Tuesday, September 20, 2011

I'll post more later my brain hurts...

7)
Shield Sheafson is introduced as a good king to whom every clan pays tribute to. He could be called their guardian. Very fitting for a man named "shield". His funeral is one of the first scenes, reminding us of the transitory nature of life and the importance for a warrior to establish a name for himself during life so that he can be celebrated in death.

8)
(ln. 24 ...Behavior that's admired is the path to power among people evrywhere.)
The theme we can relate this to is the importance of the king. The people praise a good king if the king truly is good to them. Also, it can be related to the role of a warrior. This is how a warrior trying to gain fame for the after life can be remembered

9)
(ln. 43 They decked his body no less bountifully with offerings than those first ones did who cast him away when he was a child and lauched him alone out over the waves.))
Shield was not born into royalty. It was predetermined that this child coming from nowhere would be their king and master. It could be said it was by divine right, which would show support for Christianity rather than for Paganism.

10)
(ln.455 Fate goes ever as fate must.)
Beowulf is about to fight Grendel and he believes in fate. He says if Grendel kills him, his men are to take his stuff to Lord Hygelac. This is wyrd, a symbol of the themes: transitory nature of life, role of warrior, and also can be taken as an allusion to the Spartans. They used to say, "Come back with your shield, or on it." Which means fight with all you have, work as hard as you can, then work a little harder, and what happens.

11)
(ln. 479 ...but God can easily halt these raids and harrowing attacks!)
This is a Christian thought. There is faith that God will stop Grendel at some point. Maybe Beowulf is that very package sent by God. That is how the people view him, and if he does win they will get rid of the "maybe".

12)
(ln. 501 ...Beowulf's coming, his sea-braving, made him sick with envy...)
By bringing up the story about Beowulf and Breca's swimming contest, Unferth is hoping to make Beowulf seem like less of a hero. It is important to be a hero to Unferth because he is from a warrior culture and wants to be remembered. Unferth's story shows that he is threatened by Beowulf and is jealous of all the attention he is getting. Beowulf correcting Unferth shows that Beowulf can tell that Unferth is threatened by him. The story Beowulf tells Unferth to correct the situation is an example on how Beowulf boasts himself.

13)
It seems like Beowulf is motivated by two things. The first is people not believing in him. He seems to be more confident to fight Grendel after he is challenged by Unferth than when he arrived in Hrothgar's kingdom. After gaining this new confidence, Beowulf uses the opportunity to correct Unferth's story about him as a time to share his confidence with everyone in the room. He does this by telling them that he will conquer Grendel in one fight. The second thing that seems to motivate Beowulf is himself. He is always bragging about what a great warrior he is and the large numbers of beasts he's killed. He sees himself as a threat to everyone, (lines 677-678) "When it comes to fighting, I count myself as dangerous any day as Grendel." It also doesn't hurt Beowulf that there are many others by his side that inflate his ego by telling him how great he is either. 

14)
Thought I'd have fun with this one at line 7/11
(God-Cursed Grendel came greedily loping.)
This is...AN ALLITERATION!

15)
(ln. 802 ...no blade on earth, no blacksmith's art could ever damage their demon opponent..)
If Grendel is in exile by God, did God make it so that no one could kill him because he wanted him to be in exile forever?

16)
(ln. 1355...They are fatherless creatures, and their whole ancestry is hidden in a past of demons and ghosts.)
Fatherless creatures. When looked at in Christian perspective they are without God. They are the Devil's workers. This is why they are looked at as evil right off the bat all the time.

17)
(ln, 1383-1396, Beowulf bolsters Hrothgar's courage. He proclaims the heroic code that guides their lives)
Beowulf shows this sort of faith that he holds stronger than anything. It's not faith in God like the rest of the men seem to have, but it's faith in fate. He knows already his fate and he aims to make it. He believes his fate is to be remembered more than any other warrior ever. Obviously it worked, I mean he is studied now...but this is another example of wyrd. And from this we can point out that Beowulf's tragic flaw is his pride. He believes he can do anything with nobody's help and all will be well. People will say, what if you get hurt? And he would say, yeah but it would be cool if I did it right?

1 comment:

  1. Danny,

    These are well done, BUT
    You need to post at least 18 more today - for a C.

    ReplyDelete