Characters of beowulf the book

The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance. Beowulf is without doubt the most ancient surviving epic poem of the so called anglosaxon epic tradition. The story of heroic beowulf and his battles with the monster grendel and also with grendels mother not to mention the dragon is rather awesome. Beowulf is the protagonist of the epic poem and demonstrates traits of. A foil is a character whose traits contrast with and thereby accentuate those of another character. The main characters in beowulf are beowulf, hrothgar, grendel, grendels mother, wiglaf, wealhtheow, and unferth. Learn about the characters in the epic poem beowulf with course heros video study guide. When beowulf hears of the creature grendel he immediately goes to try and defeat it. Im sorry, i wasnt sure if you mean contemporary to us or contemporary to him.

It has reached national epic status in england although its setting is scandinavia, not the british isles. In the time i was given i lived in my own land, ruling my people well, never turning to treachery, or swearing to oaths contrary to right. Wiglaf the only thane to stand with beowulf against the dragon, he is the geats future king and a symbol of loyalty within the socialpolitical structure of the. Beowulf, heroic poem, the highest achievement of old english literature. Unexpectedly, young beowulf, a prince of the geats of southern sweden.

Set in the sixth century in the southwestern part of the contemporary sweden, the poem begins with a genealogy of the royal dynasty of the scyldings, or danes. Hygelac, the king of the geats, is beowulfs lord and ringgiver. The king of the danes in the story of the fight at finnsburg. His fathers warrior were wound round his heart with golden rings, bound to their prince by his fathers treasure.

Learn vocabulary, terms, and more with flashcards, games, and other study tools. Grendel, grendels mother, and, fifty years later at the end of his life, a dragon. The narrator of beowulf claims that grendels motivation is hearing hrothgars bard sing songs about gods creation of the world, which rubs his demonic nature the wrong way. He is a thane of the geat king hygelac and eventually becomes king of the geats. Despite his noble lineage, beowulf was a bit of a juvenile delinquent, and little was expected of him. Beowulf had super strength to help him defeat the villains and protect the. Since its rediscovery in the early nineteenth century, it has become a recognised classic, translated scores if not hundreds of. It deals with events of the early 6th century and is believed to have been composed between 700 and 750. Beowulf knows that he will soon meet the fate that comes to all men, but he is at peace because he has done his duty well as a hero and a king. In beowulf by seamus heaney, beowulf is a hero who faces two different kinds of monsters, grendel and the dragon, where his character development is completely different from one to the other. Mar 26, 2018 learn about the characters in the epic poem beowulf with course heros video study guide. Beowulf is considered an epic poem in that the mai n character is a hero who travels great distances to prove his strength at impossible odds against supernatural demons and beasts. In his youth, he personifies all of the best values of the heroic culture.

With fourteen loyal men, beowulf sails to the land of the danes. He signifies the true heroic character because he is willing to risk his life for his ideals. The present work is a modest effort to reproduce approximately, in modern measures, the venerable epic, beowulf. The creature of nightmare is a monster from the deepest darkest part of the human psyche. Some of the characters are based on members of danish and swedish royalty. The creators of sparknotes beowulf characters from litcharts. Wiglaf is a trusted companion and a cousin of beowulf. Character list cliffsnotes study guides book summaries. Beowulf lessons character descriptions teaching resources. Great examples and literary analysis of the use of characters in beowulf. King hrothgar and his wife wealhtheow are characters in beowulf. The scylding coastal guard points out that he has never seen a mightier noble, a larger man 24748 even though he has held this office and served his king, hrothgar, for many years, watching all kinds of warriors come and go. Whole class powerpoint, support sheets to write character descriptions, support sheets to write battle scene.

Created in the oralpoetic mode and probably composed as a whole sometime in the. Beowulf offers to support the youngsters prospect of becoming king by hosting him in geatland and giving him guidance. Although he is as solidly rooted in the heroic code as beowulf is, his old age and his experience with both good and. It comes in english and then old english if youre inclined to read an older language. Facing the dragon lines 23242710 instead of helping him, ten of beowulf s warriors flee. Mythical son of edgetho, higlacs nephew and followerbound warrior. Not even the sharpest of swords could have cut it grendels hand through, broken it off the monsters arm and ended its life, as beowulf had done armed. As an outsider, grendel observes and provides commentary on the human civilization he battles. Unferth is presented as a lesser man, a foil for the nearperfect beowulf. The timeline below shows where the character wiglaf appears in beowulf.

There are three archetypal characters in beowulf that are particularly effective and intriguing. Download the free study guide and infographic for beowulf here. This is beowulfs kinsman through ecgtheows family, the. Beowulfs father was the warrior ecgtheow, and his mother is a sister of hygelac. Beowulf is 3182 lines, each line with four accents, divided into two parts. The beowulf quotes below all refer to the symbol of gold, treasure, and gifts. Each monster he faces represents different meanings to him. What characters were deleted from the movie but in the book. Beowulf protagonist warhero who is loved by his subjects and considered a great king. He is killed and devoured by grendel, right before beowulf fights and defeats the. The hero of beowulf, beowulf is a geatish warrior loyal to his king, hygelac. Characters in beowulf with examples and analysis literary devices. In his final moments, beowulf gives wiglaf his battle armor.

