Beowulf: The Heroic King

To say Beowulf was a good king is an understatement; by splitting the poem, "Beowulf" into a tripartite, his character as a good king develops into a heroic king. The three battles of the poem - the battle of Grendel, Grendel's mother's vengeance, and the greedy dragon, all provide evidence of Beowulf's heroic side building up.

In the first battle between Beowulf and Grendel, Beowulf's heroic nature begins to show even before the fight begins. Knowing that Grendel was going to attack that same night that Beowulf arrived, Beowulf did not act nervous or scared. In fact, Beowulf lay in his bed, awaiting the attack. If Beowulf was scared he would have stayed up waiting for the monster instead of acting calm.

Being a monster, Grendel had the upper hand in the fight with Beowulf. Yet, Beowulf still fought fairly. He knew that Grendel wouldn't have any weapons, so he engaged himself in the battle without weapons as well. In line 671 of the poem, Beowulf "began to remove his iron breast-mail, took off the helmet and handed his attendant the patterned sword." By removing his armor, Beowulf was taking a huge chance with his life. He wasn't going into battle with a human; he was battling a monster that already devoured people prior to their fight. A scared king would be covered in the greatest of armor and have the best sword if he were to even fight a monster like Grendel. But, Beowulf, on the other hand, went into the battle with his bare hands. He relied on "his strength of limb" as he said in line 670.

For a monster of Grendel's capability, it's shocking to hear that for the first time he is thrown off by a single man, Beowulf. There hasn't been anyone prior to Beowulf that could "clamp or corner" Grendel, as stated in line 756. Normally, heroes stand out for being able to something so tremendous and for Beowulf to be the only one that can handle Grendel this way shows just how much of a hero he was. Beowulf was able to "accomplish something none could manage before" as Hrothgar stated in line 940. Being able to accomplish something that no one else can makes a person stand out in a positive way.

Some people are full of themselves when they speak of something astounding that they have done, but not Beowulf. He is pretty humble about how he defeated Grendel. He doesn't over exaggerate, and he doesn't go into deep lies about the battle. In line 966, Beowulf says, "I couldn't stop him from slipping my hold. The Lord allowed it, my lock on him wasn't strong enough." He could have easily lied and said that Grendel couldn't move at all and that he killed him rather fast, not only did Beowulf tell the truth about it being a struggle to fight Grendel, but he acknowledged that it was the Lord that allowed it, as if it wasn't only Beowulf to thank for defeating Grendel.

When the time comes to fight Grendel's "monstrous hell-bride" of a mother, everyone turns to Beowulf for help. Once doubted by the people about his strength and being able to defeat Grendel, Beowulf is now the one that every turns to for help as stated in line 1377, "now help depends again on you and on you alone." The people have seen what Beowulf is capable of; he defeated Grendel without armor or weapons. The people know that there isn't anyone else capable of such a victory. Grendel's mother, although a challenge, is weaker than her son but still is a challenge that Beowulf will have take part in because no one else can.

The fight with Grendel's mother ends up being more of a challenge for Beowulf, even with his armor, because of the reptiles and going under water. Fighting Grendel's mother as the second battle shows Beowulf's growth as a heroic king. At first, he defeated Grendel, without any weapons. This was huge to the people. Now that defeating Grendel is over with, moving on to bigger battles will show just how much courage Beowulf has, as well as how far Beowulf is willing to stretch. This battle with Grendel's mother has more difficulties than the last; they're fighting under water where there are plenty of reptiles trying to eat through Beowulf's body armor.

"Droves of sea-beasts attacked with tusks and tore at his chain-mail in a ghastly onslaught." Even with the other challenges that were under way while Beowulf attempted to defeat Grendel's mother, he never gave up. If Beowulf were to give up and turn back around because there was more than he could handle, Beowulf would have not been seen as a heroic king. Instead, he would have been seen as a failure. Sure he fought off Grendel, but if he failed at killing Grendel's mother and the sea-beasts, he would have been forgotten or laughed at (most likely by Unferth) because he couldn't fight and defeat the mother of a monster that he already defeated.

In line 1590, Beowulf "cuts the corpse's head off." The reason that Beowulf does this is to show just how great of a warrior he is. Once again, he was able to destroy a monster. This time he even had the head of the monster to remind the people.

Beowulf is told after killing Grendel's mother in line 1704, "your fame has gone far and wide." People everywhere, even as far as Geatland, know of Beowulf's accomplishments. The first defeat let people know how heroic Beowulf was, the second time around was a reassurance of his heroism. There isn't a person who is going to forget what Beowulf did not only once, but twice.

As the poem goes into the third and final section, the description of an older king is described. Beowulf may be old and back home, but when danger comes about he is still there to protect the people no matter how much he doubts himself.

Beowulf says that his weapons and armor "decay with the warrior" in line 2261. He is acknowledging that he is older now and things have changed. He isn't as fierce of a fighter as he was "fifty winters ago" when he protected the Danes. Even so, Beowulf is still ready to go into battle. There is some doubt within him because he knows that he is older and stands a chance of losing, but he is still willing.

As the battle between the dragon and Beowulf takes place, it is said on line 2574, "Beowulf fought and fate denied him glory in battle." It looked as if Beowulf wasn't going to defeat the dragon. But in the king-like way, Beowulf doesn't back down. He continues to fight with the dragon, knowing what his fate is. A good king doesn't quit. He didn't quit when he fought Grendel, or when he was put in battle with not only Grendel's mother but a bunch of sea-beats, and he most certainly isn't going to quit in this battle with the "fire-breathing" dragon, even though he is old.

The description of Beowulf's death compared to the description of the dragon's shows that the people believed he was the good, heroic king that he always has been. The death of Beowulf is worded that he, "met with a marvelous death." Where as the dragon's death is described as vile and gruesome. If the people didn't believe in Beowulf, the wording would have been different. They would have said he lost his touch or something along those lines. Instead, they honored him in his death for he was a heroic king.

Over and over again, Beowulf is shown as this heroine, who did what he had to protect the people. He never backed down in any of the battles, even if with each battle he was challenged more. Beowulf's people looked up to him as the good king. Now that he is dead, they fear for their safety against the Swedes. They don't know who will protect them, because there hasn't been a warrior as great as King Beowulf.

Unknown. "Beowful". TheNorton Anthology of English Literature. 8^th ed. Vol. A. New York: W.W. Norton, 2003. 7 Vols. 29-100.