Beowulf

Beowulf Bravery & Foolhardiness Heroism, warriors, and bloody battles between humans and god’’s ferocious creatures all describe the tale Beowulf. Beowulf, the hero of the poem, son of Ecgtheow and nephew of Hygelac, fights three monsters throughout his lifetime, and each leads to the climax of his death. Throughout his adventures, Beowulf demonstrates bravery which when carried to an extreme results in foolhardiness, a characteristic of the human condition that is valid today and forever. In the first part of the novel, Beowulf fights Grendel, the monster who terrorizes Heorot and his mother, therefore proving his strength and courage throughout the Danish land. Because Grendel returns to the mead hall every night to devour a few Danish men during their sleep, eventually the others get the message and flee. Soon after the fiend claims their land as his lair. When Beowulf arrives to defeat this creature, he is doubted and challenged by the Danes, yet he convinces them of his strength and courage with stories of his past adventures. Soon the men resort to sleep and await the arrival of their enemy. When Grendel arrives, after consuming one of the warriors, he approaches Beowulf who, to his surprise, is not asleep beowulf, dragon, bravery, land, grendel, foolhardiness, warriors, throughout, one, mother, men, man, human, fights, both, beowulf’s, because, after, yet, treasures, today, time, throat, strength, soon, son’’s, sleep, poem, overly, once, monster, however, extreme, defeat, danish, creature, courage, condition, claims, burned, between, been, back, arrives, army, arm, adventures, years, wound, wiglaf