Grendel's Mum And The Final Battle example essay topic

Beowulf's Three Fights In the epic poem Beowulf, the character Beowulf is seen to have three battles. The first battle is against Grendel, the second is against Grendel's mum, and the final battle is against the dragon. In each of these battles Beowulf is portrayed as a great hero (well he should be since it's a characteristic of an epic poem to glorify the hero) and is always seen to be brave and fearless. The first battle he fights is versus Grendel. It takes place in Hrothgar's Hall of the Hart where Grendel has been plaguing them for twelve years. Beowulf comes because he is told by people from Geatland to help the Scoldings.

To get ready for the battle the hero takes off all his armor and sets aside all of his weapons. He plans to beat the demon grim in a fair fight. The coil of sin doesn't use any weapons besides those that are of his body and wears no armor but the enchantment, which repels attacks from weapons. So the hero is all ready for Grendel and everyone goes to sleep, though Beowulf does not. Grendel bursts into the hall and savagely kills a thane while Beowulf watches and sees how the monster works. The evil spirit then comes to kill the great thane but Beowulf grabs the fiendish demon's wrist with the strength of thirty men.

Grendel tries to flee but Beowulf holds on and continues to apply pressure to Grendel's arm. Beowulf then tears the stealthy demon's arm off and Grendel runs away. He flees to his cave where he is later found dead; having bled to death, and his arm is placed above the hearth. Beowulf is victorious.

The next conflict is against Grendel's mum. This battle takes place in a cave after Beowulf had tracked her to a bog until he found the spot where the water was on fire. Once there he jumps in and swims for a whole day until he found the cave. In this battle he wears his armor and takes a sword by the name of Hrunting. It was Hrothgar's sword and Unferth carried it for the sea-get. So with all this gear he swims through the water until he happens upon Grendel's mum who grabs him and tries to hurt him, though to no avail.

Beowulf gets pinned and the sea monsters come around him and tear at him, which does hurt him a little. He finally gets his arm free and swings Hrunting at the mother of evil but it breaks upon her head. Then she pulls a dagger on him and tries to stab him but his armor protects him. Then he sees a sword off to the side that he grabs and stabs her with. The sword is supernatural and doesn't break on her but after he cuts the head off of the hell thane, the sword dissipates and only the hilt is left. The hilt depicts a great flood, which supposedly was supposed to have killed Grendel and his mum but they were able to survive in their cave and made it alive.

So the bold thane has fought with Grendel and his mum and still he stands. The third and final battle takes place back in Beowulf's homeland, Geatland. Beowulf is an old man, possibly eighty, and is now the ruler of the Danes. The dragon has just attacked a town because someone had stolen a chalice from his cave. When Beowulf hears of this atrocity he immediately gets his armor and men together to stop the dragon. He gets a large, iron shield made to protect him against the fire and also dons his regular armor and an ancient sword called Naegling (nail), which he received as a gift from his old king Hygelac.

So the undefeated thane charges up the cliff side and into the dragon's cave, full of treasure... and the dragon. Beowulf goes in alone and strikes at the dragon but the dragon looses a powerful blast of fire that begins to build and starts burning the soon defeated inside his armor, only slightly sheltered from the iron shield. He swings Naegling at the dragon's head but the ancient blade breaks. The dragon then strikes at Beowulf, catching his mouth on the hurting thane's neck. Seeing this, the thanes that Beowulf brought along fled, all except for one, Wiglaf.

Wiglaf sees his king in need and goes in with his wooden shield and strikes the dragon. Wiglaf hits low and wounds the dragon while the great thane seizes the moment and draws his dagger, splitting the dragon open along its belly and killing it. The dead thane soon dies and Wiglaf becomes king by Beowulf's last words. They make a funeral pyre for him and burn him along with the gold taken from the dragon's cave and he is greatly honored. In all of the battles Beowulf wins though those wins become progressively worse. It could be that the opponents become harder or that the way he fights changes.

A pattern can be seen with the weapons and armor that he uses. With the first battle he wears no armor and uses no weapons and defeats Grendel in no time. With Grendel's mum he wears armor and uses a sword and he still wins though by a lesser margin than in his fight with Grendel. In his final conflict, with the dragon, he not only wears his armor and takes his greatest sword, but also has a great shield constructed for him. While all his deeds were undoubtedly very brave, it seems that the more he protected himself the more he got hurt. Yet it does not matter how he does, only what he does, and he fights on the side of good and bravery, the hero of the people, a man to be glorified.