I’m Like a Paper Bag,
But the Bottom’s Wet
Feraco
Search for Human Potential
30 November 2010
Characters
 Aeschere
 Hrothgar’s most trusted and valuable advisor
 Beheaded by Grendma (no one is safe); avenged by
Beowulf
 Beow
 Son of Shield Sheafson
 Takes over after Shield dies; foreshadows Beowulf’s
reluctant inheritance of the Geatish throne (bestcase scenario)
 Beowulf
 Main character; son of Ecgtheow
 Slays Grendel, Grendma, and dragon
 Courage, divine will, and honor…but everything is
never enough
 Breca
 Competed against Beowulf in a swimming contest
 Used by Unferth to question Beowulf’s capabilities
Characters
 The Dragon
 An ancient evil who guards a lost race’s cursed
treasure hoard
 Disturbed by a slave’s recklessness; destroys
Hygelac’s Great Building; defeated by Beowulf
 Eadgils
 Son of Ohthere and Onela’s nephew
 Oddly, befriends Beowulf while in exile
 Eanmund
 Son of Oethere; killed by Weohstan, who is awarded
his gear by Onela
 Ecgtheow
 Beowulf’s father; kills Heatholaf, the Wulfing
prince, and cannot pay the death-price
 Exiled by the Geats, Ecgtheow is rescued by
Hrothgar, who pays for Heatholaf and averts war
(indebting Ecgtheow in the process)
Characters
 Eofor
 Hygelac’s thane; he avenges his king’s death by
killing Ongentheow
 He gets to marry Hygelac’s daughter as a reward;
they produce no children
 Finn
 Long-ago Frisian king; Hildeburh’s husband
 Betrayed and killed after reaching a truce with the
invading Danes that prevents them from going
home (betrayal foreshadow’s Beowulf’s thanes
running away)
 Freawaru
 Hrothgar’s and Wealhtheow’s only daughter;
betrothed to Ingeld, the Heathobard prince
 Beowulf worries their marriage is doomed, with the
ensuing conflict dragging the Shieldings into a war
they cannot afford
Characters
 Grendel
 A descendent of Cain’s clan, and the poem’s main villain;
lives with his mother in the burning, haunted mere
 Cursed by genetics, not by action; wages “lonely war” on
Heorot for twelve years
 Impervious to human weapons; Beowulf fights him handto-hand and tears him apart
 “Grendma”
 Along with Grendel, the last in Cain’s cursed line; slain by
Beowulf with a giant’s weapon
 Attacks Heorot and kills Aeschere after her son’s death
 Haethcyn
 Hrethel’s second son, and Hygelac’s older
brother/predecessor as king
 Never meant to be king, but accidentally kills Herebeald
with an arrow; thrust into power too soon and is quickly
kills, destabilizing Geatland
 Halfdane
 Beow’s only son and Hrothgar’s father
 A good and wise king who has many children before
dying
Characters
 Halga
 Hrothgar’s younger brother; provides him with an
heir, Hrothulf, outside the typical line of succession
(middle-case scenario re: foreshadowing Beowulf’s
ascension)
 Heardred
 Hygelac’s only son; forced into power when Beowulf
rejects the throne after Hygelac’s death
 Tutored by Beowulf, but quickly killed by the
Swedes (avenging Ongentheow), leaving the former
as king (worst-case scenario)
 Heatholaf
 The Wulfing prince; killed by Ecgtheow
 War between the Wulfings and Geats is averted
when Hrothgar pays the death-price
 Hengest
 In olden times, a young Dane who assumes a
battlefield kingship once Hnaef is killed in the fight
against Finn’s forces
 His forces rise up against Finn after a year in exile
and head home
Characters
 Heorogar
 Hrothgar’s older brother; precedes him on the throne
following Halfdane’s death, but dies fairly quickly
 His war-gear and sword are given to Beowulf rather than
to Heoroweard, his son; according to Wikipedia,
Heoroweard (who doesn’t merit anything more than a
