Motivation In Beowulf

The Motivations of Each Character in the Beowulf Epic
(The Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivations of Each Character in the Beowulf Epic)
In the Anglo-Saxon epic, Beowulf, the hero, Beowulf, goes on a journey to the land of the Danes accompanied by the bravest of his men to kill a murderous monster, Grendel. Grendel is a horrible creature that has been slaying the soldiers of Hrothgar in the land of the Danes to bring fear to the people, the kingdom, and Hrothgar. When Beowulf arrives, Hrothgar and the people of his land are hopeless, for nothing or no one had been able to kill Grendel. But Beowulf, a brave, courageous, and confident warrior, is almost excited to fight Grendel and kill him just for the reward. Once Beowulf slays Grendel, there
Grendel, the first monster mentioned in the epic, is on a killing spree, murdering Hrothgar’s soldiers and men, bringing horror and fear to his land and to his people. In lines 30-33, Grendel’s intrinsic motivation seems to only be curiosity when it is written that, “Then, when darkness had dropped, Grendel/ Went up to Herot, wondering what the warriors/ Would do in that hall when their drinking was done” (Beowulf). And then in lines 39-40 in Beowulf, Grendel’s thoughts of his first murders are stated as, “The blood dripping behind him, back/ To his lair, delighted with his night’s slaughter” (Beowulf), leading his victims to be his extrinsic motivations because they are like rewards for murder. But then again, Grendel’s motivations become intrinsic again and is exemplified in lines 50-53, “Grendel came again, so set/ On murder that no crime could ever be enough,/ No savage assault quench his lust/ For evil” (Beowulf). From these lines, we can conclude that Grendel’s intrinsic motivation to murder again was evil. From lines 66-72, it can easily suggest that Grendel’s motivations continue to be intrinsic, of hate, because it writes, “…how Grendel’s hatred began,/ How the monster relished his savage war/ On the Danes, keeping the bloody feud/ Alive, seeking no peace, offering/ No truce, accepting no settlement, no
Grendel’s motivations throughout the epic are intrinsic, only for his internal emotion, for no physical reward of any kind, for he would not accept any. Grendel’s mother, in Beowulf is motivated by intrinsic means just like her son was, only her’s is out of revenge, as well as hate. Beowulf is different from both Grendel and the she-wolf, his motivations are extrinsic, all he cares about throughout this epic is the reward he gets after each battle. The first battle that Beowulf had with Grendel, he fought after he was assured he would be rewarded in some way, money, even though it seems he went to the land of the Danes to help Hrothgar, he was interested in the physical reward he would be given when and if he defeated Grendel. . Once Beowulf defeated the she-wolf, we went in search for Grendel, although he was dead, Beowulf wanted his head. At the end of the battle, after Beowulf and Wiglaf slay the dragon, Beowulf is fatally wounded and very near death, yet he still asks to see the treasure that the dragon had been guarding. So even at the very end of life, Beowulf is only concerned with the rewards from battle. The motives of each important character of this epic are different, some are intrinsic and others are extrinsic, and they can be witnessed by the readers throughout