As king, he has an obligation that is different from the one he had as a warrior. [38] Raymond Wilson Chambers, in his Beowulf: An Introduction to the Study of the Poem with a Discussion of the Stories of Offa and Finn, says that Beowulf's dragon acts like "the typical dragon of Old English proverbial lore" because he guards treasure. We also see this when Hygelac is killed and Hygd, Hygelac's wife, offers Beowulf the throne over her son: Here again we see the amount of trust that is bestowed on Beowulf as a result of his ability to successfully follow the warrior's code combined with the good nature of his character. [42], Seamus Heaney suggests that Beowulf's attitude towards fighting the dragon reflects his "chthonic wisdom refined in the crucible of experience", that is there is already a "beyond-the-grave aspect" to his resoluteness. [12], The fire is likely symbolic of the hellfire of the devil, reminiscent of the monster in the Book of Job. In his death-speech, Beowulf nominates Wiglaf as his heir and asks for a monument to be built for him on the shoreline. “(Beowulf 62) The story of Beowulf is one of Europes greatest epic poems. Beowulf performed his brave deeds in the story. He did not have to race but he was brave enough to step up race against her. The scene includes extended flashbacks to the Geatish-Swedish wars, a detailed description of the dragon and the dragon-hoard, and ends with intricate funerary imagery. Beowulf was an epic hero and showed these characteristics. With Beowulf doing these things he was showing the characteristics of an epic hero. Hrothgar prepares us to view the dragon in this way when he warns Beowulf that for every warrior an unbeatable foe lies in wait, even if it is only old age. Teach your students to analyze literature like LitCharts does. What are important characteristics within Beowulf that make Beowulf an epic hero? Standing up to The dragon was definitely a brave deed Beowulf did because his men left him and he still attempted to battle. [27] The dragon's hoard is representative of a people lost and antique, which is juxtaposed against the Geatish people, whose history is new and fleeting. [22], Beowulf's eventual death from the dragon presages "warfare, death, and darkness" for his Geats. [2] Within the plot structure, however, the dragon functions differently in Beowulf than in Tolkien's fiction. [47] Aia Hussein of the National Endowment for the Humanities has written that the fight between Harry Potter and the Hungarian Horntail in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2000) by J. K. Rowling was influenced by the confrontation between the dragon and the title character in Beowulf.[48]. [7], Beowulf scholar J. R. R. Tolkien considered the dragon in Beowulf to be one of only two real dragons in northern European literature, writing of it, "dragons, real dragons, essential both to the machinery and the ideas of a poem or tale, are actually rare. There and Back Again a Comparison of the Hobbit and Beowulf, Free online plagiarism checker with percentage. [36] Conversely, Kemp Malone writes in "The Kenning in Beowulf" that Beowulf's fight with the dragon receives much critical attention, but that commentators fail to note that "the dragon was no fighter. The king himself then still controlled his senses, drew the battle-knife, biting and
Not that it refused to fight when challenged, but that it did not seek out Beowulf or anyone else. deed of fame: In my youth I engaged in many wars. In Beowulf's two earlier battles, Grendel and Grendel's mother are characterized as descendants of Cain: "[Grendel] had long lived in the land of monsters / since the creator cast them out / as the kindred of Cain"[15] and seem to be humanoid: in the poet's rendition they can be seen as giants, trolls, or monsters. [11] Also, the Beowulf poet created a dragon with specific traits: a nocturnal, treasure-hoarding, inquisitive, vengeful, fire-breathing creature. Fifty years pass with Beowulf in charge, when a local dragon is angered when a slave enters its lair and takes a cup from its treasure. The Beowulf dragon is described with Old English terms such as draca (dragon), and wyrm (reptile, or serpent), and as a creature with a venomous bite. "Beowulf" reveals the essential values of the heroic warrior culture that characterizes Anglo-Saxon and other early Germanic societies. [46] J. R. R. Tolkien used the dragon story of Beowulf as a template for Smaug of The Hobbit; in each case, the dragon awakens upon the hoard being disturbed by one stealing a chalice and goes into a wrathful rampage until slain by another person. The Hero-Beowulf goes on quests to save the Hall and his kingdom, and has the standard characteristics of a hero (courage, strength, and honor). Destroyed in this attack is Beowulfs home
