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Tiffani Douglas
English Literature Survey 201
Dr. Brown
5 October 2007
Comparison and Contrast: Beowulf’s Three Fights
Violent struggles commonly pervaded ancient Anglo-Saxon narratives. In the epic Beowulf,
the main character engaged in battle with three different monsters; he fought Grendel, Grendel’s
mother, and a dragon. In all three battles, the hero Beowulf had similar motives and fighting
patterns, but these scenes also differed because there was a progressive degree of uncertainty
about the outcome of each battle and a greater possibility of failure.
Beowulf easily defeated his first adversary in the epic, the monster Grendel. Grendel
approached the scene of the battle with heedless bloodlust, confident that he would be able to
wreak his usual havoc on the Danes. When Grendel and Beowulf met in battle, he found that he
had underestimated Beowulf, and Beowulf maintained his fierce grip on Grendel throughout the
entire duration of the battle. At the very beginning of the battle,
The captain of evil discovered himself
locked in a handgrip harder than anything
he had ever encountered in any man. (749-751)
Grendel knew Beowulf would emerge victorious, thus he “was desperate to flee to his den and
hide” (754) from Beowulf. Grendel inflicted no harm upon Beowulf, and he “was overwhelmed,
/ manacled tight by” (487-88) Beowulf. Although his
warriors were present to aid him in
the battle, Beowulf “placed no reliance on his companions and needed no help from them”
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(Rogers 341) to prevail against Grendel. In the fight with Grendel, “the poet several times
assures us of a happy outcome” (Brodeur 109).
Grendel’s mother, however, provided a greater challenge for Beowulf than Grendel. After
she discovered that her son had been killed, Grendel’s mother vowed revenge, and Beowulf rode
to her lair to confront her. When he fought Grendel’s mother, “the surefooted fighter felt
daunted” (1543) for the first time in Beowulf. While he easily triumphed over Grendel, Beowulf
narrowly escaped death as he struggled with Grendel’s mother. She had pinned him down and
stabbed at him, but Beowulf’s chain mail armor caught the blade and spared his life. Beowulf
relied on his armor to protect him against Grendel’s mother, indicating that she had a greater
chance of defeating Beowulf than Grendel did.
There were also some differences between the physical aspects of the two fights. The fight
with Grendel was a “one fall, one submission, and one knock-out bout, whist the fight with
Grendel’s mother ha[d] quite a different pace. [Against Grendel’s mother,] we ha[d] a two-fall
fight” (Orchard 91-92). Grendel’s mother overcame Beowulf, then he retaliated and triumphed
over her. Beowulf’s fight with Grendel’s mother was longer and more complicated than his fight
with Grendel.
While Beowulf defeated Grendel using nothing more than his own two hands, the case
differed with Grendel’s mother. Beowulf initially attempted to fight Grendel’s mother without
weapons, but he soon found that this was not enough. Beowulf could not depend on his own
strength to defeat Grendel’s mother; he needed a special sword “from the days of the giants”
(1559) that he found in the armory of Grendel’s mother. The poet “deliberately withholds any
assurance that the hero will prevail” (Brodeur 109), thus the outcome of the battle was less
predictable than the fight with Grendel.
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Grendel’s mother also exhibited more boldness than Grendel in her fight with Beowulf.
When Beowulf fought Grendel, “there [was] no aggression left in him once he [felt] the power of
Beowulf’s grip”. (Brodeur 114) Grendel’s mother, however, “grappled him tightly” (1542) and
“pounced upon him” (1545), showing far more confidence in her assurance of victory than her
son. The confidence of Grendel’s mother made the battle’s result more indeterminate.
Yet there were also similarities between the two fights. Beowulf’s motive for engaging each
monster in battle was the same; he did it to protect the Danes. Hrothgar, king of the Danes,
implored Beowulf to deal with Grendel, then Grendel’s mother later on. Beowulf responded to
this request by initiating battles with each of them. Furthermore, after defeating his foe in each
battle, Beowulf obtained a trophy. When he fought Grendel, Beowulf kept the arm he had
severed from Grendel. Likewise, after killing Grendel’s mother, Beowulf brought her head back
to Hereot in triumph.
Beowulf found his greatest challenge in the third monster he fought, the dragon. Beowulf
went into the battle with confidence, sure that he would overcome this last challenge in his life.
When Beowulf first confronts the dragon, “unyielding, [he] loomed / by his tall shield, sure of
his ground” (2566-67).
As the battle progressed, however, Beowulf’s weapons failed him
repeatedly, and the flames of the dragon seared him. He would have been killed by the dragon at
that moment if Wiglaf had not intervened, saying, “stay resolute, my lord, defend your life now /
with the whole of your strength. I shall stand by you” (2666-67). Not only did Beowulf rely on
his armor and his weapons to fight the dragon, he also needed Wiglaf’s encouraging words in
order to vanquish his foe.
There were several contrasts between Beowulf’s fight with the dragon and his fight with
Grendel. Beowulf dominated his battle against Grendel; from beginning to end, he was in
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control. In his fight against the dragon, Beowulf struggled considerably just to stay alive.
Beowulf described the dragon’s ferocity much more vividly than any of Grendel’s actions,
implying that Beowulf found the dragon far more fearsome than Grendel. Beowulf described this
ferocity with the following description:
When a chance came, he caught the hero
in a rush of flame and clamped sharp fangs
into his neck. (2690-93)
The dragon is so fierce that “Beowulf’s armour failed to protect him; his sword broke; [and]
he needed help from his companions” (Rogers 341) to defeat his foe. Compared with the dragon,
Grendel was a far weaker and less competent foe.
