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Beowulf
was written over twelve hundred years ago, and even in today’s busy
world, students are still encouraged to study it. I support the encouragement;
all students should study Beowulf. By studying Beowulf, the epic tale
offers a glimpse into the times of the Anglo-Saxons, an understanding
of the use of kennings to personify good versus evil, and the motives
of Beowulf.
Being culturally empowered is essential to understanding ourselves. Beowulf,
claimed to be the oldest piece of English literature extant today, gives
the audience a glance into the events and surroundings circulating Anglo-Saxon
life. The language from which Beowulf was translated from helps English-speaking
audiences comprehend the language better. The phrase Ic pe pancas do is
pronounced “ik the thankus du,” which means “thank you”
in Old English. The way Beowulf is written—in a poetic-type of prose—even
gives thought to whether Anglo-Saxons held not only glory-driven warriors,
but also intelligent, sophisticated people. In that way, the Anglo-Saxons
of the Beowulf period wasn’t so different from today’s world.
The use of kennings, or extreme personification, isn’t greatly extended
in the line of literature today. In Beowulf, the author personified the
greatest conflicting forces in nature: good versus evil. Evil itself is
personified in Grendel, a hideous, dangerous monster who eats the soldiers
of Herot Hall in Danes. One proof of Grendel being a representation of
evil was Hrothgar’s throne. Grendel never approached the king’s
throne because he thought it to be protected by God himself. Hrothgar,
the king of Danes, calls on Beowulf to kill the monster. Out of all the
men who tried to kill Grendel with their puny weapons, Beowulf managed
to use his bare hands to kill Grendel. The battle versus Grendel’s
mother further exhibits Beowulf’s godliness when he kills her with
a sword sticking out the wall in Grendel’s mother’s lair.
The only concept that separates Beowulf from his godliness and makes him
like the other mean are his motives in the whole epic. Money and fame
has a grip on people in both Beowulf’s time as well as now. All the
warriors followed Hrothgar’s call upon a brave hero to slay Grendel,
and by slaying the monster, the warriors would receive wealth and fame.
The battle between Beowulf and Grendel’s mother revealed how Beowulf
wanted more fame by trying to kill Grendel’s mother with his bare
hands. As an aging king, in the third part of the epic, Beowulf plunges
into battle against the dragon, which devastates the land, in order to
get the treasure inside its home.
Beowulf is an extraordinary tale that students should continue studying.
It presents all readers with the life of Anglo-Saxons, the extreme personification
in its poetic writing, and the motives of the time. Beowulf encourages
the study of a twelve-hundred-year-old tale that’s the ancestor of
the English language. If students have been studying Beowulf for this
long, why should they stop?
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