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Beowulf | Summary, Poem, Characters, Monster, Analysis

Beowulf, an iconic piece of Old English literature, transcends time with its gripping narrative and profound themes. Journey through the legendary tale as we dissect its summary, explore its characters, and delve deep into its analysis.

Table of Contents

The Epic Saga Unveiled

A hero’s journey.

Beowulf | Summary, Poem, Characters, Monster, Analysis begins with the valiant hero Beowulf, who sets out on a perilous journey to rid the Danish kingdom of the menacing monster Grendel.

The Arrival of Beowulf

In this gripping chapter of Beowulf | Summary, Poem, Characters, Monster, Analysis, we witness Beowulf’s arrival in Denmark and his bold proclamation to King Hrothgar.

Exploring the Poem’s Depths

Rich symbolism.

Within Beowulf | Summary, Poem, Characters, Monster, Analysis lies a tapestry of rich symbolism, woven through its poetic verses. Explore the depths of its allegorical significance and unravel its hidden meanings.

Themes of Good vs. Evil

Delve into the heart of Beowulf | Summary, Poem, Characters, Monster, Analysis as we dissect the timeless battle between good and evil depicted in its verses.

Characters: Heroes and Villains

Beowulf: the heroic protagonist.

Meet Beowulf, the epitome of heroism and valor. Explore his character arc and delve into the depths of his noble deeds in Beowulf | Summary, Poem, Characters, Monster, Analysis.

Grendel: The Malevolent Menace

In this chapter of Beowulf | Summary, Poem, Characters, Monster, Analysis, we encounter the nefarious Grendel, a formidable foe who terrorizes the Danish kingdom.

Confronting the Monstrous Challenge

Battle with grendel.

Experience the adrenaline-pumping encounter between Beowulf and Grendel as we dissect this pivotal moment in Beowulf | Summary, Poem, Characters, Monster, Analysis.

The Wrath of Grendel’s Mother

In this thrilling segment of Beowulf | Summary, Poem, Characters, Monster, Analysis, witness Beowulf’s epic confrontation with the vengeful Grendel’s mother.

READ MORE :

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Analyzing the Epic Tale

Literary analysis.

Embark on a journey of literary exploration as we analyze the themes, motifs, and stylistic elements of Beowulf | Summary, Poem, Characters, Monster, Analysis.

Historical Context

Delve into the historical backdrop of Beowulf | Summary, Poem, Characters, Monster, Analysis, and gain insights into its significance in the context of Old English literature.

FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)

What is the central theme of beowulf.

The central theme of Beowulf revolves around the timeless battle between good and evil, valor, and heroism.

Who is the author of Beowulf?

The authorship of Beowulf remains a subject of scholarly debate, with no definitive answer.

What role does Grendel play in Beowulf?

Grendel serves as the primary antagonist in Beowulf, symbolizing the embodiment of evil and chaos.

Is Beowulf based on true events?

While Beowulf is a work of fiction, it is believed to be inspired by historical events and figures.

What is the significance of Beowulf in literature?

Beowulf holds immense significance in the realm of literature, serving as a cornerstone of Old English poetry and a timeless exploration of heroism and valor.

How does Beowulf reflect Anglo-Saxon culture?

Beowulf reflects various aspects of Anglo-Saxon culture, including its emphasis on bravery, loyalty, and the heroic code.

In conclusion, Beowulf | Summary, Poem, Characters, Monster, Analysis stands as a timeless masterpiece, captivating readers with its epic narrative and profound themes. Dive into this legendary tale, unravel its mysteries, and discover the essence of heroism and valor.

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A Summary and Analysis of Beowulf

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

What happens in Beowulf , the jewel in the crown of Anglo-Saxon poetry? The title of the poem is probably the most famous thing about it – that, and the fact that a monster named Grendel features at some point. But because the specific details of the story are not widely known, numerous misconceptions about the poem abound. When was Beowulf  written?

This is a matter of some conjecture, with guesses ranging anywhere between the eighth century and the first half of the eleventh century. Critics can’t even agree on what the first line of the poem means . In the following post, we offer a short summary of  Beowulf , and an introduction to its main themes.

Plot Summary

We’ll start with a brief summary of  Beowulf  before proceeding to some textual analysis and critical reading.  Beowulf is a classic ‘overcoming the monster’ story. Most people know that the poem documents the struggle of the title character in vanquishing a monster named Grendel.

