Beowulf Critical Analysis Essay

Critical Analysis of Beowulf In early literature, Beowulf was discovered as one of the beginnings of Early British Literature, dating back to the first half of the thirteenth century. The author who was behind this piece of work is unknown and the poem was most likely told by mouth by others as a tradition until it was written down during the time period of the Anglo-Saxons, making it very difficult to track down who wrote it. During this time, traditions and customs were a major part of society. Being one of the first epic poems, Beowulf led whatever reader on a heroic journey of battles between good and evil and protecting a small town out of pure goodness. As the journey went along, many themes were discovered as well. This included establishing …show more content…
Before going and fighting dangerous things that could kill someone, one needs to have some type of heroism. Risking one’s life is big stuff. But in order to accomplish something, sometimes you need to have a heroic attitude. Heroism doesn’t always occur when one has to risk something in order to complete a job, but it also occurs based on what one has gone through in the past. One can infer that Beowulf has part of his heroic qualities because he had to have the courage in order to get through life. Part of being a hero is not being afraid of what my happen, which is a part of fate. Throughout the entire poem, Beowulf shows heroic deeds, all which include risking his life when protecting the towns that are under attack. Putting his own life at risk in order to protect others is a pretty selfless act. But the way that he fights can be heroic too. “And the Geat placed complete trust in his strength of limb and the Lord’s favor” (669-670). In this, Beowulf has taken off all armour and had prepared to go into battle without any weapon against Grendel, fighting hand to hand combat. This is so important because others wouldn’t even fight off Grendel let alone fight him barehanded, which yet again shows the heroism. In turn, the heroism that Beowulf portrays leads to successfulness which is what the author was trying to portray the whole time. He then again shows his heroism when it came to fighting off Grendel’s mother by entering her territory. Entering the swamp that she lived in, Beowulf didn’t know what to expect but he had the courage to fight her off while knowing that she was unharmed by human weapons, but had to have a special weapon in order to kill her. “…he dived into the heaving depths of the lakes…she lunged and clutched and managed to catch him in her brutal grip”(1494-1502). In this quote, Beowulf had just jumped into the lake where Grendel’s mother was, and she grabbed him. This is pretty heroic because he