Study Guide
(from England in Literature translation)
Names ________________________________________________ Period ________
The Grendel Fight
(Lines 505-789)
Instructions: Answer the following questions, with the help of your partner, for inclusion in your notes. Be sure to answer in a way that your notes will be helpful to you later when reviewing the plot of Beowulf.
1. What weapons does Beowulf talk about in preparing for his battle with Grendel?
Which weapons does he plan to use? (505-516)
2. What do the thanes do as they prepare for Grendel’s arrival? How is this different from Beowulf? (519-531)
3. What key words are used to describe Grendel when he first appears? What is missing from his description? (533-548)
4. Who does Grendel attack first? Why did Beowulf not stop this? (556-565)
5. What does Grendel discover as soon as he attacks Beowulf? (565-572)
6. After Grendel and Beowulf begin to wrestle, what does Grendel try to do? (578-583)
7. Because the fight between Grendel and Beowulf is so powerful, what do the citydwellers outside of Heorot (the mead hall) notice? (584-607)
8. What do Beowulf’s men try to do while the two are fighting? Why does their plan not work? (612-623)
9. Who is wounded first? What happens to him? (627-632)
10. Where does Grendel go next? Why does he go there? (633-636)

11. What is left behind after the battle? (642-648)
The Grendel Fight
12. What happens to Grendel after the fight? (657-665)
13. Who does Hrothgar (the King) thank first for victory in the fight? (676-685)
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14. What are the first two rewards Hrothgar promises to Beowulf? (686-691)
15. Who is the queen of the Danes, Hrothgar’s wife? What gift does she offer Beowulf?
(770-789)

Grendel’s Mother
(Lines 800-1100)
1. Who seeks revenge for Grendel’s death? How is her way of fighting different? (812-
825)
2. Who is taken from the mead hall? What happens to him? (826-831)
3. What is also taken from Heorot, the mead hall? (834-837)
4. What is the name of the man that was killed? Why was he important to Hrothgar, the king? (846-857)
5. Where does Hrothgar believe Grendel’s mother can be found? What strange thing appears there each night? (861-888)
6. What is sitting at the entrance to their underwater lair? What creature is protecting the entrance? How are they killed? (931-950)
7. What is the name of the sword Beowulf takes with him? What might this name translate into? Who gave him this weapon? (967-976)
8. How long does it take Beowulf to swim to the bottom of the pool? What interrupts his swim to the bottom? (990-999)
9. Where is he taken? What is strange about this place? (990-1003)
10. What happens when Beowulf strikes Grendel’s mother with his sword? (1013-1023)
11. How does Grendel’s mother fight back? (1040-1044)
12. What new weapon does Beowulf find in the cave? Who was this weapon made for?
(1045-1051)

Grendel’s Mother
13. How is Grendel’s mother killed? (1052-1057)
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14. What else does Beowulf find in the cave? What does he do to it? Why does this make the people waiting at the surface of the pool think Beowulf is dead? (1065-
1079)
15. What two treasures does Beowulf take to the surface? What happens to one of the treasures? (1093-1098)

Beowulf & the Dragon
(Lines 1370-1896)
1. What does Beowulf take over as the years pass? For how long does he do this? What ends this time of peace? (1369-1375)
2. What awoke the beast? How long had it been sleeping? (1376-1385)
3. What did the thief do with what he found? Who does he give it to? (1386-1390)
4. What does the awakened beast do when it discovers something’s missing? (1400-
1416)
5. How many comrades does Beowulf gather to help him defeat the beast? Who is the
13 th
man and why does he come along? (1453-1463)
6. What happens when Beowulf first stabs the beast? How does the beast respond?
(1543-1549)
7. What happens to most of Beowulf’s men? Who is the only one who doesn’t join them? (1555-1565)
8. What protects the two men from the beast’s attack? (1599-1603)
9. What happens when Beowulf tries to stab the beast a 2 nd
time? What is the name of his sword? (1604-1608)
10. Angered, what is the beast’s next attack? (1612-16-14)
11. As Beowulf is being attacked, what does the other hero do? (1616-1622)
12. How does Beowulf finish off the beast? (1622-1628)

Beowulf & the Dragon 2
13. What do they do with the beast’s treasure? The body of the beast? (1845-1852)
14. What happens to Beowulf? (1855-1865)
15. What monument is created for Beowulf? What is placed inside? (1874-1884)
16. Quote what the people say about Beowulf after his death. (1895-1896)