A Literary Analysis of Beowulf

PLOT SUMMARY
Hrothgar is the King of the Danes in southern Denmark. Through success in battle he has become rich and mighty. As a symbol of his power and prosperity he builds a magnificent mead-hall, called Heorot, in which he and his loyal warriors can feast, drink, boast, and listen to the tales of the scops, the Anglo-Saxon bards. But soon after Heorot is finished, the mirth of the men and the music of the scop anger Grendel, a monster descended from Cain. Grendel raids the hall, snatching men and eating them, then returns to his home in the marsh. He repeats his nightly raids until no one dares sleep in the hall. Heorot, once the symbol of the Scyldings' greatness, is now a place of shame and terror. This continues for twelve years, until Beowulf, a young warrior of the Geats in southern Sweden, hears about Grendel and, determined to fight the monster, sails to Hrothgar's lands with fifteen companions.
Hrothgar, who knew Beowulf's father Ecgtheow, accepts Beowulf's offer to fight Grendel and gives him a feast, though Beowulf and Unferth, a warrior loyal to Hrothgar, exchange insults. That night, the warriors sleep in Heorot, with Beowulf keeping watch. Grendel arrives and consumes one of the warriors, then reaches for Beowulf. Beowulf, famous for his powerful grip, which is as strong as the grip of thirty men, struggles with Grendel, tearing off the monster's shoulder and arm. Grendel returns to the fens to die. His arm is hung as a trophy under the roof of Heorot.
Hrothgar gives a second feast to celebrate Beowulf's victory. At the feast, Hrothgar generously rewards Beowulf with treasure. The scop sings again, and Beowulf is praised until nightfall. That night, Grendel's mother comes to the hall from her home in the bottom of a lake, seeking revenge for the death of her son. She grabs Aeschere, a favorite warrior and adviser of Hrothgar's, and consumes him, then returns home. In the morning, the warriors follow her tracks to her lake, where they see Aeschere's head. Beowulf enters the lake, and swims for hours before reaching her cave at the bottom. He fights with Grendel's mother, but the sword Hrunting, which Unferth lent to Beowulf in a sign of fellowship, fails for the first time. From the treasure hoard in the cave Beowulf seizes a sword forged long ago by giants and kills Grendel's mother. He sees Grendel's body, and removes the head, and takes it and the hilt of the giant's sword (the blade melted on contact with the monster's blood) back to Hrothgar.
There is another celebration in Heorot with more gifts and promises of friendship. Hrothgar says he feels like Beowulf is his son, and weeps at Beowulf's departure. Beowulf and his men return to the land of the Geats, where his uncle the king, Hygelac, and Hygelac's queen Hygd, greet Beowulf, accepting the treasure Beowulf gives them, and in turn rewarding Beowulf with a sword, praise, and land. Hygelac is eventually killed by the Swedes; his son Heardred, though young, takes the throne with Beowulf's support. At Heardred's death, Beowulf takes the throne of the Geats, and rules in great prosperity and fame for fifty years.
In Beowulf's old age, a thief finds a passageway into an old barrow. Inside, a dragon guards a treasure trove left there long ago by the last survivor of an extinct people. The thief steals a cup, but the dragon discovers the theft and burns the land, including Beowulf's mead-hall. Beowulf, knowing his death is near, decides to fight the dragon. Accompanied by his kinsman Wiglaf, ten warriors, and the thief, Beowulf sets out to confront the dragon. But when Beowulf and the dragon fight, all of Beowulf's men flee except Wiglaf. With Wiglaf's help Beowulf kills the dragon, but inot before he himself is terribly wounded.
Before he dies, Beowulf tells Wiglaf to rule after him, and to build him a funeral barrow that overlooks the sea. Wiglaf chastises the men for abandoning their lord. A messenger sent to tell the Geats of Beowulf's death also warns of hard times for the Geats, now that Beowulf is dead. The Geats build a pyre and cremate Beowulf, then construct a barrow overlooking the sea, burying the dragon's cursed treasure with him.