Killing your kin was the greatest sin in anglosaxon culture. It is a retelling of part of the old english poem beowulf from the perspective of the antagonist, grendel. The names of the characters in beowulf are kind of awkward. Beowulf says the geats, having heard of grendel s attacks, offer help. Starring the voices of ray winstone, anthony hopkins, robin wright, brendan gleeson, john malkovich, crispin glover, alison lohman and angelina jolie, the film features human characters. It follows the tale of beowulf the geat for comes to aid of king hrothgar because the kingdom is plagued by a monster named grendel. Beowulf enters into the story after the action has started.

He helps beowulf defeat the dragon when the rest of beowulf s men run and hide. He has the strength of thirty men king hrothgar the king of danes, he has no problems ruling until grendel causes problems for his kingdom. In this i take comfort and joy when now i am stricken with deathdealing wounds. The narrator of beowulf claims that grendels motivation is hearing hrothgars bard sing songs about gods creation of the world, which rubs his demonic nature the wrong way whatever the reason, every night grendel slaughters more danes and. The poem relates his heroic exploits over 50 years, including the fights with grendel and his mother and with the treasureguarding dragon. The dragon is so well suited to bring about beowulf s downfall, in fact, that some readers have seen it as a symbolic representation of death itself. The characters are common experiences in the human psyche. It opens in denmark, where king hrothgar s splendid mead hall, heorot, has been ravaged for 12 years by nightly visits from an evil monster, grendel, who carries off hrothgars warriors and devours them. Onela, son of ongentheow, is the king of the swedes, the rival tribe to the geats.

The translator of beowulf and the writer of grendel follow the idea that everyone has a story. Grendel is a maneating demon never a good sign that lives in the land of the speardanes and attacks king hrothgars meadhall, heorot, every evening. Beowulf is an old english epic poem consisting of 3182 alliterative lines. These free notes consist of about 52 pages 15,501 words and contain the following sections. Breca beowulf s childhood friend who competed with him in a swimming match. Beowulf dives down to find her and kills her with a magical sword.

Occasionally a deviation has been made, but always for what seemed good and sufficient reason. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one. Hrothgar is a relatively static character, a force of stability in the social realm. The geat whom grendel grabs and eats in heorot before beowulf fights the beast. These are the creature of nightmare grendel, the mentor hrothgar, and the loyal retainer wiglaf. For those unfamiliar with beowulf, it is a late first millennium anglosaxon epic about the hero beowulf s fights with three monsters. Beowulf is clearly the most important character of the book. Cain biblical character described as an ancestor of grendel who is infamous for killing his brother abel, the first murder. Jul 06, 2009 beowulf is an archetypal hero, with all the admirable traits and tragic human failings associated with that type character so any contemporary hero will fit the bill, just pick your genre from harry potter to the xmen, to. He is known as one of the first great kings of the danes. Despite his noble lineage read full character analysis the king of the danes, the son of healfdene, the brother of heorogar and halga, and the brotherinlaw of onela the swede. Wiglaf the only thane to stand with beowulf against the dragon, he is the geats future. Grendel is a 1971 novel by american author john gardner.

Gold, treasure, and gifts symbol in beowulf litcharts. Beowulf is the iconic work of literature in old english. Its creation dates to between the 8th and the 11th centuries, the only surviving manuscript dating to circa 1010. Composed toward the end of the first millennium of our era, beowulf is the elegiac narrative of the adventures of beowulf, a scandinavian hero who saves the danes from the seemingly invincible monster grendel and, later, from grendels mother. Beowulf, heroic poem, the highest achievement of old english literature and the earliest european vernacular epic. But he soon proved his doubters wrong and grew up to be a great warrior. Unferths challenge to beowulf s honor differentiates him from beowulf and helps to reveal some of the subtleties of the heroic code that the warriors must follow. An ogre or demon, grendel is a descendant of the biblical murderer cain. The hero of all heroes, beowulf, strong and courageous, is the prince of geats. Characters the dragon the dragon is a mighty and glamorous opponent, an appropriate match for beowulf. He revenges himself upon humans by terrorizing and occasionally devouring the warriors of the danish king hrothgar. Beowulf s boasts and encounters reveal him to be the strongest, ablest warrior around.

He helps beowulf defeat the dragon when the rest of beowulfs men run and hide. He is a warrior who aids beowulf against the battle with the dragon. Cliffsnotes on beowulf covers the longest and oldest surviving anglosaxon poem, an epic tale of warriors and battles, monsters and magic, treasures, feasts, and heroic action. When grendel appears and terrorizes his people, beowulf extends his help to hrothgar. First page of the beowulf manuscript this scan of the first page of the only surviving manuscript of beowulf shows what the work of anglosaxon scribes actually looked like. The characters personalities in grendel and beowulf. Hrothgar, the aged ruler of the danes who accepts beowulf s help in the first part of the story, aids beowulf s development into maturity.

