Examples Of External Conflict In Beowulf

In the epic Beowulf, the characters struggle with internal and external conflict. The protagonist Beowulf struggles with internal and external conflict the most in the story. The three types of conflict that Beowulf faces are man versus man, man versus self, and man versus nature. When Beowulf arrives in the homeland, he doubts Hrothgar’s men and makes known that he comes to solve the monster problem that they are having and cost them many lives. He is certain in his abilities and God’s power that he accepts every challenge that has come in his way without thinking. He does not question what is happening to him, “he knew full well that his portion of earthly bliss was done and gone." (Chapter 37) The three sorts of contention that Beowulf countenances are man versus man, man versus self, and man versus nature. To begin with, Beowulf’s conflict starts with man versus man. Throughout the epic, the protagonist fights many battles and wins them all. An example of man versus man …show more content…
In the epic, there are two examples of man versus nature. First, Beowulf must battle water as first enters the eddying floods. Second, Grendel’s mom recognizes that she cannot kill Beowulf in the cave she draws him into the body of water again, where he is attack by violent monsters and dangerous sea-beasts. According to the text, “The fight brought other monsters swimming to see her catch, a host of sea beasts who beat at his mail shirt, stabbing with tusks and teeth as they followed along. Then he realized, suddenly that she had brought him into someone’s battle-hall, and there the water’s heat could not hurt him, nor anything in the lake attack him through the building’s high-arching roof. A brilliant light burned all around him, the lake itself like a fiery flame.”(P.58) This time he does not resolve his conflict instead Grendel’s mom took him to the bottom of the sea after his