But what is less well known is that Beowulf has to slay not one big monster, but three: after he has taken care of Grendel, the dead monster’s mother shows up, and she proves even more of a challenge for our hero (though ultimately Beowulf triumphs and wins the day).

The poem then ends with Beowulf, now in his twilight years, slaying a third monster (this time, a dragon), although this encounter proves his undoing, as he is fatally wounded in the battle. The poem ends with his subsequent death and ‘burial’ at sea.

But the poem doesn’t begin with Beowulf. It opens with an account of a Danish king named Hrothgar, who was the one responsible for building a great hall (named Heorot), a hall which is now being terrorised by the monstrous Grendel. Beowulf hears that Grendel is killing Hrothgar’s men at Heorot and so our hero departs from home to go and help rid Heorot of this monster.

Beowulf is from a different kingdom – the nearby Geatland, in modern-day Sweden – so we have one of the classic tropes of adventure narratives, that of the hero leaving home to go and vanquish some foe in a foreign land. Think of Bilbo Baggins leaving the Shire, or Frodo for that matter, in  The Hobbit  and  The Lord of the Rings (and, indeed, we’ll return to Tolkien shortly).

Beowulf and his men spend the night at Heorot and wait for Grendel to turn up. When the monster appears, Beowulf and his men attack the troll-like monster with their swords.

But the monster – which is described as resembling a troll – cannot be killed with a blade, as Beowulf soon realises. So he does what lesser men would fear to do: he wrestles the monster with his bare hands, eventually tearing off one of its arms. Grendel flees, eventually dying of his wound.

The next night, Grendel’s mother – angered by the attack on her son – turns up to wreak vengeance, and once again Beowulf finds himself having to roll up his sleeves and engage in fierce combat, which this time takes place in the underwater lair of the monster deep beneath the surface of a lake.

Although he has been given a strong sword (named Hrunting) by Unferth (a man who had previously doubted Beowulf – the sword is given as a token of friendship), Beowulf finds this sword useless against Grendel’s mother. (Immunity to swords evidently runs in the family.) But this time, hand-to-hand fighting, which had proved handy against Grendel, is equally useless.

Beowulf only succeeds in vanquishing the monster when he grabs a magic sword from the pile of treasure lying in the monster’s lair, and is able to behead the monster with the weapon.

Travelling deeper into the monster’s lair, Beowulf comes across the dying Grendel, and – armed with his new magic sword – decides to lop off the son’s head as well, for good measure. Both monsters have now been slain, and Beowulf is a hero.

Following his victory over the two monsters, Beowulf then returns to the water’s surface (at ‘noon’ – which, interestingly, when the poem was written, was actually three o’clock in the afternoon, or the ninth hour after dawn) before rejoining his men and journeying back to the hall for mead and rejoicing.

The poem then moves forward fifty years to Beowulf’s last fight, his run-in with the dragon (which has been angered by the theft of some of its treasure – shades of The Hobbit once more?). This fight results in one last victory for our great hero, followed by his own death from the mortal would inflicted by the poisoned horn of the beast (though presumably Beowulf was rather advanced in years by this point anyway).

The poem ends with Beowulf’s burial at sea, which is described in much detail – why this might be is discussed below. But this much constitutes a reasonably complete summary of the plot of  Beowulf . So, what about the context for the poem?

Facts about  Beowulf

Although it is celebrated nowadays as an important work of Anglo-Saxon – indeed, ‘English’ – literature, Beowulf was virtually unknown and forgotten about, amazingly, for nearly a thousand years. It was only rescued from obscurity in 1815, when an Icelandic-Danish scholar named Thorkelin printed an edition of the poem.

And although it is seen as the starting-point of great English literature – at many universities, it is still the earliest literary text studied as part of the literary canon – it is very different from other medieval poetry, such as that by Chaucer or Langland, who were writing many centuries later.

It is set in Denmark, has a Swedish hero, and – when read in the original Anglo-Saxon – seems almost more German than ‘English’. This is, of course, because Anglo-Saxon (i.e. the language of the Angles and Saxons from north Germany)  was  Old English (the two terms are used synonymously), and at the very latest the poem was written down some time in the early eleventh century, before 1066 and the Norman invasion, which would bring many French words into English and would pave the way for Middle English (or the English of the Middle Ages).