single line as a “loyal” person here) kills Hrothulf in later
works because he feels he has a greater claim on the
throne
 Herebeald
 Hrethel’s eldest son and intended heir to the throne
 Accidentally killed by Haethcyn before he can take power;
the loss eventually kills Hrethel as well
 Heremod
 An olden Danish king, the opposite of Beowulf and Shield
Sheafson
 Started fine, but corrupted by power; threw away lives
needlessly and hoarded treasure until his subjects
betrayed and exiled him
 Shield’s arrival and ascension, as well as Beow’s birth,
undoes the damage he caused
Characters
 Hildeburh
 The olden Frisian queen, and a Dane by birth
 In the war between the Frisians and Danes, she loses her
brother (Hnaef, the Danish king), her son (unnamed, a
Frisian prince), and her husband (Finn, the Frisian king);
the Danes kidnap her and drag her back to Denmark
after murdering her husband (parallels Hygd’s
devastating losses)
 Hnaef
 The olden Danish king; Hildeburh’s brother
 Dies while leading an invasion against Finn and the
Frisians
 Hrethel
 A great Geatish king who sits at the head of the poem’s
version of the Geat family tree
 He had three sons, but Haethcyn kills Herebeald, and
Hrethel died of grief soon thereafter
 Hrethric
 Hrothgar’s eldest son; not ready for the throne
 Wealhtheow suggests protecting him and his younger
brother by naming Hrothulf as a temporary successor
Characters
 Hrothgar
 Danish king who assumes the throne at a young age
 Wise, kind, and generous; saves the Geats in the Ecgtheow
incident (inadvertently tying Beowulf to him)
 Provides for his kingdom (two sons and a daughter;
distributes treasure; builds Heorot), but relentlessly
attacked by Grendel; only saved by divine protection on
the throne
 Hrothulf
 Halga’s son; Wealhtheow asks Hrothgar to use him as a
temporary heir, a scaffold until Hrethric or Hrothmund
proves ready for the throne
 In other works, apparently killed by Heoroweard
 Hrothmund
 Hrothgar’s youngest son; not ready for the throne
 Hygd
 Hygelac’s wife, a beautiful, wise, and extremely young
Geatish queen (Queen Modthryth’s opposite)
 Loses everything; her husband dies, and Beowulf’s
refusal to listen to her costs her Heardred as well
Characters
 Hygelac
 The Geatish king, taking over at a young age
following Hrethel’s and Haethcyn’s deaths (shades
of Hrothgar’s ascension, and Beowulf’s)
 Dies in a war with the Swedes and others
 Ingeld
 The prince of the Heathobards, an old Danish foe
 Set to marry Freawaru, the Danish princess
 Modthryth
 Hygd’s and Wealhtheow’s opposite; in some ways,
Heremod’s parallel
 Arbitrary and cruel ruler; mollified by marriage
 Ohthere
 Son of Ongentheow; father of Eanmund and Eadgils
 Poem’s history differs from other portrayals where
Ohthere takes the throne for a while
Characters
 Onela
 Son of Ongentheow; takes over the throne following his
father’s death
 “Ignores the blood-feud” when Weohstan presents
Eanmund’s armor to him
 Eventually slain by Beowulf, ending the Swede/Geat wars
(for now)
 Ongentheow
 Swedish (Shylfing) king; killed by Eofor
 Shield Sheafson
 An orphan from overseas, Shield essentially reunites and
restores Denmark, kicking off the Shielding royal line
 His funeral parallels Beowulf’s, providing one half of the
poem’s bracketed structure
 He dies young, still in the prime of his life – but provided
for his people with Beow
 Sigemund
 A figure mentioned in song by the scop; a legendary
dragonslayer
 Fights the dragon alone and triumphs; foreshadows
Beowulf’s future battles
Characters

