About Beowulf

BEOWULF is a heroic, epic poem written in Old English of an anonymous author. It is from the time between the 8th and 11th century and belongs to the Anglo-Saxon literature. There is only one manuscript left, which is about 1000 years old and with its 3183 lines very long. The whole poem deals with legends, but it also includes some real facts, e.g. some characters acting in the poem really existed a long time ago. The story is set in southern Scandinavia, mostly in Denmark and South Sweden. Its main character is Beowulf, a hero who fights monsters and so gives freedom to the people, even to other tribes. At the end he is killed by a dragon, but people remember him forever for what he did.



Red: Territory of the Geats
Pink: Territory of the Danes

The Movie

- Movietrailer -

In 2007 the movie "Beowulf" was shown. But the story is not exactly the same as the book.
Here is a short summary:
Grendel kills a lot of Hrothgar's people, so Beowulf calls his stringest warriors and sails to the Danes. In a pretty short fight he kills Grendel, just like in the movie. His mother gets angry and gives ad nightmares to Beowulf and kills all his men. So he goes to the Demon's cave with his best and only warrior left. But when he sees Grendels mother, he falls in love with her and gives her a baby to put the spell off the people and become a king of a great empire. He also had to promise that the golden horn he got from Hrothgar may not find its way back to the castle.
When Hrothgar hears of the news, he says that he "is free now" (because he did the same mistake with Grendels mother before) and kills himself. So you can think that Grenel is Hrothgar's son.

Then, many years later, Beowulf is the new king, the humans find the golden horn. Beowulf wants to bring it back to the demons, but his son, who has become a huge dragon, attacks the castle and tries to kill Beowulf's wife and girlfriend. Beowulf tries to stop him, but he has to cut his arm to reach the dragon's heart. This way he killes the dragon but also himself.
The dragon becomes a human figure but before they can talk he disappears in the sea. Beowulf's warrior becomes the new king but it is not said what would happen next, or what happened with Grendels mother. (open end)

Main characters

Beowulf - the hero of the Geats

Hrothgar, the King of the Danes. Even though he is a good king he can not deal with Grendel.

He is married with Wealtheow.
Grendel, the monster. He kills many people in Heorot but is finally murdered by Beowulf.

Beowulf's mother. She is also killed by Beowulf.
The dragon. Beowulf can kill it, but he dies on the injuries he got from th dragon.

The family tree of the Danes, Geats and Swedes

The place where Beowulf is said to be buried in Sweden

My comment about the book

Because the epic Beowulf is very old, fortitude, courage, strength and honor play a big role in the story. It is mentioned in almost every chapter that Beowulf is the strongest and bravest warrior of all, and because he is the hero he can fight almost every enemy easily. That makes the story a bit boring, because you already know that Beowulf would win. The fights are described well, but from today’s point of view they are not exciting because the characters who fight have no modern weapons, but they just fight with strength or with fire.
The original manuscript is probably not understandable for most people, so it was translated in modern English. There are probably some details left out but it’s easy to read.
So, all together it was a good reading book for school, because it is easy to read and to undestand, but besides that I would not recommend Beowulf as a book beause the story is very simple and especially for young people not very interestig.

An extract of the original poem:
Hwanon ferigeað ge fætte scyldas,
græge syrcan ond grimhelmas,
heresceafta heap? Ic eom Hroðgares
ar ond ombiht.
Ne seah ic elþeodige
þus manige men modiglicran,
Wen ic þæt ge for wlenco, nalles for wræcsiðum,
ac for higeþrymmum Hroðgar sohton.
Him þa ellenrof andswarode,
wlanc Wedera leod, word æfter spræc,
heard under helme:
beodgeneatas; Beowulf is min nama.

Wille ic asecgan sunu Healfdenes,
mærum þeodne, min ærende,
aldre þinum, gif he us geunnan wile
þæt we hine swa godne gretan moton.
Wulfgar maþelode (þæt wæs Wendla leod;
his modsefa manegum gecyðed,
wig ond wisdom): Ic þæs wine Deniga,
frean Scildinga, frinan wille,
beaga bryttan, swa þu bena eart,
þeoden mærne, ymb þinne sið,
ond þe þa ondsware ædre gecyðan
ðe me se goda agifan þenceð.

The Story

• First Battle: Grendel
  Beowulf begins with the story of King Hrothgar, who built the great hall Heorot for his people. In it he, his wife Wealhþeow, and his warriors spend their time singing and celebrating, until Grendel, an outcast from society who is angered by the singing, attacks the hall and kills many of Hroðgar's warriors while they sleep. But Grendel dares not touch the throne of Hroðgar, because he is described as protected by God. Hroðgar and his people, helpless against Grendel's attacks leave Heorot.
  Beowulf, a young warrior from Geatland, hears of Hroðgar's troubles and with his king's permission then leaves his homeland to help Hroðgar.
  After the guard questions them about why they land on the Dane's territory, Beowulf and his 15 men spend the night in Heorot. After they fall asleep, Grendel enters the hall and attacks, killing one of Beowulf's men. Beowulf, who has been pretending sleep, stands up and graps Grendel's hand, and the two battle until it seems as though the hall might fall down from their fighting. Beowulf's men take out their swords and rush to his help, but their swords do not pierce Grendel's skin, because he put a charm on all human weapons. Finally, Beowulf tears Grendel's arm from his body at the shoulder and Grendel runs to his home in the mountains to die.
  




• Second battle: Grendel's mother
  The next night, after celebrating Grendel's death, Hroðgar and his men sleep in Heorot. Grendel's mother appears, however, and attacks the hall. She kills Hroðgar's most trusted warrior, Æschere, in revenge for Grendel's death.
  Hroðgar, Beowulf, and their men follow Grendel's mother to her house under a lake. Beowulf prepares for battle; he has a sword, Hrunting, by a warrior called Unferth, who before had challenged Beowulf and tried to talk his heroic deeds.
  Beowulf dives into the lake. There, he is found and attacked by Grendel's mother. Unable to harm Beowulf through his armor, Grendel's mother drags him to the bottom of the lake. Under the lake, where Grendel's body lies, Grendel's mother and Beowulf continue the combat.
  Grendel's mother at first seems to win, after Beowulf, finding that the sword given him by Unferð cannot harm her, gets in panic. He finds a magic sword that works against her and kills her at once. Later he finds Grendel’s body, cuts off his head and takes it back to the surface.
  So he also won the fight against Grendel’s mother and gets more presents, like treasures, gold and another sword.

• Third battle: The dragon
  Beowulf returns home and eventually becomes king of his own people.
  One day, late in Beowulf's life, about 40 years later, a slave steals a golden cup from the lair of an unnamed dragon. The dragon sees that the cup has been stolen, it leaves its cave in a rage, burning up everything in sight. Beowulf and his warriors come to fight the dragon, but only one of the warriors, a brave man named Wiglaf, stays to help Beowulf, because the rest are too afraid. Beowulf kills the dragon with Wiglaf's help, but Beowulf dies from the wounds he has received.
  Beowulf is buried in the Geatland on a cliff overlooking the sea, where sailors are able to see his grave. The dragon's treasure is buried with him, to protect his people, because it has a spell on it.