In ending with the tale of a dragon attempting to defend a mound of treasure, the poem prefigures not only the works of J. R. R. Tolkien (who, as well as being the author of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings , was also an influential Anglo-Saxon scholar who translated Beowulf   and wrote an important article on it   – of which more below) but also, more surprisingly, other poems like Lewis Carroll’s nonsense masterpiece, ‘Jabberwocky’ . It also looks back to Greek and Roman epics like Homer’s Odyssey and Virgil’s Aeneid .

Indeed, during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries many scholars endeavoured to show that the author of Beowulf had been influenced by these classical works, but, in summary, the truth appears to be far more interesting. Rather than directly drawing on the work of Homer and Virgil, the Beowulf poet simply seems to have hit upon the idea of using similar plot devices and character types.

This suggests that different cultures, in these old days of oral storytelling, utilised the same methods in very different works of literature, without having direct knowledge of each other. We can compare Beowulf , too, with the legend of King Arthur (which began to appear in written sources around the same time), specifically in terms of the magic sword which the hero of both stories uses in order to fulfil his quest.

These aspects seem to be hard-wired within us and to be integral parts of human nature: for instance, ideas of bravery and of triumphing over an evil, superhuman force.

This plot, as our brief summary of Beowulf above suggests, shares many of the typical elements of heroic narratives. Although the analogy might seem a little crude, the mechanics of the plot are not so far removed from, say, a James Bond or Indiana Jones film, or a fast-paced fantasy novel or superhero comic strip. The hero takes it upon himself to save the kingdom at immense personal risk to himself.

The foe he faces is no ordinary foe, and conventional weapons are powerless against it. Despite the odds being stacked against him, he manages to ‘overcome the monster’, to borrow Christopher Booker’s phrase for this type of narrative . But this action has consequences, and is in fact merely the prologue to a bigger conflict that must take place: that between Beowulf and Grendel’s mother.

This is why it is odd that the story of the poem is generally thought of as ‘Beowulf versus Grendel’. But this next conflict will prove even more difficult: as well as swords being useless, the strong sword (Hrunting) given to Beowulf by Unferth will also be powerless against Grendel’s mother. But hand-to-hand combat – which was deployed successfully in the vanquishing of Grendel – is also of no use now.

The odds continue to be stacked against our hero, the difficulties multiplying, the tension raised to an almost unbearable pitch. Can he still save the day, when everything he tries seems to be of no avail? Well, yes – though for a while the chances of Beowulf triumphing are looking less and less likely.

The final encounter, with the dragon years later, will prove the most difficult of all – and although he is successful and overcomes the monster, he will pay the ultimate price: victory will come at the cost of his own life.

This patterning of three – three monsters, each of which proves successively more of a challenge to the hero – is found in numerous adventure plots. To a greater or lesser extent, it can be seen in much modern fantasy fiction – such as that by Tolkien.

One thing that the basic overarching story or plot summary of  Beowulf makes clear is just how formative and archetypal it is, not just in heroic ‘English’ literature, but in fantasy literature, too.

Interpretations of  Beowulf

Talking of Tolkien, it was his influential 1936 essay, ‘Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics’, which was really responsible for a shift in the way that people read Beowulf.  Rather than viewing it as a historical document, Tolkien urged, we should be reading and appreciating it as a work of poetry.   Tolkien also argued that the poem is not an ‘epic’ but an  elegy , ending as it does with the moving account of its hero’s funeral.

Tolkien also argues that Beowulf’s death following his combat with the dragon represents a fitting and more ‘elemental’ end for the hero, who had successfully vanquished the monster Grendel and Grendel’s mother (who, although not human, were nevertheless closer to man than a dragon).

The story is about overcoming an evil foe, only to have to give way to death at the end: even heroes must accept that they will not live forever, even if their names will. ‘Men must endure their going hence’, as Shakespeare has it in  King Lear (a line borrowed for C. S. Lewis’s tombstone).

