Notes on . . . According to Webster’s New World Dictionary, Beowulf may mean “beehunter” (Beo for “bee” and wulf for “hunter”). Since bears hunt bees,
Beowulf translates loosely as bear.
Main Dudes ŸBeowulf: Illustrious warrior from the land of the Geats in Sweden. When a monster terrorizes a
Danish kingdom, Beowulf sails across the sea to come to the aid of the beleaguered Danes.
Beowulf possesses enormous strength and courageously confronts the monster in hand-to-claw
combat.
ŸHrothgar: King of a Danish realm terrorized by a monster. He presides at Heorot, a great mead
hall.
ŸWealhtheow: Hrothgar’s wife and queen.
ŸGrendel: Monster that terrorizes Heorot.
ŸGrendel’s Mother: Monster that retaliates after Beowulf defeats Grendel.
ŸDragon: Monster that goes on a rampage in the land of the Geats.
ŸWiglaf: Warrior who helps Beowulf fight the dragon.
ŸHygelac: King of the Geats in Sweden. He is Beowulf’s uncle.
ŸHygd: Hygelac’s wife and queen.
ŸHeardred: Son of Hygelac.
ŸEcgtheow: Beowulf’s father.
ŸUnferth: Danish warrior who envies Beowulf.
ŸBreca: Childhood friend of Beowulf.
ŸAeschere: Counselor to Hrothgar.
ŸFreawaru: Daughter of Hrothgar and Wealhtheow.
ŸScyld Scefing: Onetime King of Denmark and great-grandfather of Hrothgar. He is mentioned
in the epic but does not take part in the action.
Villains (1) Grendel, a foul marsh-dweller born of the hatred of the
biblical Cain. Grendel is a nightmarish creature
—half-beast, half-man—that strikes at night.
(2) Grendel’s momma, a loathsome fiend protected by sea
monsters.
(3) a fire-breathing dragon that can destroy an entire town
simply by belching.
Setting The time is the Dark Ages, between 500 and 700 A.D. The action takes place first in a Danish
kingdom ruled by Hrothgar, situated on the island of Zealand (site of present-day Copenhagen,
Denmark). The scene of action then shifts 50 years later to the land of
the Geats in Sweden, where an elderly Beowulf “gits ‘er done.”
Plot Summary It may be helpful to think of Beowulf as 3 stories in
1—like a Scandinavian braid (see left): Braid 1: Gather, gather. You heard me: Huddle up!
Long ago, in the gray mists of the Danish marshes, a
monster born of the hatred of Cain rises up to
terrorize Heorot, the great mead (honey-beer) hall of
King Hrothgar. Until the beast’s appearance,
Hrothgar’s kingdom—and the kingdoms of his father, grandfather, and
great-grandfather, the long-remembered and much-loved Scyld
Scefing—had prospered without fear of the vile shadow creatures in the
forests, lakes, swamps, and caves.
A mead hall was a communal gathering place for feasting and drinking mead, an alcoholic beverage made of water and fermented honey. Mead was a popular drink in Denmark and other Scandinavian countries during the Middle Ages because grapes, a crop that only thrives in warmer s outhern climates, were not readily available to make wine. But one day, the sounds of good cheer and merriment at Heorot enrage the Cain-born monster
Grendel. He crosses over from his netherworld into the realm of men to kill and destroy. Preying
on Heorot after nightfall, he consumes up to 30 warriors in a single raid. Some serious carbs,
boys. Gather: hear ye me. For not quite a baker’s dozen years, Grendel’s raids continue, robbing
Hrothgar of thanes and plunging the court into a deep abyss of terror.
To the east, in the land of the Geats in southern Sweden, a mighty warrior named Beowulf—
nephew of the King of the Geats, Hygelac—hears from seafarers of Heorot’s plight and sails across
the dark seas with 14 lusty, musty men to come to Hrothgar’s aid. When Hrothgar’s coastal
sentinels take him for a spy, Beowulf persuades them that he is no enemy of the Danes. After he
presents himself at Heorot, he tells of his prior exploits: how he battled trolls, killed sea beasts,
yada, yada. Hrothgar, a friend of Beowulf’s father in earlier times, greets Beowulf warmly—even
fuzzily—and welcomes his help.
Beowulf, not stirred; Hrothgar, shaken. But Unferth, an envious Heorot warrior full of drink, scoffs at Beowulf’s exploits, claiming
Beowulf lost a swimming match at sea lasting 7 days. Noble Beowulf then defends his honor with
his own account of the match. One day he and his childhood friend, Breca, decided to test their
swimming prowess, one against the other, in a sea match, each carrying a sword for protection
against the ocean beasts. They swam for 5 days until the roil and pitch of the water separated
them and foul beasts churned up from the depths. One by one, Beowulf slaughtered the beasts, 9
in all, until calm returned and Beowulf washed up on the shore of Finland.