Although each battle had its own distinctive qualities, there were also some resemblances
between Beowulf’s fight with Grendel and his fight with the dragon. Unlike in the fight with
Grendel’s mother, Beowulf inflicted wounds on both Grendel and the dragon before they die.
Near the conclusion of his battle with the dragon, Beowulf
gathered his strength and drew a stabbing knife
he carried on his belt, sharpened for battle.
He stuck it deep in the dragon’s flank.
Beowulf dealt it a deadly wound. (2702-05)
Likewise, Beowulf wounded Grendel by grasping his arm and ripping it off.
Just before
Grendel fled Heorot to the safety of his lair, “the whole monster’s body was in pain; a
tremendous wound appeared on his shoulder” (814-16).
Beowulf’s struck against the dragon
and Grendel and wounded them, but they did not die immediately. In contrast, Beowulf simply
beheaded Grendel’s mother and killed her with one move.
Beowulf’s confrontation with Grendel’s mother and his struggle with the dragon both
presented a greater challenge to Beowulf than his fight with Grendel did. In both fights,
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Beowulf’s physical prowess could not win the day for him; he depended on his weapons, armor,
and – in the case of the dragon – the aid of another.
The increasing amount of opposition
Beowulf faced was apparent, because “in each [fight], the measure of the hero’s success [was] in
inverse proportion to the extent of his use of weapons, armor,…and his need of help from his
companions” (Rogers 340-41). Ironically, the more aid Beowulf received, the greater his
possibility of failure was.
Beowulf also felt more uncertain about the outcome of his battles with Grendel’s mother and
the dragon, unlike in his battle with Grendel. When he skirmished with Grendel, Beowulf
displayed absolute confidence throughout the entire battle. However, when fighting Grendel’s
mother, “the strongest of warriors stumbled and fell” (1544).
Beowulf lost control of the
situation, and he was nearly killed. Similarly, in his fight with the dragon, Beowulf repeatedly
could not gain the upper hand. His sword could not pierce through the dragon’s scales, his shield
was destroyed by the dragon’s fiery breath, and he was unable to defend himself from the dragon
in the end. In both the fight with Grendel’s mother and the dragon, events spiraled out of
Beowulf’s control.
There was another similarity between the two fight; both monsters had legitimate motives
for challenging Beowulf. In each battle, “it [was] the monster who initially [was] the aggrieved
party, and who suffer[ed] loss” (Orchard 92). The dragon suffered the loss of having his treasure
stolen, and Grendel’s mother lost her son to Beowulf’s hand. Unlike Grendel, who had no exact
reason to haunt Heorot, Grendel’s mother and the dragon had valid justifications for instigating a
fight with Beowulf.
In each struggle, Beowulf’s companions grew increasingly unsure about the chances of
Beowulf’s success, and this negative attitude also contributed to the overall chance of victory.
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When he confronted Grendel, “Beowulf’s warriors worked to defend / their lord’s life” (794-95)
by attacking Grendel repeatedly. Although their weapons had no effect on Grendel, the warriors
still had faith that Beowulf would emerge victorious.
Although they still accompanied him to the lair of Grendel’s mother, Beowulf’s retinue
exhibited less confidence in Beowulf’s ability to defeat Grendel’s mother. By the end of the day,
they
never again
expected to see that prince returning
in triumph to their king. It was clear to many
that the wolf of the deep had destroyed him forever.
(1596-99)
The warriors present at the lair of Grendel’s mother did not believe that Beowulf would
defeat Grendel’s mother, and this reinforces the doubt that Beowulf would indeed prevail.
Furthermore, Beowulf himself expressed uncertainty about his ability to defeat Grendel’s
mother.
Before he left to fight Grendel’s mother, he asked that “if [he] should fall and suffer
death” (1477-78), his “comrades in arms” (1481) would be cared for. By essentially declaring a
will for himself, Beowulf was expressing his lack of confidence that he would survive his
encounter with Grendel’s mother.
There was an even smaller level of assurance expressed by Beowulf’s companions during
his battle with the dragon. His warriors did not engage in battle as they did when Beowulf fought
Grendel, or even stand by to support him as they did when Beowulf struggled against Grendel’s
mother. Instead, every single warrior Beowulf brought with him to defend him—Wiglaf
excluded— “broke ranks and ran for their lives / to the safety of the wood” (2598-99). They
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believed the dragon’s prowess surpassed Beowulf’s, and their doubt that Beowulf would triumph
was reflected by the fact that they fled instead of staying at the site of the battle.
The three fights in Beowulf were laden with varying levels of difficulty, and the outcome of
each became more and more uncertain as the epic unfolded. Each battle had distinctive
characteristics that made it unique, yet there were also similarities that tied them together. In
short, Beowulf had one essential goal for fighting the three fights in Beowulf. He was trying to
bring his name glory and recognition.
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Bibliography
Orchard, Andy. “Psychology and Physicality: The Monsters in Beowulf”. Bloom, Harold.
Bloom’s Modern Critical Interpretations. New York: Chelsea House, 2007.
Brodeur, Arthur Gilchrist. The Art of Beowulf. California: University of California Press,
1959.
Rogers, H.L. “Beowulf’s Three Great Fights”. Quarterly Journal of English Literature and the
English Language. 6.24 (1995): 339-355. JSTOR. 1 Oct. 2007 <http://www.jstor.org>.
Simpson, David, Et al. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. New York: W. W. Norton
& Company, Inc., 2006. Pp. 34-100