But Beowulf’s life has been a life well lived because he stood up to evil and was victorious. And Grendel and his mother are ‘evil’ in the Christian sense of the word: the author of  Beowulf tells us that they were spawned from Cain (the first murderer in the Bible) when he was cast out of Eden. Grendel and his mother, then, are similarly outcasts, something that has been rejected by mainstream society and whose violence must be overcome. (For more on Tolkien, have a read of our five fascinating facts about him .)

Beowulf’s name, by the way, was long thought to mean ‘bee-wolf’, as in the two animals. The ‘bee’ theory appears unlikely, however – as does the idea that it is from the same root as our word ‘bear’, suggesting bearlike strength.

No, it turns out that the first part of Beowulf’s name is more probably related to a pre-Christian god named ‘Beow’. Beowulf has an almost divine strength, but also something primal and temporal, but just as valuable: the courage of a wolf.

If you enjoyed this brief summary of, and introduction to,  Beowulf , then you can learn more about the poem here  at the British Library website.

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26 thoughts on “A Summary and Analysis of Beowulf”

Beowulf is indeed a fascinating work and I always look forward to introducing my students to this foundation of hero motifs. Beowulf, despite his tendency to boast a bit (isn’t that where we get kennings?), he was pretty much the perfect hero–intregrity, strong, clever, self-sacrificing.

Reblogged this on Willow's Corner and commented: We read a snippet of Beowulf in Jr. High School (the dragon part) and I’ve always found the story fascinating. I can’t quite read the Old English, but I love to read the different translations. And anyone who’s a Tolkien fan should read his essay.

I would argue that Grendel’s mother (who is interestingly only ever referred to as “the mother”) commits her acts of revenge out of grief, as well as anger. Also, Beowulf is most commonly described as an epic poem; the label makes its main character, Beowulf, an epic-hero. By virtue of being a hero, Beowulf is set-apart from the society presented in the heroic epic. However, in order to be recognized as heroic hero, Beowulf must participate in society in some meaningful way. Thus the character’s role is split and this binary role is portrayed in different ways depending on the translation of Beowulf. There are more than 85 translations of Beowulf, and each one is slightly biased in its interpretation. Nobel Laureate Seamus Heaney’s translation in particular equates Beowulf with the dragon, another “other” figure, in a way that is not replicated by the other translators to emphasize Beowulf’s role as a distinct hero. Since translation is a form of interpretation, I believe Heaney’s translation is particularly biased in thinking about Beowulf in the ancient Ango-Saxon tale and makes Beowulf a more complex character than the original tale describes, torn by his glorious role as epic hero and his duty to his people within a carefully constructed social structure. As the author of this post writes, the morals, tropes, and figures create a bases for understanding many other English works that were to follow, so it’s interesting to see how relatively young Britain works with this tale and interprets its own history.

Tolkien was also heavily influenced by the old Norse (Norwegian/Icelandic) prose Edda and Voluspa; this was where he found the names of his dwarves. In addition, the poem Havamal also speaks of how everyone must die, except a man’s reputation.

Reblogged this on F.T. McKinstry and commented: Some interesting thoughts here on a classic, with references to J.R.R. Tolkien’s take on it.

Reblogged this on Mistrz i Małgorzata .

Fantastic article, it was education and entertaining all at once. I definitely want to go read Tolkien’s essay.

I have often wondered why the Beowulf story was lost for so long. The Arthurian story was passed down for generations, but Beowulf and his bravery forgotten. I think it is because people could relate to, and thus embrace, the faults of Arthur over the heroism in Beowulf.

Reblogged this on Storey on a Story Blog and commented: This is a great commentary on the story of Beowulf. I wanted to share it with you all.

The poem actually begins with Scyld Sheffing’s funeral, and it ends with Beowulf’s. This is deliberate. The central section is the killing of the monsters. The pattern is the establishment of the house of the Geats, the rescue of the house of Heorot by destroyng the house of Grendel, and the end of the house of the Geats with Beowulf.

How utterly fascinating! I have a copy of Beowolf which I confess to my shame I’ve never read despite it being on my shelf for more than 30 years. I must make amends!

