A Literary Analysis Of The Epic Poem 'Beowulf'

Beowulf, written in Old English sometime between the eighth and eleventh centuries, is an epic poem that reflects the early medieval warrior culture of Europe and is written by an unknown author. It is the oldest surviving important piece of literature and exists in only one manuscript known as British Library Cotton Vitellius A. 15 (Lazzari, 44). It is written in an unrhymed, four beat alliterative meter that was common for Old English poetry. Even though it was written in Britain, the action is set in Scandinavia and is mostly concerned with the Geats, Danes and Swedes. The poem follows the main character, Beowulf, from his noble youth to his courageous old age (Acocella). He saved a neighboring country from a horrendous monster named Grendel and later from Grendel’s ferocious mother, became the king of his own country and died there protecting his people from a fire-breathing dragon. He saved many people from being killed by these three monsters by putting his life on the line. In Beowulf, the four main characters are Beowulf, Grendel, Grendel’s mother and the dragon and if examined closely shows that they can have many different ways of being perceived. In epic poems there is always a main hero with the …show more content…
The four main characters in this epic poem of good vs. evil are Beowulf, Grendel, Grendel’s mom and the dragon who can all be looked at in many different ways. Beowulf was the hero for the Danish people in his youth and in his old age he was the hero a final time as he killed the dragon. Grendel was the reason that Beowulf came to this neighboring land and he was only acting the way he did because he was an outcast who had a very big problem with jealousy. Grendel’s mom was only doing what she believed was right by avenging her sons death to try to make amends. The dragon was just protecting what he thought was rightfully his and doing what he believed was