Characteristics Of The Monster In Beowulf

A monster in a story is the one who seems to be bad, the one who wrecks everything and brings death onto a certain town, city, country, or people group. Monsters or monstrous characters have superhuman abilities and can be extremely powerful. The monster is usually perceived as the “bad guy” and the hero as the “good guy”. For forever people have picture the monster as this horrible scary creature; in Beowulf that is not the case though. Yes, Grendel and his mother are monsters in the story but Beowulf can also be considered a monster. Beowulf is also portrayed as a monstrous character by his actions and characteristics throughout the story, but that does not make him the bad person in the story. Beowulf from the beginning is said to …show more content…
He fights with a code of honor and does not do it out of anger or revenge. Beowulf’s whole reasoning for fighting Grendel’s mother is revenge. Yes, Grendel’s mom comes to the mead-hall looking for revenge for her son’s death, but Beowulf first killed Grendel and keeping his arm. Grendel’s mother only comes for her son’s arm and for revenge. She wants to avenge her son and take back technically what is hers. After she has her son’s arm and one victim, she retreats back into her swampy cave (1251-1491). If Beowulf would not have come in and killed Grendel then his mother would have not come looking for revenge causing Beowulf to not have to go out for revenge on her. Grendel and his mom could be outcast and if Hrothgar had not sent them out then maybe none of the fighting and killing would have happened. This whole story is a story of revenge and hurt. Technically, most of this could have been prevented. It all starts from the beginning; let Grendel and his mother be, have an agreement with them, there are many ways that this could have be prevented, but Hrothgar and Beowulf only cared for revenge and not the well being of everyone, including Grendel and his mother, the supposed …show more content…
Beowulf is the hero in Beowulf, but he is still a monstrous character with superhuman abilities. He shows off his superhuman strength to everyone by fighting battles and preforming task that no normal human could do without help. He also fights for revenge, which usually monsters do. As stated above, revenge is the whole story here that caused all of the fighting and killing. In the end though, Beowulf being a monster does not mean that he is a bad person. He becomes a great king who saves his people and land from a deathly dragon. The battle with the dragon ultimately ends his life, but he leaves a great legacy behind and saves his people. Beowulf is a monster in this story, but he is still a “good guy” who saves many lives and helps many