Beowulf s father was the warrior ecgtheow, and his mother is a sister of hygelac. The poem explores his heroism in two separate phasesyouth and ageand through three separate and increasingly difficult conflictswith grendel, grendels mother, and the dragon. Beowulf grendel king hrothgar wiglaf unferth aeschere beow breca ecgtheow grendels. Although wiglaf is a minor character as compared to various other characters. About beowulf beowulf summary character list lines 1193 lines 194709 lines 710915 lines 9161250 lines 12511649 lines 16501887 lines 18882199 lines 22002537 lines 25382819 lines 28203182 related links citations. In the movie and book beowulf, beowulf represents a hero. Translation by michael alexander, first published on 1973 is very skillfully put together and admirable. The most important characters in beowulf are the titular hero, king hrothgar, wiglaf, and the three monsters beowulf faces, grendel, grendels mother, and the dragon beowulf is significant. The poem opens with a brief account of his rise from orphan to warriorking. This book is a literally classic thats definitely not for all readers. Hrothulf hrothgars nephew, hrothulf betrays and usurps his cousin, hrethic, the rightful heir to the danish throne. A number of origins have been proposed for the name beowulf beowulf. Free beowulf audio book at this site, you can download an audio reading of the entire text of beowulf in a contemporary english translation for free.

He is an ancient germanic hero whose story is recounted after the fight with grendel. In grendel, he is a lonely creature who seeks an understanding of the seemingly meaningless world around him. The novel deals with finding meaning in the world, the power of literature and myth, and the nature of. Mar 05, 2019 this resource includes character description from the book. Beowulf is a major epic of anglosaxon literature, probably composed bet. Its beowulf, a medieval geatish warrior willing to take on any c. The protagonist of the epic, beowulf is a geatish hero who fights the monster grendel, grendels mother, and a firebreathing dragon.

Based on beowulf 43 books meet your next favorite book. The son of weohstan the scylfing, and a relative of beowulf, as well as his most loyal warrior. The events in the poem take place over most of the sixth century, and feature no english characters. Beowulf beowulf is the main hero of the poem, whose exploits in warfare and against evil forces, rise to kingship, and then decline due to old age and death form the subject of the poem. Although originally untitled, it was later named after the scandinavian hero beowulf, whose exploits and character provide its connecting theme. Beowulf a mighty warrior and noble individual, the poems hero, with the strength of 30 in his handgrip, comes to the aid of hrothgars danes. Beowulf is a geatish hero who becomes king after defeating.

Hrothulf, aeschere, hygelac, hygd, wiglaf, ecgtheow, king hrethel, breca, sigemund. Upon learning of grendels defeat, unferth is impressed by beowulf and. Character analysis beowulf he is an impressivelooking man. Ongentheow, king of the swedes and father of onela, was killed in battle by the geat warrior. All of these men do the same thing as beowulf did in the movie. The character of beowulf in beowulf from litcharts the. Characters beowulf beowulf exemplifies the traits of the perfect hero. Beowulf presents the hilt to hrothgar along with grendels head. The book grendel, written by john gardner, and the poem beowulf, translated by seamus heaney, both have very distinct opinions on what role each character plays. Some suggest that beowulf was first composed in the 7th century at rendlesham in east anglia, as the sutton hoo shipburial shows close connections with scandinavia, and the east anglian royal dynasty, the wuffingas, may have been descendants of the geatish wulfings. Henry sweet, a philologist and early linguist specializing in germanic languages, proposed that the name beowulf literally means in old english beewolf or beehunter and that it is a kenning for bear. Beowulf is an epic poem originally told in the old english between the. He has very strong wrists which come in handy later in the book.

Deletions book vs movie theme book vs movie characters similarities vs differences hrothgar before he commits suicide what scenes were deleted from the book. Grendel, fictional character, a monstrous creature defeated by beowulf in the old english poem beowulf composed between 700 and 750 ce. Beowulf, prince of the geats, has many fine qualities. Beowulf 2007 cast and crew credits, including actors, actresses, directors, writers and more. As the title character of the old english epic beowulf, hes a classic epic hero. King hrothgar of denmark has a very prosperous kingdom. Descended from the biblical cain, grendel is an outcast, doomed to wander the face of the earth. Beowulf is a 2007 3d computeranimated fantasy action film directed and coproduced by robert zemeckis, written by neil gaiman and roger avary and based on the old english epic poem of the same name. From the old testament, he is the brother of cain, also killed by cain, progenitor of mankind and humanity goodness. In fact, 60sr thinks its easier to tie a cherrystem with your tongue than to wrap your mind around some of. Beowulf cliffsnotes study guides book summaries, test. The beowulf quotes below are all either spoken by grendel or refer to grendel. Beowulfbeowulf preparing to cut off the head of the monster grendel. So young men build the future, wisely openhanded in peace, protected in war.