Beowulf Study Sheet
One of the most important lessons you must learn from the beginning of this year, to be
applied to everything you read, is to substantiate your answers, your opinions, with
specific textual references from the book. This support should be in the form of line
numbers, quotes and specific incidents or episodes from the work.
Your answers to the questions below will be the basis for our discussion and so may be
simply in “list” form. However, you MUST support every one of your opinions with
several incidents from the book; I will be looking for abundant evidence in your written
responses as well as your class discussion that you have textual support.
Section I:
1. Find and cite line numbers where there are Christian references. When/in what
situations does the poet refer to Christian theology? Explain why you think this might
be significant.
2. Characterize the 3 monsters. What do they have in common? What might they
represent?
3. What might the 3 monsters represent in today’s society? Give thoughtful and
distinctly separate answers for each of your three “contemporary” monsters! Make
sure you are tying today’s monsters back in some way to some of the qualities of
Anglo-Saxon murderers.
Section II:
1. How important is a human being in this world? How can you tell? Give numerous
and specific examples.
2. Some see Beowulf as a parallel to Jesus. Defend or deny with substantial support.
3. What qualities did these people admire? Give examples and lines.
Section III:
1. How does the poet feel about the person, Beowulf? Give many examples.
2. What impression does the poem leave with you: hope, despair, depression, futility,
positiveness? Again, cite line references and examples.
Section IV:
1. Someone has said that the subject of Beowulf is alienation, just as alienation is the
most significant characteristic of our civilization. Defend or deny with examples.
2. Explain the differences in the 3 battles. How do you account for the outcome of
each?
ALL SECTIONS:
1. Symbolism: What symbolic elements are present in Beowulf? Numerous examples
abound, but choose any three you like and explain fully how the poet interweaves
symbolic meaning to strengthen the thematic messages of his epic. If you feel slightly
confused by this question, consider how Nathaniel Hawthorne in The Scarlet Letter
incorporates his description of the Puritans’ natural surroundings to symbolically
emphasize some of his themes: the woods are a place of darkness and the hiding of
sins; the scaffold, contrastingly located in an open clearing, is a place of public
shame, revelation and repentance. These of course further strengthen Hawthorne’s
themes of social acceptance and ostracism, of secret desires versus publicly
acceptable mores, etc. But if you weren’t aware of symbolism as a reader, then you
might miss this extra “onion layer” altogether-thank goodness you are already
enlightened, careful readers!