Interesting post (!) and it struck a chord (!) funnily enough with a podcast i was listening to yesterday made by a music blogger, who did a 20 minute podcast on the 12 bar blues https://goodmusicspeaks.wordpress.com/good-music-speaks-podcast-3/ . Which of course is heavily dependent on the rule of 3 – line A; repeat line A; variation/resolution. And funnily enough, listening to a Mozart piano concerto, the same pattern was in the phrases, with the third line, the variation, leading of course to a musical resolution /transformation which enables the lead on the the complete next stage – so, in this, there is Beowulf triumphs, Beowulf triumphs again, Beowulf triumphs but in this third phrase his ‘phrase’ resolves with transformation/death.

I guess the ‘rule of three’ is viscerally satisfying!

There’s an excellent film called ‘The Thirteenth Warrior’, in which an exiled Islamic poet joins a band of Vikings to defeat what appears to be a Beowulfian monster attacking a hall. The producers showed some respect for scholarship by including authentic details, for instance the rituals surrounding the ship burial of a Viking chief.

The film being referenced in the comment above by poetmcgonagall, is a film adaptation of Michael Crighton’s excellent ‘Eaters of the Dead’ which gives a facinating take on the Beowulf/Grendel legend. Pay particular attention to his treatment of the Dragon which is all the more horrifying for not being a giant lizard.

I’ve read Beowulf many times over the years (was introduced to the Old-English version back in High School) and you’ve provided an excellent summary.

“not so far removed from, say, a James Bond or Indiana Jones film, or a fast-paced fantasy novel or superhero comic strip” Yes–but also, surely, the Western? What this tells us, I think, is how deep-rooted is the human need for the idea of the stranger who rides (all right, comes by boat) into town, deals with the monster/fear/rich landowner/evil bandit who is terrorising the townfolk and rides out again. No?

Reblogged this on Blogging Beowulf and commented: A great post on one of my favorite works.

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Reblogged this on cjheries and commented: If, in my first year at Reading University in 1964/65, we had studied Beowulf instead of extracts from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (so dull!) maybe I should have stuck with reading English instead of switching to Philosophy and obtained a better class of degree than the Gentleman’s I ended up woth (a pass, just like T S Eliot).

I’ve just startd reading Seamus Heaney’s translation and I must say it’s easy to follow so far!

I’ve had the Heaney translation on my shelves for years, but your post has piqued my interest. It will be moved to my TBR pile. Thank you!

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Reblogged this on beocorgi and commented: Very Interesting. I never thought of Jabberwocky like that but now that its pointed out I can definitely see it

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• Pingback: Five Fascinating Facts about ‘Jabberwocky’ | Interesting Literature
• Pingback: Happy Tolkien Reading Day! | Interesting Literature
• Pingback: ‘Jabberwocky’: Key Themes – Interesting Literature

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• Literature Notes
• Poem Summary
• About Beowulf
• Character List
• Summary and Analysis
• Lines 1-193
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• Character Analysis
• Grendel's Mother
• Character Map
• The Beowulf Poet
• The Beowulf Manuscript
• Critical Essays
• Major Themes in Beowulf
• Major Symbols in Beowulf
• Famous Quotes from Beowulf
• Film Versions of Beowulf
• Full Glossary for Beowulf
• Essay Questions
• Practice Projects
• Cite this Literature Note

Character Analysis Beowulf

The reader is first introduced to Beowulf as he disembarks from his ship, having just arrived in the land of the Danes (Scyldings) from his home in Geatland. He is an impressive-looking man. The Scylding coastal guard points out that he has never seen "a mightier noble, / a larger man" (247-48) even though he has held this office and served his king, Hrothgar, for many years, watching all kinds of warriors come and go. Beowulf is huge and strong. We are soon told that he has the strength of 30 men in his hand-grip. Just as important is the way that the young warrior (not much more than 20 years of age) carries himself; the Geat has the bearing of a noble leader, a champion, perhaps a prince. He has arrived to help the Scyldings; for 12 years, a mighty man-like ogre named Grendel has menaced Hrothgar's great mead-hall, Heorot, terrorizing and devouring the Danes.

