THE THREE BATTLES IN BEOWULF
Fight
Superhuman
Forces
Human Forces
Material Forces
Grendel
God, evil, wyrd
Beowulf alone
None-Beowulf fights Beowulf trusts in God/fate and
for honor and uses
represents good in the fight against
bare hands.
evil.
Grendel’s
mother
Grendel’s mother, Beowulf and fellow Hrothgar promises
Beowulf fights for money and uses
less God
thanes but Beowulf Beowulf treasure to
weapons. God is less apparent in this
fights alone.
kill Grendel’s mother fight.
and Beowulf uses a
sword and dagger.
Dragon
Dragon
Beowulf is
originally
accompanied by 12
followers, but they
abandon him except
for one.
Comment
Beowulf fights to
Virtually no God in this fight, and
keep treasure and
Beowulf is fighting to defend a
protect his people. He nation of “Goblet stealers.”
wants the treasure
made into a mound so
he can watch it as he
dies. Uses a sword,
shield and armor.
COMMENTARY:
One theme can be extracted by examining how the forces
change throughout the three fights. Beowulf originally
trusts in God, uses no material forces, and fights for glory.
In the second fight, there are fewer superhuman forces,
more material forces, ad more human forces. In the third
fight, Beowulf relies more on wisdom, uses more material
forces, fewer superhuman forces, and needs a helper to
slay the dragon.
THOUGHTS:
“Man should not trust in things of this world” for they (like Beowulf’s sword) will fail
him.
All men die. “The wages of heroism is death” (Tolkien).
Men should trust in God rather than things, because the trust Beowulf places in
weapons rather than in God fails him.
BATTLE WITH GRENDEL
-young; warrior
-his purpose is “to purge evil from this hall” (48)
-Fights a monster, a descendant of Cain- evil
-in Herot “gold hall”; light/creation imagery; throne protected by God
-his men are present and help although Beowulf alone defeats Grendel
-men’s swords are useless “their points could not hurt him” (50).
-Uses bare hands “My hands alone shall fight for me”
-faith “God must decide who will be given to death’s cold grip” (48)
-Grendel (evil) literally flees
-claims a trophy of the battle “No Dane doubted the victory, for the proof, hanging from the
rafters…was the monster’s arm” (51)
-Gives God credit for victory “…what it meant to feud with almighty God” (51)
-takes no treasure
-lives
BATTLE WITH GRENDEL’S MOTHER
-young; warrior
-Fights a monster-Grendel’s mother-more aggressive; battle is harder
-purpose is to help Hrothgar “save us once more” (52)
-in the monster’s lair-hell imagery “lake itself like a fiery flame”; isolated (apart from
God)
-attitude before battle: “if your enemy should end my life” (52)
-His men are semi-present – at lake shore; stay and wait for him and return with him
-his men do not help fight
-“Hrunting could not hurt her” (54); relying on anything else but God doesn’t work
BATTLE WITH GRENDEL’S MOTHER
-once he attributes God and does not rely on sword, he begins to win (“he’d use his
hands” [54]; “doubled his strength” [54]; “and Holy God, who sent him victory, gave
judgment for truth ad right” [54])
--God provides another sword once attributes God
-Once she is dead, “light” comes-“The brilliant light shown…as bright as Heaven’s
own candle” (55)
-sword melts, disappears—“like ice when the world’s eternal Lord loosens…as only
He can, he who rules time and seasons” (55); purpose is served
-takes trophy-Grendel’s head and sword hilt
-takes no treasure
-thanks God
-Lives
THE LAST BATTLE
-old; king
-Purpose-“I will fight again, seek fame still” (56)
-fights a monster-dragon
-dragon’s tower
-Uses weapons-rationalizes
-“Fate decides who wins” (57); no mention of God
-Seeks treasure-greed-“And this dragon’s treasure, his gold…will be mine (57)
-his men flee
-Attitude about battle-“no man but me could hope to defeat this monster”… “wait for me and we
shall see who will survive”
-sword fails him
-Wiglaf-loyal and pure, claims “By almighty God”… then together they overcome the dragon
-takes treasure
-dies
-as greed increases, loyalty decreases (thanes present and engaged, then only
present, then absent)
-“few brief hours on earth” (need pg #) -the futility of amassing earthly wealth
-“The poem is an imaginative vision of two kinds of human society, one symbolized by
the gold hall characterized by banqueting, generosity, loyalty, love; the other by
monsters of darkness (the Monster’s Lair) and bloodshed who prey on the ordered,
light-filled world man desires and clings to” (Lee 173).
-There is always a “monster”
-the cleansing of Herot and the burial of the treasure- not to emphasize not a morbid sense of
decay and doom but his faith in the greater good of lasting wealth of the spirit. In this respect,
Beowulf seems no different in intention from other Old English elegies we have read. The chief
inspiration of such poems is ultimately the Psalms and in Paul’s first epistle to Timothy:
1 Timothy 6:9-12
But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful
desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction. 10For the love of money is a root of all sorts of
evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with
many griefs.
But flee from these things, you man of God, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love,
perseverance and gentleness.12Fight the good fight of faith; take hold of the eternal life to which
you were called, and you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.…
The good man (Paul to Timothy) as a fighter in the war against evil, who by freeing himself from
greed lays up treasure for himself heavenly treasure.