Unferth In Beowulf

The three characters are very different in their tone. Unferth wants to win over Beowulf and the Lord’s wife sounds very upsetting. In the excerpt from Beowulf, the story begins with Beowulf introducing himself to Hrothgar. After meeting Hrothgar, he invites Beowulf and his men to join him for a feast. While greeting the King and the warriors, Unferth unexpectedly comes in and insults the guest, Beowulf. Because Unferth wanted to battle Grendel he felt angry that Beowulf was taking his place. Unferth attacks Beowulf by alluding back to his swimming match with Brecca. For instance, “are you the Beowulf who competed with Breca…” (423). With this question, Unferth is challenging Beowulf’s boast. Beowulf turns Unferth’s story around by saying that "The fact is, Unferth, if you were truly as keen and courageous as you claim to be Grendel would never have got away with such unchecked …show more content…
This statements says a lot about Beowulf. Beowulf attacks Unferth back and tells him that if you do not know the whole story, don’t go around making up stories. Unferth goes on and exaggerate the story about Beowulf swimming match. Beowulf reminds Unferth that "You killed your own kith and kin" (587). Because Beowulf says this, it made Unferth looked really horrible. Back in that time, it was a deadly crime to kill your own family or sleep with any of your family members. This shows that Beowulf is strong enough to stand up for himself and make others look bad. Unferth suddenly looks weak and like an idiot. In the story,The Wife’s Lament by Ann Stanford the story begins where the Lord’s wife tells her sorrow story. The lord’s wife says that “I grieved each dawn wondered where my lord my first on earth might be” (7-8). While sitting around, the wife grieves and wonders where her beloved husband might be at. She repeatedly says “I suffered longing” (14). This shows that she has been suffering and she is still suffered from the time her Lord told left her. Her story was very sad and