In a seminal lecture, often anthologized (see CliffsNotes Resource Center), English novelist and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien (" Beowulf : The Monsters and the Critics," Proceedings of the British Academy, XXII [1936], 245-95) argues that the central structural motif of Beowulf is the balance between beginnings and endings, of youth and age. The most dominating example of this is the life of Beowulf himself. When he arrives in Hrothgar's kingdom, the hero of the epic is still a very young man. He is out to establish a name for himself. Reputation is a key theme of the poem and of central importance to Beowulf. As the coastal guard first approaches the Geats, he asks about Beowulf's lineage (251). Beowulf mentions his father's accomplishments and reputation as well as his king, Hygelac, and his people, the Geats. To King Hrothgar (418 ff.), he properly reveals more: Beowulf once killed a tribe of giants and has driven enemies from his homeland. He already has a favorable reputation, but he is eager for more achievements that will add to his good name. In the world of Beowulf, a man's good name is his key to immortality. It is all that remains after death.

Part of the motivation for the hero's coming to the land of the Danes is to gain more fame . The poem uses the word unabashedly, but a modern audience might feel uncomfortable with the concept, thinking of empty trophies in a superficial frame. Within this world of heroic struggle, however, fame is more than that. A modern audience might best think of fame as reputation. Reputation can protect a leader's people and settle a conflict before it comes to blows, as Beowulf's reputation later does when he is the king of Geatland. Fame is a positive quality, having to do more with earned respect than vanity.

A more important reason for coming to Hrothgar's aid is directly related to a family debt. Years before, Hrothgar sheltered Beowulf's father, Ecgtheow, from a dangerous feud and purchased a settlement of the conflict with the Geat's enemies, a procedure incorporating wergild (man-payment or man-worth). Beowulf has come to repay Hrothgar's generosity.

At a banquet in the Geats' honor on the first day of their visit, a drunken, jealous Dane named Unferth challenges Beowulf's reputation. When Beowulf was an adolescent, he engaged in a swimming match on the open sea with another boy, a royal member of the Brondings tribe named Breca. Unferth asserts that Beowulf was vain and foolish to enter such a dangerous contest and that Breca proved the stronger, defeating Beowulf in seven nights. Unferth's point is that, if the Geat could not win that swimming match, he is surely no match for Grendel.

Beowulf's response to Unferth (529 ff.) further establishes the hero's character and maturity. He remains composed and in control, despite his youth. Although he would be justified in calling Unferth out and attacking him physically, Beowulf instead uses wit and facts to correct the Dane. He begins by observing, "What a great deal, Unferth my friend, / full of beer, you have said about Breca, / told of his deeds" (530-32). Beowulf points out that he and Breca swam for five nights, not seven. Although he was the stronger, he would not abandon Breca. After rough seas drove them apart, Beowulf spent the rest of the fifth night fighting vicious water monsters, killing nine. He comments on the workings of Fate (Wyrd), saying that it saved him but only because it was not his time and because he had fought courageously. Beowulf reminds the gathering that Unferth's reputation is sparse except for the fact that he actually killed his own brothers, for which he will be condemned to hell even though he may be "clever" with words. Beowulf also points out that Grendel might not be such a problem for King Hrothgar if Unferth's "battle-spirit, were as sharp as [his] words" (596). The rebuttal is an enormous success; before he ever faces Grendel, Beowulf proves that he is a man to be reckoned with.

The confrontation with Grendel clearly demonstrates Beowulf's great strength, but it also illustrates his sense of fair play and his cool reasoning regarding tactics. Beowulf refuses to wear armor or use weapons against the ogre because Grendel is not schooled in the fine art of human warfare and will use no weapons himself. Ironically, the choice to eschew weapons ends up helping Beowulf because Grendel is protected from them by a magic charm. To defeat him, an opponent must be superior in hand-to-claw combat. To study the ogre's approach, Beowulf allows Grendel to attack and devour another of the Geats when the descendant of Cain enters Heorot that night. Although he is losing a friend, Beowulf observes but lies still. When the ogre reaches for his next victim, he receives the shock of his life. Beowulf, with the hand-grip of 30 men, grabs hold and won't let go. The ensuing battle nearly destroys Heorot but ends with a victory for Beowulf. He rips Grendel's right claw from its shoulder socket, mortally wounding the beast and sending him scurrying in retreat. The claw hangs from Heorot's roof, a macabre trophy.

Beowulf's defeat of Grendel's mother demonstrates remarkable courage and perseverance. Seeking to avenge the death of her son and recover his claw, the mother attacks Heorot the next night, surprising everyone. In the morning, Beowulf tracks her to a dark, swampy mere where she and her son live in a cave at the bottom of the lake. There Beowulf defeats her with the help of a magic giant sword and returns with the sword's hilt and Grendel's head as trophies. In a sermon designed to guide Beowulf through a life of leadership, King Hrothgar warns the young warrior of the dangers of pride and the perils of old age.

