Section Summaries
An
evil demon, Grendel, an offspring
of Cain is introduced
Wallowing in his own misery,
Grendel wishes to interrupt the joy
at Herot hall
He begins to scheme and work his
wickedness
Grendel
soon put his plan into action
One night, after beer-drinking and
feasting, everyone in the hall went to
sleep
Grendel proceeded to attack the
hall, killing thirty thanes (the king’s
warriors) in their sleep
 The
following morning -- great sorrow
among the king and his men
 Surprised by the extent to which this
stranger caused such damage
 Grendel is not finished with the
destruction of everyone and everything
at Herot
 The following night -- came back to the
hall to commit more havoc and murder
 King
Hrothgar and his men fought Grendel for
several more years; miserable
 Their time was taken up figuring out what to do
about this menace
 The king’s council often sat for hours
considering the best way to defend themselves
 Grendel did not want peace, nor did he
compensate for his many killings (customary in
this society)
 His ceaseless violence kept Hrothgar’s
kingdom on their toes.
 Meanwhile
in Geat, Beowulf heard of the
horrible attacks by Grendel at Herot
 Beowulf decided to offer his assistance to the
Danish king
 He then chose fourteen of his bravest warriors
to accompany him on his expedition
 The
warriors packed the ship with many
weapons and supplies
 Set sail
 Eventually arrived off the Danish coast where a
coastguard troop approached them
 To
the guard, Beowulf’s expedition looked
peculiar—somewhat threatening (weaponry
and troops aboard)
 Protected by chain mail, shields and weapons,
the lone guard feared an attack by this force
 Immediately demanded to know their business
exclaiming, “…haste would be best for you to
make known your home and your nation”
 Beowulf
answered
 Told them they came to help the king, to
counsel him on how the Danes could defeat
Grendel
 Afterwards, the guard judged the expedition as
friendly
 Proceeded to escort the Geats to see King
Hrothgar
 Beowulf
greeted the king
 Continued to tell the king his plan to “cleanse
Herot” of Grendel
 Since Grendel did not use conventional
weapons—only his hands—Beowulf also
informs the king that he will be fighting
Grendel in hand-to-hand combat
 Beowulf thought his father might take even
more pride in his son’s expedition
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Grendel attacked the hall that night
He forced himself into the hall searching for prey
Before Beowulf could engage in a fight with the
monster, Grendel devoured one sleeping warrior
Next, he came for Beowulf
Beowulf leaned up from his bed and placed a tight grip
on Grendel’s fingers
The creature never experienced such pain before
With fingers broken, Grendel tried to flee, but Beowulf
pursued
A great fight ensued until Grendel finally succumbed to
his fatal wounds
 Beowulf's
followers are all ready to fight, but
their weapons are no match for Grendel
 Grendel's arm is torn off his body by Beowulf
and he flees, wounded
 Beowulf hangs the arm high in the hall as proof
that he has defeated Grendel
 The
Danes celebrate Beowulf’s victory
 That night, Grendel’s mother kills Hrothgar’s
closest friend in vengeance and carries off
Grendel’s claw
 Next day, Hrothgar tells Beowulf about the
monsters and their underwater lair
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Hrothgar realizes that Grendel's mother is bound to avenge the
death of her son
Hrothgar tells Beowulf about a legend among the local people --two huge monstrous demons, one male and one female, who roam
the countryside together.
Grendel and his mother live on the moors, where streams
disappear into the mist
A strange, eerie lake; it's bottomless, and at night the water burns
Hrothgar thinks this lake must be the place where Grendel's
mother lives
Puts his faith in Beowulf, asking him to seek the monster if he
dares, and offering more treasures as a reward if he succeeds in
killing it and coming back alive
Beowulf swears to track down Grendel's mother and kill her.
 Beowulf
says goodbye to Hrothgar, reminding
him that he promised to take care of the Geat
warriors if Beowulf is killed in battle and to
send the treasures Beowulf won to the Geat
king
 Beowulf also announces that, if he is killed,
Unferth will get Hrunting back
 Beowulf leaps into the churning lake; takes
most of a day before he can see the bottom
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GM senses that a human being has penetrated her lair;
catches him
His body is protected by his chain-mail armor, which
she can't tear
GM touches the bottom of the lake, she carries BW to
her "court“; doesn't have a chance to fight her with his
sword
Clusters of sea-monsters attack BW, tearing his chainmail
BW isn't impeded by the water, because the roof of
Grendel's mother's lair protects him from the force of
the current (might be in a pocket of air in an
underwater cave, perhaps, although the poem is
ambiguous on this point)
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BW catches sight of Grendel's mother again, and
swings his sword down onto her head with a blow of
great force; fails to cut her
Remembering his reputation, BW throws his sword
aside and fights Grendel's mother with his bare hands
BW and GM wrestle and struggle together; BW
stumbles and falls
GM whips out a huge knife and stabs at BW’s shoulder,
but the chain-mail turns the blade and saves his life
BW spots a huge, heavy, ancient sword from the days of
the giants; swings it toward GM in a wide arc, cutting
deeply into her neck and killing her.
