Beowulf I poem northern England c 650 1000 CE II Anglo Saxon Old English c 400 1066 Romans left England around 400 Normans with William the Conqueror come in 1066 III Christianization of England begins c 600 IV poem set in Anglo Saxon world c 500 pre Christian times a Anglo Saxons Germanic people like Norse b c poem set in Scandinavia poem written in Old English language V preserved on single manuscript copy c 1000 VI unknown Christian author a Probably a monk or priest was highly educated b Proud of his pre Christian Anglo Saxon heritage c Looks at virtue of pagan heroes like Beowulf and praises them d lines 175 88 takes pity on the pagan heroes because they didn t know about Christianity e God in Beowulf when any divine being is mentioned he is singular only one god VII main characters a Beowulf son of Ecgtheow nephew of Hygelac a Geat pronounced Yay at b Hygelac king of the Geats Beowulf s uncle c Hrothgar king of the Danes or Shieldings d Unferth adviser to Hrothgar e Grendel monster f Grendel s mother monster g a dragon h Wiglaf relative and follower of Beowulf VIII Hrothgar s stronghold hall Heorot Hart deer their coat of arms might have had a deer on it Beowulf I Heorot plagued by Grendel II Grendel is upset because of the noise of feasting III So for 12 years Grendel seizes people at night and kills them similar to in Enuma Elish when Apsu was annoyed by the noise of his god children and wants to destroy them a b also in Atrahasis when Ellil is annoyed by the noise the humans are making IV Beowulf vows to help Hrothgar get rid of Grendel V sails to Heorot fron southern sweden to meet with Hrothgar VI Beowulf says he will get rid of Grendel alone with no weapons VII Unferth Hrothgar s advisor Jealous of Beowulf taunts Beowulf a b c Says he lost to Breca in a swimming match VIII Beowulf monster a Says he lost but they were neck and neck when Beowulf was seized by a sea b killed 9 sea monsters by the time Beowulf got back up Breca was too far ahead c Asks why Unferth hasn t defeated Grendel himself IX Hrothgar has a feast to honor Beowulf and the Geats X at night Grendel kills a man XI grabbed by Beowulf who was waiting for him XII Grendel is magically impervious to all weapons XIII Grendel can t break free from Beowulf a He yanks off his own shoulder and arm to escape from Beowulf b He escapes but is mortally wounded XIV next night there is a second feast to celebrate Grendel s defeat XV Grendel s mother comes after the feast a Attacks and kills a Dane who happens to be a close friend of Hrothgar s b She retrieves Grendel s shoulder and arm was like a trophy for Beowulf XVI Beowulf and his men raise a hunting party to go to Grendel s mother s lair instead of waiting for the monster to come to him like with Grendel XVII pool of water in woods and blood and body parts around it assume it is the entrance XVIII Beowulf says he will dive down and defeat Grendel s mother a Puts on armor b sword Hrunting Germanic people like to name manufactured metal objects c Hrunting was given to Beowulf by Unferth he apologized for judging him and gives him his ancestral sword to defeat Grendel s mother XIX Beowulf a Dives into the pool b Beowulf is seized by Grendel s mother c She takes him to her lair an underwater cave XX Grendel s mother a grapples with Beowulf b she tries to use claws and dagger but Beowulf s armor repels them Beowulf is impervious to all the weapons thanks to his armor like Grendel was impervious to weapons c Hrunting breaks against the hide of Grendel s mother XXI Beowulf a Looks around the lair and sees a giant sword b Swings the sword around and beheads Grendel s mother XXII beheads Grendel s corpse with the giant sword a Even though he was impervious to weapons b Sword might be magically powerful c Or since Grendel is dead he isn t impervious anymore XXIII The blade of sword melts not sure why blood of Grendel XXIV Beowulf and his party return to Heorot carrying Grendel s head it is so enormous that it takes 4 men to carry XXV There is another feast at Heorot to celebrate the defeat of Grendel s mother XXVI Beowulf and Geats return home XXVII Once he gets back to land of the Geats he tells Hygelac about what happened imbedded narrative XXVIII Beowulf tells Hygelac that he got gifts from Hrothgar which he gives to Hygelac XXIX Hygelac gives Beowulf gifts and land in return XXX later Beowulf a Becomes king Hygelac died his son succeeded him for awhile then Beowulf b rules for 50 years a This happens over 50 years after Grendel b Beowulf is in his 70s or 80s XXXI dragon c Has been asleep in mound filled with treasure d Awakened by theft of goblet by a slave running away from his master XXXII at night dragon e attacks Geats f Kills and burns fire breathing party of 11 men g h slave as 13th guide XXXIII attacks continue until Beowulf s royal hall is burned to the ground XXXIV Beowulf goes to defeat the dragon XXXV Beowulf and dragon faced dragon alone in armor XXXVI calls out to dragon it exits Beowulf calls this dragon out of his lair instead of going down into the lair like with grandel s mother XXXVII dragon attacks 1 Beowulf s sword fails XXXVIII Beowulf s men flee XXXIX Wiglaf hero s second self helps Beowulf XL dragon attacks 2 Beowulf s sword breaks XLI dragon attacks 3 dragon sinks venomous fangs into Beowulf XLII Wiglaf takes his sword and jabs it into the dragon s belly underbelly is weak point XLIII Beowulf i Sticks knife into dragon s side j Beowulf delivers the fatal wound to the dragon XLIV Poisoned by the dragon s venom Beowulf dies XLV His body is burned on pyre by Geats XLVI Burial mound is constructed for Beowulf full of treasure like the dragon s lair dragon was in an old burial mound full of treasure dragon had a long sleep and now Beowulf is in eternal sleep XLVII Geats mourn for and praise Beowulf Glory in Beowulf I pre Christian pre 600 Anglo Saxon culture view of afterlife II Burials and funerary goods suggest belief in afterlife otherwise why would they need grave goods III Best explanation Anglo Saxon afterlife was probably like Norse afterlife IV Norse Hel cold dreary realm V lof Old English word k means praise glory l Based on deeds done during life especially in war VI lof as metaphorical immortality m lof praise by living on deeds while you were alive n o Refers to Bewolf s desire for lof last word in Beowulf lof …
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