Beowulf next lays a heavy charge against Unferth: Rather than satisfying his blood lust on the
field of battle fighting enemies, he resorts to fighting and killing his own kin, a crime for which he
will burn in hell. And, Beowulf asks, if Unferth is so great a warrior, why has he not ended
Grendel’s raids?
After Hrothgar’s wife, Queen Wealhtheow, welcomes Beowulf, he vows to fight Grendel that very
night without weapons. The Danes bed down, stuffed plushy ponies tucked ‘neath England’s
finest fleece. Beowulf and the Geats await the arrival of Grendel in the mead hall. They know he
will come; it is only a matter of time. By and by, the hell-beast opens the door in the darkest hour
of the night—blood-thirsty, and in the mood to play his own version of hunger games. He attacks
and kills a Geat, yea, a Great Geat, consuming limpy limbs and farm-fresh flesh. Nom. Nom.
Nom.
Turning then to Beowulf, Grendel wields an open claw against our hero. But Beowulf, many times
stronger than any mere mortal, locks Grendel with a hand grip so powerful that the monster
cannot shake it. As the great hall trembles at the fury of the battle, Beowulf’s men threaten him
with a major time-out before striking at the beast. But their swords do not penetrate, for no
weapon forged in fire can harm Grendel. In the end mighty Beowulf wrenches off Grendel’s arm,
and the beast flees, mortally wounded. Henceforth, he is known as “Leftie.”
The following day, Heorot rejoices and Hrothgar heaps praise on Beowulf, flowers and fruit
baskets aplenty. Unferth the taunter has naught to say when the Danish thanes see the arm of
Grendel, its claws harder than the hardest iron. The hall is then repaired, a feast is given, songs
are sung, tales are told, and gift cards are presented—all in passive voice and past tense. Our hero
chills for a season.
___________________________________________________________________
Braid 2: The rejoicing is short-lived: when night falls, Grendel’s mother—full of wrath—descends
upon the hall, kills Hrothgar’s counselor, Aeschere, and drags him into the bogs. Beowulf and
Hrothgar follow with warriors, but Beowulf chooses to battle the monster alone and underwater.
Sea hellions come to her aid and tear and rip at the Geat. When he strikes her with his sword, it
does not pierce. She strikes back with a dagger. By the grace of God, Beowulf’s armor deflects it.
He then sees a great sword in her armory, a weapon brandished long ago by giants who walked
the earth. In spite of its impossible weight, Beowulf wields it against the hell-beast’s neck and
kills it. Beowulf becomes English literature’s first pain in the neck. When Beowulf sees the corpse
of Grendel nearby, he beheads it and returns to Heorot with his trophy.
After more rejoicing, Beowulf receives a bounty of gifts and returns home to the land of the Geats.
There, he presents his gifts to King Hygelac and tells him of his great adventures. Hygelac, in
turn, rewards Beowulf with a vast estate. Years pass. After Hygelac and his son, Heardred, die in
battle, Beowulf becomes king and reigns for 50 years.
___________________________________________________________________
Braid 3: Great terror spreads across the realm of the Geats after a dragon abandons its lair to
wreak breath-death. The dragon is furious because an intruder had entered its lair and taken a
gem-studded goblet from a hoard of treasure the fire-breather had been guarding for ages. Now
his dinnerware serves only 7. Replacement is nigh impossible without Amazon.com.
Beowulf, now AARP-eligible, ventures forth with 11 warriors to send the monster to ring hell’s
bells. But after Beowulf engages the dragon in battle, all his cohorts retreat save for one—brave
Wiglaf—who comes to his master’s aid. In a storm of smoke and fire, Beowulf slays the dragon
with the help of Wiglaf. But, in return, Beowulf suffers a poisonous wound. Realizing he will
soon die, he bids Wiglaf to bring forth a sampling of the dragon’s treasure hoard that he may look
upon it, and Wiglaf does his bidding.
Beowulf gives thanks to God for the treasure that will sustain his people in times to come. After
instructing Wiglaf to have a barrow (a mound of earth or stones) constructed to mark the burial
site of his remains from the funeral pyre, Beowulf kicks the ol’ oxygen habit. Wiglaf banishes the
10 deserters and arranges for the king’s funeral even as new troubles loom on the horizon—wars
with neighboring tribes, including the Franks and the Frisians.
Type of Work Beowulf is an epic, a long poem telling a story about a hero and his exploits. It is further classified
as a folk epic in that it pieces together its story from folk tales transmitted orally for centuries,
probably sometimes to the accompaniment of a musical instrument
such as a harp or lyre.
Beowulf consists of roughly 3,200 lines written in vernacular Old
English (native language of the author’s time and place) rather than in
Latin, the lofty language of religion, philosophy, science, history, and,
of course, literature.