CHARACTERS
Beowulf – The hero of Beowulf, Beowulf is a Geatish warrior loyal to his king, Hygelac. Beowulf's father was the warrior Ecgtheow, and his mother is a sister of Hygelac. Despite his noble lineage, Beowulf was a bit of a juvenile delinquent, and little was expected of him. But he soon proved his doubters wrong and grew up to be a great warrior. He has the strength of thirty men in his grasp, and rather remarkable swimming ability. In addition to his great warrior skills, Beowulf eventually becomes a strong, powerful, and generous king.
Hrothgar – King of the Danes, the son of Healfdene, the brother of Heorogar, Halga, and the wife of Onela the Swede. He is also the father of Hrethric, Hrothmund, and Freawaru. Hrothgar is an excellent and successful king. He builds Heorot, a magnificent hall, and is very generous and wise.
Ecgtheow – Beowulf's father and the husband of King Hygelac's sister. Hrothgar gave him sanctuary after Ecgtheow, a Geatish warrior, killed a warrior of the Wylfings.
Hygelac – The king of the Geats, son of Hrethel, husband of Hygd, father of Heardred, and Beowulf's uncle. He is a good and generous king.
Hygd – The wife of Hygelac and the queen of the Geats. Like Wealhtheow of the Danes, Hygd is a good and generous queen.
Hrethel – Hygelac's father, and one-time king of the Geats. His life was made bitter when one of his sons (Haethcyn) accidentally killed the other (Herebeald).
Heardred – Hygelac and Wealhtheow's son. After Hygelac dies, Beowulf supports Heardred as boy-king of the Geats even though Beowulf could have taken the throne himself.
Wiglaf – The son of Weohstan the Scylfing, and a relative of Beowulf, as well as his most loyal warrior. He rules the Geats after Beowulf dies.
Breca – A Geat who competed with Beowulf in a swimming contest as a youth.
Wulfgar – Hrothgar's herald. Technically he is a Wendel and not a Dane, but he serves Hrothgar the Danish king.
Hondscioh – The Geat whom Grendel grabs and eats in Heorot before Beowulf fights the beast.
Scyld Scefing – A foundling, he became the first king in the Danish royal line. He is the father of Beow, and the great-grandfather of Hrothgar.
Healfdane – Hrothgar's father, and the king of the Danes.
Wealtheow – The wife of King Hrothgar and queen of the Danes, the mother of Hrethic and Hrothmund. She is a good and generous queen.
Unferth – A Dane, the son of Ecglaf, and a follower of Hrothgar. Unferth is a jealous and boastful man without much courage to back it up, though he does become more generous after Beowulf defeats Grendel.
Hrethic – Hrothgar's son and heir.
Hrothmund – Another son of Hrothgar's.
Hrothulf – The nephew of Hrothgar, the son of Hrothgar's brother. After Hrothgar's death, Hrothulf betrays his cousin Hrethic, leading to the burning of Heorot by the Heatho-Bards.
Beow – Sometimes called Beowulf I or Beowulf the Dane, he ruled the Danes after his father Scyld Schefing. He is not the hero of Beowulf.
Aeschere – An old Danish warrior and Hrothgar's counselor. Aeschere is killed by Grendel's mother.
Freawaru – The daughter of Hrothgar, and the future wife of Ingeld, the prince of the Heatho-Bards. Her marriage is an unsuccessful attempt to create peace between the feuding Danes and the Heatho-Bards..
Ecglaf – Unferth's father.
Heremod – An example of a bad king. An early Danish king, he was once great but was moved by pride to suppress and kill his own people.
Modthryth – An example of a bad queen. In her youth she caused people to be killed merely for looking at her. She is said to have improved, becoming generous, after her marriage to the king of the Angles.
Finn – In the story of the Fight at Finnsburg, Finn is a Frisian king who marries the Danish princess Hildeburh, but then battles and kills Hildeburh's brother, Hnaef.
Hildeburh – In the story of the Fight at Finnsburg, the wife of the Frisian King Finn and sister of the Danish King Hnaef. When these two kings fight, she's caught in the middle, and both her brother and son are killed.
Hnaef – The king of the Danes in the story of the Fight at Finnsburg. Hildeburh is his sister.
Hengest – The Dane who becomes king after Hnaef is killed fighting the Frisians in the Fight at Finnsburg.
Sigemund – A legendary warrior who killed a dragon.
Cain – The Old Testament of the Bible, in the Book of Genesis, tells the story of how Cain killed his brother Abel. Cain was marked by God, so others would know him and cast him out of society. The giants, Grendel and Grendel's Mother, are descended from Cain.
Grendel – A man-eating monster descended from the Biblical Cain. Grendel is a "walker in darkness," who is "wearing God's anger," and "lacking in joy."
Grendel's Mother – A female version of Grendel, she is also descended from Cain.
Dragon – A fire-breathing dragon who discovered a lost tribe's treasure and moved into the barrow. After the dragon terrorizes the Geats, Beowulf fights the dragon.

THEMES Family and Tribe
In Beowulf (and in the medieval Germanic culture that produced Beowulf), family and tribal allegiances determine one's identity. Characters are constantly identified as the son, wife, or daughter of a particular man, and as members of this or that tribe. Men or beings without tribes—such as Grendel and Heremod—are described as lonely and joyless. Without a community or family, these men are incomplete. All of the cultural institutions described in Beowulf, from the giving of gold and gifts to the emphasis placed on loyalty above any personal desire, exist to preserve and strengthen the family and tribe.
The importance placed on family and tribe in medieval Germanic culture also leads to the incredible number of inter-tribal feuds in Beowulf. Preservation of a family or tribe within a hostile environment demands not only unity within the tribe, but the willingness to defend and protect the tribe from outsiders. The necessity of tribal and family self-defense created a set of formal rules of vengeance between individuals and feuding between tribes.

