Ame Geat in Geatland - Essay Example

Beowulf Beowulf was a well-known Geat and lived in Geatland. He was dear to the elders and to the king of his kingdom. Throughout his lifetime, Beowulf was a warrior. He was one of the retainers of the then king of Geatland called King Hygelac. He was popular in his kingdom. However, several encounters and adventures of Beowulf made him become a great, unique and strong warrior. In the first encounter, the king of Denmark named Hrothgar who was one of the descendants of a great and successful ruler called Scyld Sheafson built a unique hall by the name of Heorot in order to highlight his generosity and the level of his prosperity. The hall was the place where his warriors had fun while drinking mead. In the same hall, the king gave his warriors treasures after every battle. The hall was a center for listening to music and singing songs which theme was bravery and the heroic adventures that brave people get through. Therefore, the hall was a good place to experience all the joys. However, a monster that lived in the nearby started attacks in the hall built by the king. Grendel was the name of the monster and he was extremely brutal in his actions. According to Heaney, once at night Grendel went to the hall and attacked the people who were there. Now all the warriors in the hall were asleep at the time of the attack. The monster butchered around thirty of the men who were in the hall. King Hrothgar was overwhelmed because of the pain and sorrow of losing his people. Scyldings had the same experience as their king. However, it was hard to do anything at that time to overcome the situation that had just occurred. The following night, the monster came back to the hall again and killed again. Despite the efforts that the Scyldings applied to overcome the monster, nothing worked and they did not achieve their objective. The monster was resistant to the weapons used to harm it. None of the weapons harmed Grendel. He was too strong and resistant to be defeated. Scyldings thought of seeking help from gods but the monster remained strong and undefeatable. The monster continued its attacks in the hall and harming all those in the hall. Warriors tried to defend the others but they ended up being slayed. It reached a point that Scyldings started avoiding fighting and at the end, they started abandoning the hall every now and then. However, Grendel continued expanding attacks from the hall to the areas around the hall by causing terrors to the Danes for about twelve years. Stories told about what was happening in the kingdom of Hrothgar spread like fire in the bush. The news about the horrifying creature in Hrothgar’s kingdom reached Southwest Sweden that was the Geats’ Kingdom. (Heaney 18). When Beowulf heard the news, concerning Hrothgars’s Kingdom and the dilemma that the king of the kingdom had, Bewoulf remembered that King Hrothgar was a good person to his father because he did a favor for him once. Beowulf felt that he had a debt to either pay to the king of Danes through finding a solution to the dilemma that the king had or take the challenge to get rid of Grendel. He decided to take challenge and fight against the monster. He planned a journey to Denmark for fighting Grendel. No one could stop Beowulf or prevent him from going to Denmark to accomplish his endeavor of helping King Hrothgar overcome the monster (Collins 200). Beowulf was a young man by then but determined to win over the monster. He searched for fourteen warriors who he regarded them as worthy to accompany him. They assembled and started their journey to Denmark by sailing. When they arrived at the magnificent hall, they made a petition to meet King Hrothgar. Inside the hall, Beowulf made a request in a speech that he wanted an honor to fight against the horrifying and terrifying monster, Grendel. He promised that he was willing to fight the monster using his bear hands without using any weapon or a shield. Honoring of the request was in form of a feast by the king. One of the Scyldings by the name Unferth who was jealous doubted that Beowulf would overcome the monster baisng his arguement that Beowulf had lost in a swimming race when young. However, the king and his retainers felt that there was hope at last (Heaney 11). After a few days, Grendel attacked the hall when Beowulf’s warriors were asleep. At the touch of the door by Grendel the door opened. Grendel filled with anger, tore the door apart, and went inside the hall. Before anyone moved, Grendel attacked one of the Geats and tore him into pieces, devoured and slurped his blood. The next target victim was Beowulf. The monster raised one of his claws to attack Beowulf. Beowulf was ready and prepared to fight the monster. He used a fearsome grip on the monster that it had never had before. The hold was strong enough that Grendel could not loosen himself. Instead, the monster started experiencing fear. The other Geat warriors attacked him using their swords but they were not effective. The grip on the monster was very strong that it could not get itself free. The monster became weak and Beowulf got rid of the monster’s whole arm and the shoulder off its body. The monster ran away towards the