Fight In Beowulf

In Beowulf, translated by Burton Raffel the readers experience three different fights with three different ways of looking at them. In the first fight, the monster has a huge benefit of being so large and when he sneaks in on the people he gives them no chance. The second fight is more of an equal one with hand on hand contact. Lastly, this fight between Beowulf and the monster leaves Beowulf needing help. Throughout Beowulf the readers come across three different battles all ranging from unfair to fair and ending in the death of the hero.
In the first fight, the readers meet a monster named Grendel who is a massive monster that causes chaos in the town. Grendel has killed many people by sneaking up on them and attacking them without giving them a chance. This makes Beowulf have to show his true strength and defend the town. Beowulf has been set out to kill him but not let himself get killed. He is going to do this with his bear hands and be the first to do it. Grendel gets described in many
ways but one goes on to explain him “mightier than any man “(418-419). This goes on to show they thought Grendel was greater than all of the men there and they see him as a huge threat that needs to be defeated. Killing Grendel with his hands is a huge success, as every king or Dane before used armor and a sword. Beowulf is confronted with a situation on how to handle the fight he says, “no commoner carries such weapons (163-164)” so now Beowulf decides this fight will be finished with his hands. This means he is going to have to show his real powers and become the powerful man he is. In this unfair fight against the monster Beowulf comes to find himself and defeats the monster becoming worthy around the town. The second fight is going to be much more intense when Grendel’s Mother shows up. Beowulf immediately knew he would have to bring more strength and power then before he proclaims, “no sword could slice her evil skin” (496-497). He was going to have a fair fight unlike the last one when Grendel would come up from behind people or kill them at night. This fight would be one on one with no help from anyone or anything. Beowulf begins to struggle when Grendel’s mom keeps on grabbing him making him weaker and weaker. As this happens, Beowulf knows he needs to do something to combat her strength. He finds a jeweled sword and rips it from the wall and slices her neck pulling the sword out beginning described as “melted, blood- soaked, dripping down like water (579-580). As she gets killed four Geats carry her out of the lake only to use her head as a trophy. This symbolizes how strong Beowulf is and wants to keep that as a reward to show his defeat to Grendel’s mom. This fight was fairer and a more contact like type that involved showing each others true strengths.

The last and final battle of Beowulf’s life was with a naturally powerful dragon.
This dragon wore armor and had weapons of blowing fire. This is a huge downfall for Beowulf because he cannot compete with such strong thing as fire. Beowulf did not want to use a weapon he proclaims to the people, “I’d use no sword, no weapon” (630) just to show how powerful he is. Beowulf shows the readers how he is brining out his true strength and not using a weapon but just his hands. As he tries to tear limb-by-limb off he describes, “breath will be burning hot, poison will pour from his tongue (633-634)”. He cannot over come the hotness and against this brutal monster. A new hero named Wiglaf appears and protects Beowulf from this monster. This fight is very different from the others because usually Beowulf is the one protecting the people of the town but now Beowulf has to be protected. In the end Beowulf dies a hero of the town defending three monsters from the
people.
Three different battles with three different meanings. The first one he has a unfair fight with someone who is sneaky and tries to take the easy way. The second battle was a fair fight but in the end Beowulf defeats Grendel’s mother and keeps her head as a trophy. Lastly, the final and last battle of Beowulf’s life is hard and he needs help. This one is different from the others because he is beginning helped and not helping as much as he use to. This is like the real world today because not everything is fair and not everyone can protect himself or herself without help.