He cuts the dragon in the belly to reduce the flames, and Beowulf deals the fatal blow. 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 unique, personal end that awaits every person. Beowulf and a troop of men leave to find the dragon's lair. By using our site, you acknowledge that you have read and understand our. This depiction indicates the growing importance and stabilization of the modern concept of the dragon within European mythology. Like Beowulf, the dragon uses its strength to accrue a huge mound of treasure, but in the end all the treasure does is bring about its death. on the dragon and for the last time boasts about how he will seek battle and perform a
In the Septuagint, Job's monster is characterized as a draco, and identified with the devil. Beowulf's Fight with the Dragon Works Cited. After his battles against Grendel's mother and Grendel, Beowulf returns home and becomes king of the Geats. "[45], In From Homer to Harry Potter: A Handbook on Myth and Fantasy, Matthew Dickerson and David O'Hara argue that the Beowulf poet added the figure of the dragon to "the pot...that is ladeled out of by most modern fantasy writers"; they argued that both numerous works with villainous dragons, as well as literature with benign dragons like the My Father's Dragon books and the Pern series by Anne McCaffrey, were influenced by Beowulf's dragon. After a thief steals from the dragon's horde, the dragon goes on a rampage and terrorizes the Geats. However, once we get to the fight with the dragon, he has been king of Geatland for fifty years. is described as a cut through the middle of the worm, destroys the dragon for good (45,46):
Beowulf is a hero who previously killed two monsters. He's the title character of the Old English epic Beowulf. Beowulf is an great example of epic hero. Cain's monstrous progeny in Beowulf: part I, Noachic tradition, "The Dragon-Lore of Middle-earth: Tolkien and Old English and Old Norse Tradition", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_dragon_(Beowulf)&oldid=984960602, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 23 October 2020, at 03:38. It will remain a monument of Old English forever. The dragon which was fighting with Beowulf Asked … This all speaks to Beowulf as a warrior which is his rank throughout most of the poem. The dragon fight ends Beowulf, while Tolkien uses the dragon motif (and the dragon's love for treasure) to trigger a chain of events in The Hobbit. The dragon, therefore, is a stark contrast to the other two antagonists. For an example, in comparison of the first characteristic he battled against Brecca, Grendel and his mother, and The dragon. SparkNotes is brought to you by Barnes & Noble. Moreover, he has a responsibility to serve as a good example for the Geats by showing them that they can not let fear or age hinder their efforts; they have an obligation not only to themselves but to their fellow countrymen. -Graham S. The timeline below shows where the character Dragon appears in, ...king for fifty years. he would requite that precious drinking cup with vengeful fire. (39) In the context of
Because one of its precious treasures has been stolen, the dragon decides to burn
The three main characteristics of an epic hero shows he performs brave deeds, he is a strong and responsible leader, and he risk death for glory or for the greater of society. The 17th act of the Anglo-Saxon poem Beowulf includes Beowulf's fight with a dragon, the third monster he encounters in the epic. Beowulf tells his men to stay outside, that this fight is his alone, but the dragon proves too strong and mortally wounds Beowulf. punishment for him. (39) When Beowulf becomes aware of the burning of his hall, he decides to take revenge
The dragons reaction is to get revenge. Nitzsche, Jane C. "The Structural Unity of Beowulf: The Problem of Grendel's Mother". Wiglaf kills the dragon halfway through the scene, Beowulf's death occurs "after two-thirds" of the scene,[33] and the dragon attacks Beowulf three times. On his return from Heorot, where he killed Grendel and Grendel's mother, Beowulf becomes king of the Geats and rules wisely for fifty years until a slave awakens and angers a dragon by stealing a jeweled cup from its lair. The dragon is “driven […] to guard heathen gold, / through age-long vigils, though to little avail” (ll.2275-7). Our. Teachers and parents! Beowulf is the first piece of English literature to present a dragon-slayer. Visit BN.com to buy new and used textbooks, and check out our award-winning NOOK tablets and eReaders. As a result, the dragon
(including. [5], The dragon with his hoard is a common motif in early Germanic literature with the story existing to varying extents in the Norse sagas, but it is most notable in the Völsunga saga and in Beowulf. Hrothgar prepares us to view the dragon in this way when he warns Beowulf that for every warrior an unbeatable foe lies in …
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