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The lair becomes brighter after GM dies, and Beowulf
is able to inspect his surroundings
Finds Grendel's body and, to take further revenge, he
decapitates the corpse
Back on the surface, the Geat and Dane warriors are
watching the surface of the lake, waiting for BW’s return
or a sign of his fate
When Beowulf cuts off Grendel's head, the water
heaves and surges, and they can see blood
They bow their heads and assume that Beowulf has
been killed
Danes go home, but the Geat warriors stay where they
are, waiting and wishing for BW to return
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The giant sword that Beowulf found melts (apparently,
the blood of Grendel is so poisonous that it destroys
metal)
BW sees enormous amounts of treasure in GM's lair, but
all he takes are the jewel-inlaid hilt of the melted sword
and Grendel's severed head
BW swims back to the surface of the lake, where his
warriors are overjoyed to see him
Geats return to Herot Hall, taking Grendel's enormous
severed head with them -- so large that they need four
strong men to carry it
BW tells Hrothgar all about his fight with Grendel,
giving most of the credit to God for helping him
 After
being honored by the king, BW
returns home; eventually becomes king;
rules for 50 years
 Dragon menaces his kingdom
 BW is determined to slay dragon
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BW makes his last boast (Boasting was a formal part of
warrior culture and especially important for great men)
Says he won battles often in his youth and that even in
his old age he is going to fight the dragon "for the
glory of winning”
Before leaving them, BW says a few words to his
followers; he wishes he could fight the dragon hand-tohand, the way he fought Grendel when he was young,
instead of using his sword
However, even BW realizes that would be suicide, so he
goes out to fight with a sword, a mail-shirt, and a shield
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BW steels himself and goes into the barrow to fight the
dragon; shouts out a challenge and the dragon, recognizing
a human voice, bursts forward, breathing fire
BW tries to use his shield, the dragon writhing around and
trying to burn him to a crisp
BW swings his sword; a minor cut; angers the dragon; BW
has to retreat, humiliated
Dragon hits BW with another blast of fire
Ten of BW's hand-picked men break ranks and run for their
lives into the woods nearby
One remains – Wiglaf, who remembers how well Beowulf has
treated him and his family; bearing his father's sword and
mail-shirt, Wiglaf will enter battle for the first time at BW’s
side, fighting the dragon
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Before rushing to Beowulf's aid, Wiglaf lectures his
companions, reminding them of how good a king BW
has been and how generously he rewarded them for
their loyalty
Wiglaf says that, even though Beowulf wanted to face
the dragon alone, he clearly needs their help
Says he would rather die fighting the dragon than go
home to the rest of the Geats in cowardly safety
Goes to BW's side and encourages him, reminding him
of his boasts, his great deeds, and his fame
 Wiglaf
and BW kill the dragon (Wiglaf stabs
stomach with sword; BW stabs side with
daggar)
 BW mortally wounded (dragon bit his neck;
blood rushed everywhere)
 As he dies, BW asks Wiglaf to bring him the
treasure that the dragon was guarding
 BW
orders Wiglaf to go into the barrow
(mountain), look at the treasure, and bring back
some of it for him to see before he dies
 Wiglaf obeys BW's dying wish and goes down
into the barrow, where he finds amazing piles of
treasure, all of it rusting and decaying
 He's able to see everything because of a
glowing golden standard high overhead.
Wiglaf fills his arms with gold and treasure and
takes the standard, too; hurries back to BW
 Wiglaf begins to clean the king's wounds again as
BW gazes on the treasure; thanks God for his last
glance of the treasure and the fact that he is going
to die "well endowed" with gold
 BW orders Wiglaf to build a barrow for him on the
coast after his body has been burned on a funeral
pyre; barrow will be visible to ships and remind
people of BW's great deeds
 BW takes off his golden collar and gives it to
Wiglaf, the last member of his clan now that BW is
dying
 BW dies
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 Wiglaf
denounces the warriors who deserted
BW
 Geats burn BW’s body on a funeral pyre and
mourn his death
 After
the pyre burns down, the Geats build a
barrow over it
 The barrow is an enormous memorial to BW
which takes ten days to build, and it can be
seen from the sea
 The Geats bury jewels, gold, and treasures in
the barrow to honor BW
 Twelve Geat warriors ride around the tomb
singing dirges, honoring BW by describing his
heroic deeds