Beowulf's Bravery

Claire McGlave

Ms. Peifer

English 10 IB P. 5

13 December 2008

Beowulf Commentary

“If this combat kills me, take care
of my young company, my comrades in arms.
And be sure also, my beloved Hrothgar,
to send Hygelac the treasures I received.
Let the lord of the Gears gaze on that gold,
let Hrethel’s son take note of it and see
that I found a ring-giver of rare magnificence
and enjoyed the good of his generosity.
And Unferth is to have what I inherited:
to that far-famed man I bequeath my own
sharp-honed, wave-sheened wonderblade
With Hrunting I shall gain glory or die.

After these words, the prince of the Weather Geats
was impatient to be away and plunged suddenly:
without more ado, he dived into the
heaving depths of the lake. It was the best part of the day
before he could see the solid bottom.” (Haney, lines 1480-1496).

This is a very captivating quote because most of it comes directly from Beowulf himself. This is a rare occurrence in this great story. This quote, from third section of Beowulf, occurs when he fights Grendel’s mother. It is a great demonstration of the unknown author’s consistent work. It shows Beowulf’s greatness, and utilizes many impressive literal devices. The sentiment of this selection is very melancholy, which is fitting given that this story has many aspects, sad and happy, which add to its body.

There are several prominent themes in Beowulf. The most important is that Beowulf is brave, and he dies an honorable death. Here he is about to leave for a great battle, and must make a departing speech to the people. With his words “With Hrunting I shall gain glory or die.” (Haney, line 1491) he shows how important glory is, and how the only way to die an honorable death is to die in battle. As you can see, the Geat people love Beowulf, they glorify him because he has won many battles, he is the ultimate warrior. He shows them gratitude by saying “I found a ring-giver of rare magnificence and enjoyed the good of his generosity.” (Haney, lines1486-1487). This is an essential part of the story because it brings the people to Beowulf, makes them even more loyal to him by showing he has feelings and respect as well as glory. The last main theme is bravery. Beowulf is the bravest of all, as we can see when the narrator says “with out more ado, he dived into the heaving depths of the lake” (Haney, lines1494-1495). Earlier in the story this lake is described as a marsh, bubbling with bile, stinking, and full of strange dying creatures. Not many would gladly dive in to go to battle as Beowulf did.

This section is a great demonstration of the literary devices used in Beowulf. The most prominent (throughout the story) is alliteration. A great example is “Let the lord of the Geats gaze on that gold” (line 1484). In the original text (before translation) there was alliteration in every line, but that did not completely succeed through the translations. Alliteration catches the readers’ attention, keeps them engaged. It also gives the poem rhythm and style, a fun thing to catch if one is looking for it. Another literary device used is epithets. These are common in the epic stories of ancient Greece, but they also appear throughout Beowulf. Examples include: “Lord of the Geats” (line1484), “Hrethel’s Son” (line 1485), and “Prince of the Weather-Geats” (line1892). These are all substitutes for names of characters in this story. The author uses epithets to describe and personify the characters, as well as adapt their names to fit the original literary pattern of the poem. Lastly, this author used many strong adjectives. For example: magnificence, far-famed, plunged, and heaving. These words brighten up the story, they emphasize each point the author is trying to make. Without extreme adjectives, this story would be monotonous and boring. Beowulf used to be portrayed as a song before it was put into writing. The syntax of the author brought the music up and down, adding feeling and interest to however the Bard chose to play it. All of these devices are essential to making the story of Beowulf a success.

This tale is inspirational, action packed, at times even sad. It tells much about the Geats society, and their values of bravery, glory, and gratitude. This legend has a great history; it was always a song before it was put to writing. The author, however, brilliantly designed the syntax and rhythm to make this an enjoyable read, even after several translations. What is still in question is, did the Geats people truly love and glorify Beowulf for all the great things he did? Or were they just envious? Did they only honor him because each man longed for his glory himself?

Works Cited

Beowulf. Trans. Seamus Haney. New York: W.W. Naton and Company, 2008.