Journal 1

Throughout history, society creates fictional characters who venture on a quest to defeat a fearsome villain. In the Anglo-Saxon epic, Beowulf, the nephew of the Getish King Hygleac travels to Hereot to fight the gruesome Grendel. Bewoulf’s journey is quite similar to the modern day super hero, Spiderman. Both heroes’ face a fearsome enemy who brings harm to the civilians and conducts evil acts. Beowulf fights Grendel, who is a monster that creeps in Hereot and slays many warriors. The kingdom became very frightened of Grendel, but their spirits were lifted when Beowulf arrived. The same night Bewoulf had killed Grendel and freed the kingdom of his evil. Spiderman, a web-shooting super hero, is actually a simplistic photographer named Peter Parker. In an effort to save the civilians from the Green Goblin, and protect his love, Spiderman engages in an epic battle. After many twists and turns, Spiderman defeats the Green Goblin, protects the citizens, and saves his love. In both journeys is the hero overcomes a fearful enemy and earns praise and fame from the people. Both Beowulf and Spiderman obtain their strength from the outside sources; Beowulf and Spiderman become heroes to protect their families. Beowulf wanted to protect his family’s honor and Spiderman wanted to fight crime because of his uncle’s death. Additionally, both heroes fight in hand to hand combat. On their journey to defeat an enemy, both heroes display many similarities, but they both fight in order to protect the citizens.

Journal 2

Grendel is a misunderstood monster. Grendel is a monster that just wanted friends; he wanted someone to talk to. He tried being friends with the humans, but they were afraid of him because of what he looked like. Grendel wanted to be nice at first, but because of the way the humans acted towards him, he only wants revenge now. “So Hrothgar’s men lived happily in his hall/ Till the monster stirred, that demon, that fiend,/ Grendel , who haunted the moors, the wild/ Marshes, and made his home in a hell/ not hell but earth” (15-19). Grendel now torments the humans because they torment him. The 12-year war was a result of the humans’ cruelty. “So Grendel ruled, fought with the righteous,/ One against many, and won; so Herot/ Stood empty, and stayed deserted for years,/ Twelve winters of grief for Hrothgar, King/ Of the Danes, sorrow heaped at his door/ by hell-forged hands” (59-64)
 “I have heard,/ Too, that the monster’s scorn of men,/ Is so great that he needs no weapons and fears none”(166-178). Grendel is a huge, strong monster; his skin was unaffected by weapons that the humans tried to use to fight against him. “They could hack at Grendel/ From every side, trying to open/ A path for his evil soul, but their points/ Could not hurt him, the sharpest and hardest iron/ Could not scratch at his skin, for that sin-stained demon/ Had bewitched all men’s weapons, laid spells/ That blunted every mortal man’s blade” (479-485).
 “He was spawned in that slime,/ Conceived by a pair of those monsters/ Born of Cain,- murderous creatures banished/ by God, punished forever for the crime/ Of Abel’s death” (19-23). Grendel is a member of “Cain’s clan” in which “the creator” had condemned as outcasts. He symbolizes the malice and evil in which Cain has bestowed upon the world. Grendel hasn’t chosen this life, but he is cursed to live it. He lives in the swamplands outside of human civilization.
 Grendel constantly attacks the mead hall of King Hrothgar. “He slipped through the door and there in the silence/ snatched up thirty men, smashed them/ Unknowing in their beds, and ran out with their bodies,/ the blood dripping behind him/ back to his lair, delighted with his night’s slaughter” (36-40). The people hate Grendel with a passion and are terrified of him. They try to think of any possible way to defeat him, and almost always fail. There only safety was running away. “Then each warrior tried/ To escape him, searched for rest in different/  Beds, as far from Herot as they could find,/ Seeing how Grendel hunted when they slept./ Distance was safety; the only survivors/ Were those who fled him” (53-58). Grendel is a creature of true evil and malice, torturing the humans for years. Finally, he was brought to his end by Beowulf, a courageous warrior of the Geats.

