Beowulf Part II

Important Themes:

Role of a king - Beowulf is contrasted with Heremod, who was a bad king (foreshadow) and paralleled with Shield, who was the best king. Hrothgar is a good king who is generous and presents many gifts to Beowulf in return for saving his kingdom.

Role of women - Grendel's mom is seen as an evil monster, even though it is completely understandable to lash out after your son is killed. Queen Modthryth is an example of a bad queen; she killed anyone who looked at her wrong, that is, until, she got married to Offa. She was then miraculously transformed into a happy-go-lucky hostess, what a woman was supposed to be. Haereth's daughter, Hygd, takes care of Hygelac's hall like a good girl should, and is both contrasted and paralleled to Modthryth.

Role of warriors - Beowulf is the uber warrior. His reknown is heard of all across the land after defeating Grendel and his mom, but will all of his boasting and treasure go to his head?

Paganism vs. Christianity - The monsters obviously represent Pagan views, as much as the monk's sermons represent Christianity (even though Beowulf is not a Christian). The magical Giant sword found in Grendel's lair represent Paganism. Hrothgar goes off on a big speal about how the Lord was watching over Beowulf and all that.

Wyrd & Wergild - Beowulf attributes everything to wyrd, fate, instead of God. In this culture, women can't get Wergild, so Grendel's mom couldn't really get much but revenge.

Structure:

parallelism - line 1709: Beowulf contrasted with Heremod; lines 1925-1962: Hygd compared to Modthryth; lines 2180-2189: Beowulf paralleled with Shield.

three-part structure - Part 1: Grendel; Part 2: Grendel's mom; Part 3: the dragon.

Literary Elements:

allusions - lines 1724-1757 (among innumerous other places): the Bible; line 1709: Heremod; lines 1931-1962: Queen Modthryth and Offa; lines 1260-1270: Cain and Abel.

kennings - line 1259: "hell-bride"; line 1368: "heather-stepper"; line 1905: "sea-shawl".

appositives - line 1682: "that murdering, guilt-steeped, God-cursed fiend"; lines 1922-1923: "Hrethel's son and heir, Hygelac the gold-giver".

symbols - lines 1605-1611: the sword Beowulf finds in Grendel's mom's lair (Paganism); lines 1458-1464: Hrunting, Unferth's sword (peace); swords (power, wealth, victory).

foreshadow - line 2087: "a rare patchwork of devilishly fitted dragon-skins".

Grendel's mom attacks Heorot and takes the wise sage, Aeschere to her lair, leaving the head outside as a sign. Beowulf travels to her lair, underwater, in a dark, creepy forest, and swims for a day to get to Grendel's mom. He tries to fight her with a sword given to him from Unferth, but it doesn't work. He finds another sword, forged by giants, in the lair and uses it to kill Grendel's mom by cutting her arm off, like he did Grendel. He also finds Grendel's body and cuts off his head to take back as a trophy. He is rewarded and praised back at Heorot and is sent back to Hygelac with many stories and treasures. Beowulf boasts a lot. Beowulf is made king after Hygelac and fifty years pass. Now a dragon is taking advantage over Beowulf and his people...