Greed And Envy In Beowulf

Beowulf is an old English story told by an Anglo-Saxon poet. The poem tells the story of the legendary warrior, Beowulf, who slays monsters and later becomes king. Beowulf’s first epic battle was against an infamous monster named Grendel. Beowulf plagues the Danish lands and kills many of their men. Beowulf hears of the atrocity committed by Grendel and arrives to ultimately defeat the beast. When Beowulf returns home he is announced to be king of the Geats. Fifty years later Beowulf is forced into another heroic battle. This time Beowulf must defeat an awakened dragon. With the help of another warrior Beowulf kills the dragon but dies at the end of the battle. Although Beowulf is depicted as an almost divine individual throughout the story, he is merely …show more content…
Grendel is driven by envy and is triggered by the sounds of human joy. The dragon is only following its nature when it goes into the cave and rests on the hidden treasure. The author clearly presents greed and envy as innate qualities of these two monstrous beasts and directly associates both of them with evil. Ultimately, both monsters are defeated by Beowulf who is depicted as a good servant of God throughout the story. Once again suggesting that faith in God will prevail. The author goes even further and does not only present ill intentioned qualities through the monsters but man as well. In lines 1700-82 Hrothgar states everything that can go wrong when a warrior forgets that God is the source of all he has and is. Hrothgar reminds Beowulf of the Danish king who turned into a tyrant and tells him to remember that God is the source of his strength and to be cautious of greed and power. Beowulf does take Hthgar’s advice. He refuses to accept the kingship of his people until he has to and he dies thanking God he won a treasure for his