Journal 3

The tone of the ending in Beowulf is very mournful because of Beowulf’s death. Beowulf, the great warrior from the Geats travels to the Danes to relinquish the devilish monster, Grendel. An offspring of Cain, Grendel wreaks havoc, and diminishes Hrothgar’s, the king of the Danes, power.  Beowulf easily defeated Grendel with his bare hands, and removed the gloom that loomed over the Danes. Soon after killing Grendel, Beowulf faced Grendel’s mother, a hellish monster more gruesome than Grendel. Although the fight could have gone either way, Beowulf managed to slay Grendel’s mother with a sword. Defeating both malevolent monsters, Beowulf was flooded with respect, gifts and fame. Although Beowulf was undisputedly the strongest warrior of all the nations, he still wished for more fame. Finding the large, ancient red dragon, Beowulf decided that killing it would be the ultimate task. After an epic battle, Beowulf had won, but payed the ultimate price—his life. Although Beowulf was able to defeat the Dragon, he died from the battle wounds. Beowulf ends with Beowulf’s loyal men carrying his body away, preparing for his funeral. In the end Beowulf had fame, but was not able to live the life of a king or lavishly enjoy his gifts.

Journal 4

In the Anglo Saxon culture, warfare, bravery, and strength are regarded as the pinnacle of success. In Beowulf, the setting, plot, and actions all focus around the concept of warfare. In the Danes, the King Hrothgar values his limitless power and throws parties in his mead-hall, Herot. Although he lives a jubilant life, Hrothgar faces quite a dilemma when “a powerful monster, living down in the darkness” relentlessly kills many of his soldiers (Raffel 21).  Facing the constant fear of this hellish creature that has been “conceived by a pair of those monsters born of Cain” who haunts the Danes for 12 winters.  Luckily, a brave warrior, Beowulf, arrives from Geats to fend of this monster, and diminish this evilness. In the first half of this epic poem, the reader is able to easily find the Anglo-Saxon traits. The poem is set around the times of warriors, and fighters, just like the Anglo-Saxon culture. Additionally, you can see the Anglo-Saxon culture in Beowulf’s character. He travels all the way to the Danes to show off his bravery, and his strength. Even though Grendel has killed countless amount of men with his “hell forged hands, ” Beowulf does not fear Grendel, and gladly accepts to defeat him (Raffel 22). Beowulf shows his strength by defeating Grendel with his bare hands, which is another value the Anglo-Saxon culture embodies.  Beowulf’s main universal theme is the battle between good and evil. Beowulf fighting the evil Grendel, Grendel’s mother, and the Dragon all support this universal theme.

Journal 5

In the beginning of the novel, Grendel is not very intellectual; however, as the novel goes on, he developed more intelligence. Grendel struggled to have some kind of communication with someone other than himself. Up until when he first found the human world, Grendel was limited to his speechless mother being his only companion. Even after he discovered the human world, he was limited in speech because no one would give him the time to talk. Grendel was almost always limited to talking to himself and no one else. During Grendel’s narration, he developed more language skills as he got further into the story. He wrote in stream of consciousness in some places. Towards the conclusion of the novel, Grendel even started writing like it was a script in some places. As Grendel gets more intelligent, the novel gets more descriptive and he experiments with more styles of writing.

Journal 6

Throughout the epic Beowulf, and the poems “The Seafarer” and “The Wanderer,” there are many motifs that represent the Anglo Saxon culture and values. Along with representing the Anglo Saxon values, these motifs add to the character’s personality and thoughts. Although there were many motifs, the three main motifs were exile, fate, and elegiac elements which helped the characters find fame and refine their thoughts on humanity and the world.