Good Warriors and Good Kings
The narrator of Beowulf emphasizes the importance of both good warriors and good kings. But as the story of Beowulf unfolds, it becomes clear that while good kings and warriors share some similar traits, such as courage, loyalty, selflessness, and might in battle, the values of a good warrior and a good king do not overlap in other fundamental ways.
The differences between good kings and good warriors arise from the different roles that kings and warriors play in society. As a protector and nurturer, the king must put the good of the people above his own desire for fame and glory. A good king is generous with gifts and gold, provides a haven in which his people can eat and drink and socialize, is powerful and fearless in defending his land and people, and yet does not seek unnecessary conflict that might lead to death for either his people or himself. A good warrior, in contrast, supports his people through the pursuit of personal fame, whether on the battlefield, in feats of strength, or by purposely seeking out conflict, just as Beowulf does in coming to Hrothgar's aid and fighting Grendel.

Fame, Pride, and Shame
The warriors of Beowulf seek fame through feats of strength, bravery in the face of danger, an utter disdain for death, as well as by boasting about their feats of strength, bravery, and disdain for death. The quest for fame is of the utmost importance to a warrior trying to establish himself in the world.
Yet the quest for fame can lead to harm in two very different ways. First, a quest for fame can easily succumb to pride. Both pride and fame involve a desire to be great, but while fame involves becoming great in order to bring strength and power to one's people, pride involves a desire to be great no matter what. Put another way, fame in Beowulf is associated with generosity and community while pride is associated with greed and selfishness. Second, a man who seeks fame can also bring shame to himself (and therefore his family) if his courage fails him. And shame, in Beowulf, is not mere embarrassment. It's a kind of curse that broadcasts to the world that you, your family, and your people lack the courage, will, or might to protect yourselves. When Wiglaf rebukes Beowulf's men for fleeing in the face of the dragon, he does not merely say that they have shamed themselves. Rather, he implies that their shame is bound to bring ruin down the entire Geatish people.

Repetition and Change
Beowulf is full of repetitions: the story begins and ends with funerals of kings; Beowulf must fight Grendel and Grendel's Mother; the tale of Sigemund foreshadows Beowulf's battle with the dragon; the feuds related in stories told by the bards echo the feuds of Beowulf's own time. These repetitions emphasize the continuity of the world and show that events are in many ways just variations of previous events, proceeding in endless procession like the seasons of the year.
But repetition also serves a seemingly opposite purpose: it emphasizes change and difference. Precisely because various events described in Beowulf are so similar, the differences in those similar events become highlighted. For instance, Beowulf opens and closes with the funeral of two different kings, Scyld Scefing and Beowulf. But while Scyld's death comes of old age and founds a dynasty through succession to a son, Beowulf's funeral comes in battle and ends a dynasty because he has no son. Should Beowulf therefore not have fought the dragon, and instead remained to protect this people? Through the contrasts of seemingly similar events, Beowulf highlights how things change and raises questions about characters' decisions and actions. Christianity and Paganism
Because of its complicated origin, Beowulf has elements of both pagan Germanic culture and Christianity. The story of Beowulf probably originated as an oral tradition sometime in the 7th century. But Christian scribes, who either inserted the Christian overtones to the story, or were working from a manuscript set down by previous Christian who added the Christian elements, wrote the only surviving manuscript of Beowulf in the 11th century. Suffice it to say that the resulting Beowulf is like a pagan story wrapped in Christianity. This results in some strange inconsistencies. For instance, the narrator of the poem describes Hrothgar at one point as a pagan who does not know of the true God, and yet all the characters, including Hrothgar, constantly thank God for their good fortune. In addition, the pagan concept of fate becomes rather hopelessly confused with God's will, so that sometimes Beowulf (and the narrator) seems to believe he can affect fate through his courage, while at others either Beowulf or the narrator attributes his success solely to God's favor. As you read Beowulf, keep on the lookout for the ways that Christianity and paganism interact in the poem.

SYMBOLS
Heorot and Mead-Halls
The mead-hall is the symbol of a society: it is in this central place that the people gather to feast, socialize, and listen to the scop (bard) perform and thereby preserve the history of the people. Heorot, as the largest mead-hall in the world, symbolized the might and power of the Spear-Danes under Hrothgar.
Gold, Treasure, and Gifts
In Beowulf, gold, treasure, and gifts are less important for their economic value than their social value. In fact, gold can be seen as a symbol of social interaction: a lord rewards loyalty with gold, and in doing so inspires further loyalty. The transfer of the gold is also a kind of physical embodiment of the lord's duty to nurture his people. Gold can also act as a symbol of regret or a desire for peace: one way of avoiding a feud is to pay the wergild, the man-price, by compensating the family of the injured person with gold, to avoid more violent vengeance.