swamp where its lair was. Being that the strength of Beowulf was the one that overcame Grendel, made him emerge a victorious warrior. The death of Grendel marked a celebration and the king praised Beowulf for the work he did of getting rid of the terrifying monster. By killing the monster, Beowulf became a hero and he had all the opportunities and favors done for him in Denmark (Heaney 15). However, the death of the monster marked another start of attacks. This put Beowulf into another challenge with the monster. It happened in that, after the killing of Grendel, the monsters mother planned a revenge attack. In one of the nights, Grendel’s mother attacked the king’s hall when the warriors were all asleep. She was not any weak in attacks, she was terrible than her son. During that night, she killed one of the king’s advisors who were most valued. She escaped and ran away after having stolen her son’s arm. The attack was unexpected and quick. It left both the Geats and the Scyldings at a very big loss. A decision of stopping the monster came up and the chosen person for the task was Beowulf (Heaney 17). Beowulf did not hesitate to fight the monster in order to ensure that the kingdom of Danes was safe. Though this was going to be more complicated and challenging, Beowulf was determined to do what he could in order to stop the monster. The monster lived in a lair located in a swap where one had to swim through a thick and viscous fluid. Beowulf prepared for the battle that would take place under the water. Unferth gave Beowulf a sword that was battle tested and believed to have the highest level of antiquity. The sword had a name as Hrunting. Beowulf had himself a fine woven armor and a golden helm believed to be perfect in thwarting any type of blade. Beowulf requested Hrothgra to take great care of his colleagues in case he could not make it to defeat the monster. He named Unferth to be his heir. The journey to the lair of the monster took Beowulf several hours (Collins 171). He overcame swamp creatures that attacked him now and then. He was skilled and swift in swimming. On arrival to the lair, Beowulf used the sword given to him by Unferth to give a strong blow to the monster’s head. Disappointingly, the sword did not cause any harm to the monster. Beowulf decided to use bare hands to attack the monster but the monster was very swift. The monster gripped him in a very horrible way that made him stumble and fall. At first, he was afraid that would not make it. The monster tried to stub him using a knife but his armor was so good that it deflected the knife’s blade. He rose to his feet in order to face the monster once again. Luckily, in the murky cave, his eyes caught a glimpse of a very large sword that he believed very few men could withstand. With anger and determination, he swung the sword fiercely ensuring that it made a wide arc. The sword made a hack on the neck of the monster and the head was off the body. The other part of the monster flew to the air and finally to the ground. Ensuring that the monster was dead, Beowulf made a look at what surrounded him. He saw the corpse of Grendel and from it; he got rid of its head. The blood of the monsters that was toxic made the blade of the gigantic sword melt and Beowulf saw a lot of treasure piling up. However, he did not take any of the treasure. He went back to the hall carrying the head of Grendel. Beowulf’s heroic victory was remarkable and caused a great celebration. Beowulf became a hero for he had fough against two monsters in Danes’ kingdom Beowulf and his fellow Geats received many gifts in Denmark as a sign of long the hosts had been waiting and dreaming of the defeat of the monsters (Collins 211). Back in Geatland Beowulf was a hero. The king called him to narrate his adventures. King Hygelac made a praising speech about Beowulf’s actions. He told how great Beowulf was. After fifty years, Beowulf became the king of Geatland as the king together with his son, who was the heir, died. He was a wise ruler who always defended his people. After a short period, a dragon attacked the land of Geats. Though old, Beowulf had the passion to protect his people. Effortlessly, he fought the dragon until the last minute when he used a knife and killed it. During the fight, the dragon attacked Beowulf on the neck using its teeth. Only one of the Kinsmen called Wiglaf encouraged Beowulf as he fought the dragon. From the attacks from the dragon, Beowulf knew that he would not survive. He ordered Wiglaft to enter the dragon’s lair and collect all the treasure that comprised of lots of gold and jewels. He told Wiglaf that the treasures were worth of the Geats’ kingdom. Wiglaf became the heir of Beowulf. He received the torque, armor and a helm. However, Beowulf died after having won the battle between him and the dragon. Therefore, Beowulf died a great hero and a great ruler. Throughout his life, he was a conqueror of what others thought impossible (Heaney 18). Works Cited Collins, Floyd. Seamus Heaney: The Crisis of Identity. Newark: University of Delaware Press, 2003. Print. Heaney, Seamus. Beowulf: A New Verse Translation. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2001. Print. Read More