Beowulf's reputation spreads in the last third of the poem. He serves his king well until Hygelac is killed in battle. When Hygelac's son dies in a feud, Beowulf becomes king and rules successfully for 50 years. Like Hrothgar, however, his peace in his declining years is shattered by a menacing monster. The question at the end of Beowulf's life is whether he allows pride to blind him from prudent action. Does he love fame too much?

A fiery dragon terrorizes the countryside because a lone Geat fugitive has stolen a golden flagon from the dragon's treasure-trove. Beowulf insists on fighting the dragon alone even though the king's death will leave Geatland vulnerable to attack from old enemies. Led by the fugitive and accompanied by eleven of his warriors, Beowulf seeks out the dragon's barrow. Beowulf's trusted sword, Naegling, is no match for the monster. Seeing his king in trouble, one thane, Wiglaf, goes to his assistance while the others flee to the woods. Together, Wiglaf and Beowulf kill the dragon, but the mighty king is mortally wounded. He has won every battle but one. Some critics feel that, despite the warnings by Hrothgar, pride and age have brought down the epic hero. Others point out that Beowulf did not have long to rule anyway and deserved the right to choose a warrior's death.

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Summary and Study Guide

Beowulf is an epic poem written in Old English by an anonymous author around the year 1000 CE. While most of the poem was discovered intact, some of it had been destroyed, likely burned in a fire. The 1999 translation by the acclaimed Irish poet Seamus Heaney won the Whitbread Award, and was praised for its freshness and accessibility.

This summary refers to the 2000 Farrar, Straus, and Giroux edition. Please note that the poem is presented in a facing-page translation, with the Old English to the left and the modern to the right. Page numbering in the guide reflects this, so that, for instance, a quotation on “Pages 3-5” will reflect two pages of the modern translation, not three.

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Plot Summary

Heorot, the great mead-hall constructed by the Danish King Hrothgar , is in danger. For years, it has been suffering under the onslaughts of Grendel , a terrible monster who resents the happiness and camaraderie of the clannish Danes. Every night, Grendel raids the mead-hall, drags Danish warriors out to his lair in a swamp, and messily devours them. No one can figure out how to defeat this monster or prevent his grim attacks.

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A foreign hero, a Geat named Beowulf, arrives to put a stop to the bloodshed. Though the envious and cowardly Unferth , one of Hrothgar’s men, doubts the newcomer, Hrothgar places his trust in him. Beowulf is as good as his word, and defeats Grendel in hand-to-hand combat, wrenching the monster’s arm from its socket. Hrothgar and his people rejoice, rewarding Beowulf with treasure and honors. However, their joy is short-lived: That very night, Grendel’s monstrous mother avenges her son in another gory attack on Heorot.

Beowulf swears that he will defeat Grendel’s mother , too, and dives into the swamp where she lives. Unferth provides a sword for Beowulf to fight with, but it turns out that Grendel’s mother cannot be killed with it. Beowulf must slay her with a sword from her own hoard, forged in the legendary time of the giants. At news of Beowulf’s second victory, the Danes are overwhelmed with joy. Hrothgar adopts Beowulf as his honorary son and sends him home to the Geatish king Hygelac, laden with gifts. Hygelac, too, rewards Beowulf for his valor.

When Hygelac falls in battle, Beowulf becomes king of the Geats. He has a successful 50-year reign and is beloved and respected by his people. However, monsters once again disturb the peace when a slave steals a goblet from a dragon’s hoard. The dragon wakes and begins vengefully destroying the countryside. Beowulf vows that, here as before, he will defeat the dragon singlehandedly. He brings a troop of his men to watch him fight. This time, it doesn’t go so well: Beowulf is badly wounded, and his men run away—all except one, a warrior named Wiglaf . Wiglaf rushes to Beowulf’s aid, and together they kill the dragon.

Beowulf dies of his wounds, and the honorable Wiglaf delivers his will to his people. As the Geats gather to burn Beowulf on a pyre, they mourn for more than their leader: They know that, in the absence of their great king, their enemies will soon destroy them.

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