Beowulf An Anglo Saxon Epic Essay - 1111 Words

Thomas May Mrs. Purcell ENGL 12H September 12, 2016 Beowulf is an Anglo-Saxon epic that depicts the tales of the great hero Beowulf who fights valiantly and wins every battle he ever fights in. One day he gets word of a terrible monster named Grendel who is terrorizing the Danes and they can’t kill the beast himself, so Beowulf takes off to help the Danes. Upon arrival he is led to Heorot, the mead hall where Grendel does a lot of his killings. Once he is there he decides to trick Grendel by pretending to be asleep, which was when Grendel did most of his killings, and then attacks him while he is off guard. After he kills Grendel he is deemed a hero by the Danes and adopted by the king as his son. Several days pass and killings begin happening again and it is found out that Grendel had a mother who is grieving the loss of her son a bit too much. So Beowulf goes into an underground cave in order to fight Grendel’s mother and wins with the aid of a sword that was forged by Giants. Beowulf soon grows old and doesn’t fight as often as he did in his youth, until a slave accidentally steals a dragon’s treasure and the Dragon is now angry and running rampant leaving Beowulf to be the one to slay it. At least that’s how one would assume but Beowulf pretty much gets his butt kicked by the dragon and is saved by his kinsman Wiglaf who helped to defeat the dragon. During the fight against the dragon Beowulf is fatally wounded by the dragon and soon after dies, but before he dies heShow MoreRelatedBeowulf, An Anglo Saxon Epic Poem1316 Words   |  6 PagesBeowulf, an Anglo-Saxon epic poem, contains several rhetorical strategies. The poem follows the life of a noble warrior named Beowulf while he quests to live up to his father’s name. In the poem, Beowulf overcame many obstacles primarily those of which involved battling supernatural creatures. Epic poems were generally written during the Anglo-Saxon era. 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