesses, both physical and emotional do you find in Beowulf
(the person)?
What might the various numbers, both explicit and implicit symbolize? (Hint- remember, you are looking for
both Christian and Pagan links)
What might the circles, cycles, and round things symbolize?
What might the Grendel symbolize?
What might the Grendel’s mother symbolize?
What might the lake symbolize?
Why is it important that the women take the drinks around to all the men?
What does the dragon symbolize?
What might the stolen cup symbolize?
Why can’t Beowulf win against the dragon alone?
How seamlessly did the Christian Scribe incorporate the references to Christianity?
Do you think it was all the work of ONE scribe, or do you think different scribes worked on the text, some
with better incorporations of the Christian elements, some less successful?
How different is the Anglo Saxon concept of Wyrd (fate) from the Christian concept of God? Explain
thoughtfully-focus more on how a Christian of around 1000 AD have felt, rather than your own faith.
Compare and contrast Grendel’s home to Hrothgar’s castle.
Compare and contrast Hrothgar’s castle to Beowulf’s burial tower.
Why do you think the story begins and ends with the construction of a tower by the sea?
Fire, Earth, Air and Water… which one is missing from this story? Do you think there was another section?
EXTRA CREDIT- write Beowulf’s confrontation in the context of the missing element.
OR: explain how you feel that all the elements are indeed here
OR: argue that I’m way off, and there is no reason to assume or expect that all four elements should,
or would, have been used.