In Beowulf, the Geatish warrior Beowulf travels to the Danes to help the king, Hrothgar, relinquish the hellish monster Grendel. Througout this epic, Beowulf would show motifs of exile himself in order to achieve the highest level of glory and fame. Although Beowulf traveled with his loyal men, he knew that he alone would fight this gruesome monster. To him, the ultimate glory was to win a decisive battle without the assistance of an ally. This became evident when Beowulf claimed that his “hands alone shall fight for me” (Raffel 25). Not only did Beowulf fight without any help, but he was so blinded by the thought of eternal glory that he did not fight with a weapon. Beowulf was so powerful that when he held Grendel’s arm, Grendel thought “that nowhere on earth had he met a man whose hands were harder" (Raffel 32). Furthermore, when Beowulf faced Grendel’s mother he “would not wait for anyone’s answer” (Raffel 36).  This further proves that Beowulf would exile himself even when facing a tougher enemy. Bewoulf would consistently exile himself in order to fulfill his quest of fame, glory, and recognition. Another motif presented in Beowulf is fate. Beowulf exiled himself only because he believed that ““fate will unwind as it must” and either he or Grendel will win, solely based on fate. Beowulf also refrences about fat in his prideful boast wit Unferth, where he claims that fat is the only reason he knows that he will easily be able to defeat Grendel. Lastly, is the elegy in Beowulf, which occurs after the fierce battle with the dragon. Beowulf’s “soul fled from his breast to its destined place” (Heaney 48). After showing his brute strength and amazing power, the great Beowulf had fallen. This event is elegiac because Beowulf had done so much, as a warrior and a ruler, but he could not defeat his final opponent. The epic ends with “his hearth companions sorrowed for the lord who had been laid low,” showing how mournful Beowulf’s men felt after their great king had fallen.

In the poem “The Seafarer,” the seafarer is in search for heavenly, glorious treasure. The seafarer places himself in exile because he finds the people on the land to be “ignorant” (Raffel 89). The Seafarer believed that those who were confined on land would not be able to achieve more knowledge about humanity and the world. Moreover, the seafarer believes that if he exiles himself from earthly rewards, then he will be “eternally blessed in the hosts of Heavens” (Raffel 90). The Seafarer also believes deeply in fate. Life, in his opinion, is dictated by fate as “No man has ever faced the dawn certain which of Fate’s three threats would fall” (Raffel 89). The seafarer believes that no matter how much a man tries, he will not run away from the fate of illness, age, or an enemy’s sword. “The Seafarer” is an elegiac poem, as the seafarer views the perished kingdoms that once “flourished in glory” (Raffel 89). Due to the numerous generations that have passed, the kingdoms “glory is tarnished” and the “pleasures are dead” (Raffel 90). These statements show that the poem is elegiac because the seafarer can no longer enjoy the pleasures of the kingdom, and that the perished kingdoms will ever returned.

Similar to “The Seafarer,” “The Wanderer’s” exile was self inflicted. Described to be sailing aimlessly in exile, the wanderer was in search for his beloved friends who were “long since dead” (Raffel 104). The wanderer continues to search for his lost lord, but it is evident that the wanderer is still in shock of their death, and is left sailing in dismay unit he can find “a lord to replace lost ones” (Raffel 104). The wanderer believes that if he exiles himself at sea, he will be able to overcome his loss and find a new purpose to life. The wanderer is thankful for fate, as it helped him keep “a single port: memory” (Raffel 104). If it was not for fate, the wanderer would not be able to remember his memories of his beloved friends and lord. Even though the wanderer had exiled himself from society, it was fate that had brought him his memories. Finally, an elegiac tone is used throught “The Wanderer.” The whole poem focuses about a traveler filed with despair and gloom after losing his beloved friends and lord. The tone circles around how “grief hands on his heart” and how somber and solemn the poem is.

Beowulf, “The Seafarer,” and “The Wanderer” contain motifs that present the Anglo-Saxon values.  In each piece, exile was self inflicted, but meant to enrich the heart with either glory, treasures, or a peace of mind. Fate is used as a factor that decides the outcomes of battle, pleasures of the afterlife, and life. Lastly, an elegiac tone is used to represent death, a loss, or an aimless search.   Beowulf, “The Seafarer,” and “The Wanderer” all use these motifs to enhance the presentation of Anglo-Saxon culture.