Similarities Between Beowulf And The Hobbit

Thesis: The Hobbit was written with characters and events that parallel the story of Beowulf and reflect the elements of the Anglo-Saxon culture and values contained in it, which reflects the connection between the two works.
Introduction: The epic poem Beowulf and J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit…
Influenced by Beowulf, the characters J.R.R. Tolkien created in The Hobbit reflect each other both in personality and the role they play in their story. Tolkien’s source and inspiration for the mythical creatures is Beowulf. Analyzing the creation of the characters, the article “The Hobbit” notes that “dragons, along with dwarves, elves, and trolls, were considered actual threats in the epic world of Beowulf. Tolkien used this premise in composing The
While preparing to fight, Beowulf and Bilbo both act fairly and maintain honor, an important value of Anglo-Saxon culture. Before Beowulf fights Grendel at Herot, he contemplates how he should fight the monster. He decides that “when it comes to fighting, I count myself/ as dangerous any day as Grendel./ So it won’t be a cutting edge I’ll wield/ to mow him down, easily as I might […] No weapons, therefore,/ for either this night: unarmed he shall face me/”(Beowulf 678-684). Beowulf decides to fight Grendel without a sword or any other weapons so he will not have an advantage over Grendel. Even though this action appears foolish, Beowulf values a victory that is fairly and honorably won. In The Hobbit, Bilbo is stuck in a dark cave with Gollum but is also protected by the invisible powers of a ring he is wearing. He believes that “he must fight. He must stab the foul thing, put its eyes out, kill it. It meant to kill him. No, not a fair fight. He was invisible now. Gollum had no sword. Gollum had not actually threatened to kill him, or tried to yet.” (Tolkien 81). Like Beowulf, Bilbo chooses not to fight his enemy knowing that he would have an unfair advantage. Recognizing that Gollum is defenseless and was technically not yet a threat, Bilbo is reasonable and knows fighting his enemy this way is dishonorable and would not be fair. Through
Tolkien adapted scenes from Beowulf to inspire and create some of the scenes in his book. “The Hobbit” article states that “Tolkien includes a scene in which Bilbo steals the dragon Smaug’s golden cup. The incident echoes similar events found in the story of Beowulf.” (Literature and Its Times). The similarity between the scenes relates this event to taking the dragon’s hoard in Beowulf. In addition, the final battle of Beowulf was the inspiration for the demise of the dragon in The Hobbit. In his final battle against the dragon Beowulf “gathered his strength and drew a stabbing knife […] He stuck it deep in the dragon’s flank./ Beowulf dealt it a deadly wound./” (Beowulf 2702-2705). Beowulf’s final victory against the dragon relates to the death of Smaug in The Hobbit when he is shot with a black arrow also in “the hollow by the left breast where the foreleg was flung wide” (Tolkien 228-229). Both protagonists achieve victory in similar events by targeting the weak area of the dragon they were fighting. This shows that scenes from Beowulf impacted the writing and creation of main events in The