BEOWULF

Story: The main protagonist, Beowulf, a hero of the Geats, comes to the aid of Hrothgar, the king of the Danes, whose great hall, Heorot, is plagued by the monster Gren-del. Beowulf kills Grendel with his bare hands and Grendel's mother with a sword, which giants once used, that Beowulf found in Gren-del's mother's lair.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Be-owulf

Later in his life, Beowulf is him-self king of the Geats, and finds his realm terrorised by a dragon whose treasure had been sto-len from his hoard in a burial mound. He attacks the dragon with the help of his thegns or servants, but they do not suc-ceed. Beowulf decides to fol-low the dragon into its lair, at Earnanæs, but only his young Swedish relative Wiglaf dares join him. Beowulf finally slays the dragon, but is mortally wounded. He is buried in a tu-mulus or burial mound, by the

Beowulf is considered an epic poem in that the main char-acter is a hero who travels great distances to prove his strength at impossible odds against supernatural demons and beasts. The poem also begins in medias res (“into the middle of affairs”) or sim-ply, “in the middle”, which is a characteristic of the epics of antiquity. Although the poem begins with Beowulf ’s arrival, Grendel’s attacks have been an ongoing event. An elaborate history of characters and their lineages are spoken of, as well as their interactions with each other, debts owed and repaid, and deeds of valour.

First battle: Grendel

Beowulf is challenged by a Danish coast guard, Evelyn Paul (1911).Beowulf begins with the story of King Hroðgar, who built the great hall Heo-rot for his people. In it he, his wife Wealhþeow, and his war-riors spend their time singing and celebrating, until Gren-del, a troll-like monster who is pained by the singing, attacks the hall and kills and devours many of Hroðgar’s warriors while they sleep. But Grendel does not touch the throne of Hroðgar, for it is described as protected by a powerful god. Hroðgar and his people, help-less against Grendel’s attacks, abandon Heorot.

Beowulf, a young warrior from Geatland, hears of Hroðgar’s troubles and with his king’s per-mission leaves his homeland to help Hroðgar.

Beowulf and his men spend the night in Heorot. Beowulf bears no weapon as Grendel is immune to human weapons, and because this would be an “unfair advan-tage” over the unarmed beast. After they fall asleep, Grendel enters the hall and attacks, de-vouring one of Beowulf ’s men. Beowulf has been feigning sleep and leaps up to clench Grendel’s hand. The two battle until it seems as though the hall might collapse. Beowulf ’s retainers draw their swords and rush to his aid, but their blades can not pierce Grendel’s skin. Finally, Beowulf tears Grendel’s arm from his body at the shoulder and Grendel runs to his home in the marshes to die.

Second Battle: Grendel’s Mother

The next night, after celebrating Grendel’s death, Hrothgar and his men sleep in Heorot. Grendel’s mother, angered by the death of her son, appears and attacks the hall. She kills Hroðgar’s most trusted warrior, Æschere, in revenge for Grendel’s death.

Hroðgar, Beowulf and their men track Grendel’s mother to her lair under a lake. Beowulf prepares him-self for battle; he is presented with a sword, Hrunting, by Unferth, a war-rior who had doubted him and wish-es to make amends. After stipulating a number of conditions to Hroðgar in case of his death (including the taking in of his kinsmen and the in-heritance by Unferth of Beowulf ’s estate), Beowulf dives into the lake. He is swiftly detected and attacked by Grendel’s mother. However, she is unable to harm Beowulf through his armour and drags him to the bottom of the lake. In a cavern containing Grendel’s body and the remains of men that the two have killed, Gren-del’s mother and Beowulf engage in fierce combat.

At first, Grendel’s mother appears to prevail. Beowulf, finding that Hrunting cannot harm his foe, discards it in fury. Beowulf is again saved from his opponent’s attack by his armour. Then Beowulf finds a golden sword on a cabinet. With this, he beheads her.He later finds this sword is a very special sword. Once Beowulf returns to the sur-face the blade melts like ice and only the hilt is left. Beowulf then presents the hilt of the blade to Hroðgar.)[6] Travelling further into the lair, Beowulf discovers Grendel’s corpse and severs its head. Beowulf then returns to the surface and to his men at the “ninth hour” (l. 1600, “nōn”, about 3pm).[7] He returns to Heorot, where Hroðgar gives Beowulf many gifts, including the sword Nægling, his family’s heirloom.

Third Battle: The Dragon

A 1908 depiction of Beowulf fighting the dragon by J. R. Skel-ton.Beowulf returns home and eventually becomes king of his own people. One day, fifty years after Beowulf ’s battle with Gren-del’s mother, a slave steals a golden cup from the lair of an unnamed dragon at Earnaness. When the dragon sees that the cup has been stolen, it leaves its cave in a rage, burning everything in sight. Be-owulf and his warriors come to fight the dragon, but Beowulf tells his men that he will fight the dragon alone and that they should wait on the barrow. Beowulf de-scends to do battle with the drag-on but finds himself outmatched. His men, upon seeing this display and fearing for their lives, creep back into the woods. One of his men, however, Wiglaf, who finds great distress in seeing Beowulf ’s plight, comes to Beowulf ’s aid. The two slay the dragon, but Be-owulf is mortally wounded.

Beowulf is buried in Geatland on a cliff overlooking the sea, where sailors are able to see his tumu-lus. The dragon’s treasure is bur-ied with him, in accordance with Beowulf ’s wishes, rather than dis-tributed to his people, and there is a curse associated with the hoard to insure that Beowulf ’s wish is kept.

Third Funeral: Beowulf

The barrow of Skalunda, a barrow that was identified by the archaeol-ogist Birger Nerman as Beowulf ’s burial mound.The fourth and final funeral of the poem is Beowulf ’s funeral. During the final battle against the dragon, Beowulf re-ceives fatal wounds and dies. The greatness of Beowulf ’s life is dem-onstrated through this funeral, particularly through the many of-ferings of his people. “Weohstan’s son (pause) commanded it be an-nounced to many men (pause) that they should fetch from afar wood for the pyre.” for their lead-er’s funeral. The dragon’s remains are thrown into the sea, a parallel to Scyld’s burial in his ship. Be-owulf ’s funeral is the fourth fitt of the poem and acts as an epilogue for the hero who is the “most gra-cious and fair-minded, kindest to his people and keenest to win fame.”