Glory In Beowulf

The epic “Beowulf”, translated by Burton Raffel, tells the story of the great warrior Beowulf and his quest for glory. Beowulf can achieve glory through slaying monsters and saving people. However, he later becomes king to keep the Geats safe. Beowulf experiences an internal conflict about being king because he recognizes the contrast between the role of a king and the role of a warrior. Beowulf’s duty as a warrior is to protect his ruler and to earn worldwide renown, and he uses his gift of strength to achieve this goal. Beowulf was sent to Hrothgar “ ‘as a sign of His grace, a mark/ Of His favor’ “(382-383). Beowulf was the savior of the Danes, and was sent by God to demonstrate his strength and earn glory. Beowulf, “who of all the …show more content…
Hrothgar was a good king and example of how to act for Beowulf. When Herot was being terrorized by Grendel, Hrothgar lost faith in God and “sacrificed to the old stone gods”(175) and “Made heathen vows”(176) because he was determined to keep his people safe at any cost. This is a king’s job, not a warrior’s job; a warrior like Beowulf should stay faithful to God no matter what because his strength was “ ‘God’s gracious gift’ “(2181). It is also not a king’s duty to fight for himself; that is the job of his warriors. However, this went against Beowulf’s ambition to “ ‘shape glory with Hrunting, or death/ Will hurry [him] from this earth’ ”(1490-1491). Beowulf could never quench his desire for battle, even when he was king. When the dragon finally came to threaten the Geats, Beowulf was “old/ With years and wisdom(2208-2209), and he had gone “fifty winters”(2209) without using his strength. He still felt that “ ‘In every battle [his] place was in front’ “(2497), and wanted to take on the dragon himself even though he knew that he would “[Fight] with fate against him”(2574). Beowulf succeeded in keeping his people safe during his reign, but could not resist fighting for himself instead of letting his warriors protect