How does this event contradict Medieval Christian values?
Who is Hrorthulf?
What is Beowulf given?
Note that God is given credit for the victory: "...the creature would surely/ have murdered more had God in his wisdom,/ man in his strength failed to foretell it./ So the Almighty has always moved men;/ yet man must consistently strive to discern/ good from evil, evil from good/ while drunk with days he dwells in this world" (927-933).
Who is Finn and who are his followers?
Who was Hnaef the Half-Dane? What happened to him?
Who is Hildeburh?
What does Finn offer "as tokens of truce"?
What does Hildeburh offer?
Who were the Frisians?
Who are Guthlaf and Oslaf?
Who are Hrethric and Hrothmund?
What is so special about the collar that Beowulf has been given?
What other item is he given?
Everyone thinks he is safe but he is not:
"Grendel's mother,/ a fearsome female bitterly brooding/ alone in her lair deep in dread waters/ and cold currents since Cain had killed/ the only brother born of his father./ Marked by murder, he fled from mankind/ and went to the wastes. Doomed evil-doers/ issued from him. Grendel was one, but the hateful Hell-walker found a warrior/ wakefully watching for combat in Heorot./ The monster met there a man who remembered/ strength would serve him, the great gift of God,/ faith in the All-Wielder's favor and aid./ By that he mastered the ghastly ghoul; / routed, wretched, the hell-fiend fled,/ forlornly drew near his dreary death-place. Enraged and ravenous, Grendel's mother/ swiftly set out on a sorrowful journey/ to settle the score for her son's demise" (1111-1129).
The above passage also explains how it has come to be that there are monsters in this world. They are the offspring of Cain.
Words that show she is evil: fearsome, bitterly brooding, alone in her lair....
Those of you who took my world literature class might remember that Christian philosophers saw human-nature as being made up of the following:
Our animal or biological nature--we have physical needs (that sometimes get us into trouble)
Our human nature--emotional nature--often gets us into trouble
Our divine nature--our ability to reason. We are supposed to use that ability to overcome our human nature. Though we have emotions, we are not to be ruled by those emotions.
Like her son, Grendel's mother is sneaky. Also, do you think the following passage is a little sexist?
"She slipped into Heorot.../where sleeping earls soon would suffer/ an awful reversal. Her onslaught was less/ by as much as a woman's mettle in war/ is less than a man's wielding his weapon:/ the banded blade hammered to hardness,/ a blood-stained sword whose bitter stroke/ slashes a boar-helm borne into battle./ In the hall, sword-edge sprang from scabbard;/ broadshield was swung swiftly off bench,/ held firmly in hand. None thought of helmet/ or sturdy mail-shirt when terror assailed him" (1130-1141).
Note how she also sneaks away.
What is the name of the character that is killed in this attack?
Again, note the motifs that identify Grendel and Grendel's mother as evil. They reside in dark, misty, often dirty places. They are dirty and ugly. They are solitary--exiles. They have superhuman qualities.
"I have heard spokesmen speak.../country-folk saying they sometimes spotted/ a pair of prodigies prowling the moors,/ evil outcasts, walkers of wastelands./ One, they described, had the semblance of woman;/ the other, ill-shapen, an aspect of man/ trudging his track, ever an exile,/ though superhuman in stature and strength./ In bygone days the border-dwellers / called him Grendel. What creature begot him,/ what nameless spirit, no one could say. [In other words, he doesn't know who is daddy is.] / The two of them trekked untraveled country: wolf-haunted heights and windy headlands,/ the frightening fen-path where falling torrents/ dive into darkness, stream beneath stone/ amid folded mountains. That mere is not far,/ as miles are measured. About it there broods/ a forest of fir trees frosted with mist. / Hedges of wood-roots hem in the water/ where each evening fire-glow flickers / forth on the flood, a sinister sight./ The pool is unplumbed by wits of the wise;/ but the heath-striding hart hunted by hounds./ the strong-antlered stag seeking a thicket, / running for cover, would rather be killed/ than bed on its bank. It is no pleasant place where water-struck waves are whipped into clouds,/ surging and storming, swept by the winds,/ so the heights are hidden and heaven weeps" (1190-1218).
Grendel's mother lives "in chasm or cave, in cliff-climbing thicket/ or bog's bottom" (1234-1235).
Note how we get the genealogy of Beowulf's weapons. This will be important because of what will happen to the weapons when Beowulf eventually dies. The weapons go only to those who are worthy of them.
Before he goes to fight the monster, Beowulf makes a list of who will get his weapons.
Where does Beowulf go to fight Grendel's mother?
Notice all the booty that Grendel's mother possesses. It is worthless to her. She doesn't appreciate it. That makes her even more "ungodly."
"He beheld in a hoard of ancient arms/ a battle-blessed sword with strong-edged blade,/ a marvelous weapon men might admire/ though over-heavy for any to heft/ when fine forged by giants of old" (1379-1383).
What is Hrunting?
What happens to Beowulf in this battle?
While Beowulf is fighting, what are the other soldiers doing?
What does Beowulf bring back this time?
Who is Hygd?
Who is Modthryth?
Who was Offa?
What parting gift does Hrothgar give to Beowulf?