Source Today, this epic is recognized as the greatest work in Old English.
Unlike many other epics, Beowulf has characteristics of an elegy
(a somber poem or song that praises or laments the dead). In fact,
J.R.R. Tolkien, author of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, maintained that
Beowulf is more an elegy than an epic. Via his writings on Beowulf,
Tolkien single-handedly and re-established the poem as canonically
valuable.
The author of Beowulf based his tale in part on pagan myths, fables, Scandinavian history, and
biblical and Christian history. Thus, Beowulf is a mixture of fiction and fact.
Date & Place of Composition Beowulf was probably composed between 700 A.D. and 900 A.D. The place of its composition
was probably Northumbria, an important Anglo-Saxon kingdom between Scotland on the north
and the Humber River on the south. Northumbria was home to Roman Catholic monks who
excelled in learning and literature. The most famous was the Venerable Bede (672-735), who
wrote The Ecclesiastical History of the English People and popularized the use of “A.D.” in dating
events in relation to the year of the birth of Christ.
Story Transmission & Preservation Between 700 and 900 A.D.
Between 500 and 700 A.D.
About 1000 A.D.
1563
Between 1585 and 1631
1700
After 1700
1731
1753
1753-Present
Story related orally, anonymous author composes Beowulf
Fictional events in Beowulf occur
Scribes write down the anonymous author’s story
Englishman Larry Nowell acquires scribes’ manuscript, probably from a
Catholic monastery demolished by Henry VIII
Sir Robert Cotton acquires manuscript for his private library
Cotton’s grandson donates library to British government
Library moved to Essex House (then Ashburnham House), London
Ashburnham House burns, manuscript saved after water damages it and
fire chars the edges
British Museum established, manuscript becomes part of its collection
Manuscript preserved, translated, published
Language Beowulf was written Old English in the West Saxon dialect of 1000 A.D. Old English was used in
England between 600 and 1100 A.D. Beowulf is believed to be the first important literary work of
medieval Europe to be written in the language of the common man rather than in the lofty
elegance of Latin.
Verse Format Beowulf is written in unrhyming verse, without stanzas, with a caesura (pause) in the middle of
each line. Caesuras represent the pauses that speakers normally use in everyday speech; thus,
each line is divided into two parts. Each part is called a hemistich (HEM e stick), which is half a
line of verse. A complete line is called a stich. Each hemistich contains two stressed (accented)
syllables and a varying number of unstressed (unaccented) syllables.
Structure In structure, Beowulf is divided chronologically into two main sections: one that focuses on
Beowulf as a young man and one that focuses on him as an old man. In terms of action, it is
divided into three main sections: one that introduces the characters and describes Beowulf’s
conquest of Grendel, one that describes Beowulf’s defeat of Grendel’s mother, and one that
describes Beowulf’s defeat of the dragon with the help of Wiglaf.
Point of View The poet tells the tale in omniscient 3rd-person point of view from a Christian perspective.
Though describing events taking place in a pagan culture, the poet credits the Christian God and
the Christian ethic for the triumph of good over evil.
Imagery The imagery in Beowulf derives mainly from the employment of figurative language, such as
alliteration and metaphor. Many apparent hyperboles describing the feats of Beowulf are not true
hyperboles, since what appear to be exaggerations—such as a passage saying Beowulf swam from
Sweden to Finland or a passage saying Beowulf had the strength of thirty—were intended to be
taken literally.
Kennings—compound expressions, often hyphenated, representing a single noun—occur often
in Beowulf. A kenning is a form of metaphor and are similar to the Homeric epithet. Examples of
kennings are the following: “whale-road” for sea, “sea-wood” for ship, “shield-bearer”
for warrior, “battle-spoil” for treasure, “ring-nets” for chain mail, “sword-draught” for a sword
swallowing the blood of an enemy, and “twilight-spoiler” for dragon.
Themes 1. Good conquers evil. Beowulf, of course represents goodness; the three monsters that he slays
represent evil.
2. Actions speak louder than words (Beowulf vs. Unferth).
3. Judge the greatness of a human being by the greatness of his deeds (though noble ancestry
helps).
4. Forces of darkness—irrational, menacing—are always at work in society.
5. Life is a continuing struggle. After Beowulf defeats Grendel, Grendel’s mother seeks revenge.
Beowulf kills her. Eventually, in old age, he faces still another challenge, this time from a dragon.
He kills the dragon, too, but suffers a mortal wound. After he dies, new troubles loom on the
horizon in the form of wars with neighboring tribes. Sequel, anyone?
6. Help thy neighbor. Beowulf risks his life to help a neighbor, King Hrothgar. “Like a good
neighbor, Beowulf is there.”