Soliz1

Oscar Soliz
Mr. Munoz
English IV, per 1
21 September 2014
Beowulf Essay

Beowulfs pride ends up killing him because he fights monsters that are almost
impossible to destroy and in the end one of them kills him.
When we first meet Beowulf he is coming to help the Danes fight the monster Grendel.
Word that Grendel attacked the Danes had spread throughout the land. When Beowulf hears of
the news he rushes to go help the danes. Grendel attacks king Hrothgars people for twelve years
untill Beowulf arrives. He and his men arrive unexpectedly. The guard sees Beowulf and his men
unloading their stuff in the docks and goes to see who they are and what they are going there.
Beowulf announces why he is there and says that he will destroy Grendel. The guard then lets
Beowulf into Herot. He introduces himself and also speaks high of himself. When he sees the
king he recognizes him. Hrothgar had seen Beowulf when he was a child. Hrothgar and Beowulf
father Ecgtheow were friends. After this Beowulf would talk about his heroic exploits. While he
is talking he uses the line because all knew of my awesome strength. They had seen me
bolstered in the blood of my enemies when I battled and bound five beasts, raided a troll in the
night sea slaughtered sea- brutes. He is bragging about all that he has done. Beowulf knows he
is a legend and he wants to let everyone know that he is. Since he has already destroyed all of
these monsters then why cant he destroy Grendel.

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The King accepts Beowulf because he knows he can put an end to Grendels madness.
Everyone in the kingdom is for Beowulf except Unferth. He is the only one to doubt and
question Beowulf about all of the legendary stuff he has done. After he say all of this stuff about
Beowulf he is upset and hid pride takes over and he corrects him on what he has said. He would
tell him about the time he killed six sea monsters. About how he was swimming for days with a
sword in his hand and then the sea monsters attacked him. Of course Beowulf would take them
all on and would destroy them. He tells him this to greater his legend with the people. Beowulf
then tells Unferth he will take down and destroy Grendel. He also says that he will fight the
monster with no weapons and would still destroy him. Now that Herot is in the hands of Beowulf
they wait for Grendel.
Ever since Beowulf arrived he has been treated like a god. Being treated at such a high
standard may boost the pride in yourself. Grendel would eventually attack Herot and Beowulf
was ready. He and Grendel would have a great fight. They fought all of Herot. They broke down
wall and anything that was in their way. In the end Beowulf would rip of the arm of Grendel.
This would send him running home only to die where he came. After doing this the people loved
Beowulf so much that they wanted him to become king. If the people are wanting you to be king
that would put a lot of pride into you.
After Beowulf kills Grendel he receives all of the gifts that the Danes gave him. He is
treated very well and everyone is happy. This would soon change when Grendels mother would
find out about Grendels death. She would go out and seek revenge on the person that this to her
son which was Beowulf. While all of the Danes are sleeping in Herot Grendels mother captures
and kills one of the kings most trusted servant. At this time Beowulf is not sleeping in Herot.
Instead he is sleeping in a personal room that the king gave him after he killed Grendel. This is

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why he cannot protect the people in Herot. Right after this happened Beowulf came to Herot.
When he saw what had happened he knew who it was and why she did it. He also knows that
fighting her would be harder than fighting Grendel. But since Beowulf has fought a handful of
monsters then why cant he kill Grendels mother. He had already done his job as in killing
Grendel and he didnt have to help at all. He wanted to fight Grendels mother to prove a point to
the rest of the people. The point he wanted to prove is that he could do anything because hes
Beowulf. He wanted to greaten his legend that surrounded him so thats why he took on the
challenge of Grendels mother and fights her. He prepares for battle but this time he goes armed.
Beowulf swims all the way down to the cave that she lives in. the sword he takes cannot pierce
the flesh of Grendels mother and then breaks. So the fight quickly turns into a fist fight.
Towards the end of the fight Beowulf sees a sword that could only be used by giants but of
course Beowulf can pick it up. He cuts Grendels mother and she dies. He returns home with the
head of Grendel and part of the sword. If the people didnt think Beowulf was great they did
now. After he is greeted by the king he is praised for his heroic accomplishments. He goes back
to Denmark with all the things the king gave him.
When he gets home he gives king Hygelac all of the things the Danes gave him. They
would eventually go to fight the Sweds. While they were fighting king Hygelac died in battle.
Instead of fighting to the death Beowulf swam away back home. To me this is a major sign of
Beowulfs pride. He left the king to die and just went back home so he could become king for
himself. He would reign for many years until the dragon came. In his old age he would fight the
dragon. The dragon bit him in the neck but Beowulf still killed the dragon. He would bleed out
and die. His last request was to be buried with all of the dragons treasure.