Unferth
 A member of Hrothgar’s circle (not family) who is wise and
somewhat respected, but “under a cloud for killing his brothers”
 He mocks and challenges Beowulf when he arrives at Heorot out
of jealousy, but Beowulf refutes his story and puts him in his
place
 Unferth isn’t brave enough to fight, but he does gain some small
measure of redemption by giving Beowulf his ceremonial sword,
Hrunting (which Beowulf eventually returns)

Wealhtheow
 Hrothgar’s wife, the Danish queen
 Wise and generous, she presents gifts and distributes treasure;
serves as an extension of rule

Weohstan
 Wiglaf’s father, he killed Eanmund
 Tried returning his armor to Onela, who was so impressed that
he allowed Weohstan to return with the war-gear

Wiglaf
 The last of the Waegmundings, and Beowulf’s only loyal thane
 He turns back and goes to fight by Beowulf’s side against the
dragon
 Avoids the curse on the treasure hoard because his intentions
are pure (wants to reassure Beowulf before he dies)

Wulfgar
 A Danish retainer who greets Beowulf ritualistically, then
introduces him formally to Hrothgar
Settings and Symbols
 Boasting
 Reputation/Tradition
 Opportunity
 Burial / Funeral Pyres
 The end of things
 Burning and Passion
 The Coast and the Whale-Road
 Borders (keep in, keep out)
 Permanence vs. Impermanence
 The Dragon / The Hoard
 Sin/Wickedness/Recklessness
 Inevitability
Settings and Symbols
 Grendel’s Mere
 Cursed by God (burning water)
 The Underworld/Fear
 Heorot Hall / Denmark
 The things we build
 Defending what we love
 Ritual and tradition
 Hygelac’s Great Building
 Burned to the Ground
 The Iron Age
 Swords (Hrunting/Naegling)
 Ritual and Tradition
 The Past’s Failure, the Uncertain Future
Concepts and Themes
 Courage and Wisdom
 Beowulf / Wiglaf / Shield / Weohstan /
Wealhtheow
 Grendel / Unferth / Modthryth / Haethcyn
 Danger
 The Danger You Bring Upon Yourself
 The Dangers You Cannot Avoid
 Degeneration and Death
 Everything Ends; Everything Fades
 The Great Building; The Old King; The
Dragon’s Barrow
 Divine Will and Faith




The Throne
The Warrior
The Son
Courage
Concepts and Themes
 Fleeing and Exile
 Grendel / Grendma / Cain
 Heremod
 Ecgtheow / Eadgils / Finn and the Danes
 Good vs. Evil
 Beowulf vs. Grendel/Grendma/Dragon
 The Changing Face of Everything
 Grief vs. Hope
 The Hopeless Shieldings
 Salvation from the Sea
 The Wailing Geat
 Hate and Revenge
 Finn / Ongentheow / Ingeld / Beowulf /
Aeschere / Grendma
 A Thousand Years of War
 Geatland Gone
Concepts and Themes
 Heirlooms and Marriage
 National Ties + Family Ties
 Averting Catastrophe, Preserving the Past,
Ensuring the Future
 Heroism, Honor, and Sacrifice




Beowulf as a Youth vs. Beowulf as a King
Why Would Anybody Want to Be King?
The Thanes, Grendel, and the Olden Danes
The Motivations: Glory, Family, and
Everything In Between
 Identity and Reputation
 How Much Can One Control?
 Opportunity Knocks…
 Inevitability
 Fighting the Dragon
 Someone Starts Fighting Again
Concepts and Themes
 Lineage and Heritage
 Without Family, We Are Nothing
 Without a Past, We Have No Future
 Cementing Identity
 Loyalty and Friendship
 Beowulf and Wiglaf / Hrothgar and
Aeschere
 National Ties
 Love is the Source of Hate
 Names, Family, and Community
 The Only Things One Can Count On
 Families Torn Apart
Concepts and Themes
 Power
 That Which We Seek
 That Which Kills Us
 Royalty and Subjects
 Ring-Givers vs. Hoarders
 Hrothgar and Hygelac vs.
Heremod and Modthryth
 Vulnerability
 Beowulf/Sigemund;
Beowulf/Grendel/Grendma
 The Death of New Kings
History and Translation
 One copy, partly toasted
 Used as “Rosetta Stone”
 People used to ignore the “mythical”
elements in favor of its history
 J.R.R. Tolkien changed our reading of
the poem
 “The Monsters and the Critics”
 Saw it less as linguistic touchstone and
amalgamation of historical references and
more as a vibrant legend in its own right
 Believe it or not, that used to be all we
used this beautiful poem for: history
and scansion
 Thanks, Tolkien!
Beowulf’s Last Words
“Fate swept us away , / sent my
whole brave high-born clan / to
their final doom. Now I must
follow them.”
That was the warrior’s last word. /
He had no more to confide.
(2814-18)