Beowulf Questions

---Abby, Felicitas, and I all worked together on these questions at my house yesterday. We used the internet the most because our English books didn't seem to help all that much. I would say in total it probably took us between 4-5 hours. (We got distracted easily and took a few breaks!)

 

1)      The way shield came to power over the Danes was unusual because he started off as an abandoned infant and then rose to be strong and powerful. At his funeral his baby was put into a boat with his treasures and armor and then was cast off to sea. Hrothgar’s father succeeded Shield’s son.

2)      Hrothgar built the hall Heorot. Grendel attacked it in the night killing 30 men but returns every night for 12 years killing more. The Dane’s are horrified and avoid the hall at all costs.

3)      Beowulf immediately created an army to go help Hrothgar defeat Grendel.

4)      Geats first meet a nameless watcher in Denmark he was guarding the shore and then interrogated Beowulf. Beowulf explained why he was there; he wanted to rid land of evil (Grendel). Also, Beowulf wanted to meet King Hrothgar.

5)      Hrothgar’s Herald is the interrogator mentioned in number 4. He goes to Hrothgar and explains the arrivals of the Geats and also that Hrothgar should let them come visit him. Hrothgar agrees and realizes that he knows Beowulf because he knows Beowulf’s father, his name is Ecgtheow.

6)      Beowulf told Hrothgar that he plans to fight Grendel in combat. Hrothgar took in Beowulf’s father and protected him after he killed a man (Hrothgar paid the family of the man that Beowulf’s father killed).

7)      Unfirth accuses Beowulf of being the man who lost a swimming contest in the open sea against a man named Bruca. Beowulf say he has the story wrong and instead he got caught by sea monsters and ended up killing 9 of them before making it to shore. Beowulf shows lack of fear in this story. Beowulf accuses Unfirth of being weak because Unfirth hasn’t fought Grendel.

8)      Queen Wealhtheow salutes the warriors, offers them a goblet to drink from, and she thanks Beowulf for coming.

9)      Beowulf takes off all of his armor because he wants a fair fight with Grendel.

10)  Grendel tares the door off and then mauls a great warrior and drinks his blood. Beowulf uses just his arms (no weapons) to fight Grendel. Grendel tries to escape but Beowulf tears off Grendel’s arm (a mortal wound). Grendel leaves the hall, but leaves behind his arm and blood.

11)  Beowulf is like Sigemund because he was a Dragon slayer and Beowulf had just killed Grendel (a monster). He is not like Heremod because he was a coward.

12)  Hrothgar claimed Beowulf as his adopted son. Unfirth no longer has anything to say.

13)  The story is about how the Danes lost a bloody battle to Finn, the king of the Frisians. Realizing their defeat the Danes struck a truce with the Frisians in which they lived separately but under common rule. Using a woman to unite the tribes showed wisdom because it basically combined the tribes and strike common ground.

14)  Queen Wealhtheow asks Hrothgar to not have Beowulf to be the heir to their throne, but instead choose one of their two sons.

15)  The necklace will be worn by Beowulf’s king, Hygelac, and at his last battle the Franks will steal it from his corpse. The queen asks Beowulf to guide and protect her sons as she gives him the torque.

16)  The men stay at the beer hall to sleep because Grendel is dead and they feel safe. (There was a big party in celebration of Grendel’s death where the men drank a lot) This was a mistake because Grendel’s mother came back for revenge.

17)  Grendel’s mother came to avenge her son’s death by killing men. Grendel’s motives aren’t really known, but they seemed to be driven by envy of happiness of the men in the hall.

18)  Hrothgar’s is grief stricken by the loss of his retainer and sends out Beowulf and his men alongside his own men.

19)  The mere is a lake where Grendel’s mother lives and the home of numerous other monsters.

20)  Beowulf tells Hrothgar that it’s better to avenge the death of the ones you love rather than sitting around mourning for them. He swears to track down Grendel’s mother and slay her like the monster she is.

21)  Before Beowulf enters the mere, the warriors find Aeschere’s head and sea monsters show themselves. They sound a horn and the monsters scurry away, but not before Beowulf kills one.

22)  Beowulf puts on his chain-mail armor, his golden helmet, and takes out his sword. His sword was called Hrunting and was given to him by Unferth.

23)  Beowulf swims down the mere to find Grendel’s mother. The other monsters sense his presence and attack him. Grendel’s mom drags him to her hall where the water could do him no harm. This was interesting because Grendel attacked the Heorot hall and they also live in a sort of hall.

24)  Beowulf’s sword melts away until it’s just the hilt.

25)  Beowulf is protected by his chain-mail which saves him from stab wounds and then is able to wiggle his way free from the rubble on top of him.

26)  Beowulf uses the sword to decapitate Grendel’s mother. The lair becomes brighter and he sees Grendel’s body and decapitates him as well. Beowulf takes the head with him to shore as his sword melts from Grendel’s blood (he keeps the hilt).

27)  Beowulf was not expected to be alive so the Danes and Hrothgar left, but the Geat warriors stayed behind. When he comes to the surface the warriors are overjoyed to see him.

28)  Beowulf gives the hilt of the sword to Hrothgar.

29)  Hrothgar tells Beowulf of a bad king, Heremod, who was blood-thirsty. He tells him this so as to compare the dangers of wealth and power. He reminds Beowulf that everybody dies because God is in charge and that they should focus on the afterlife.

30)  Beowulf gives the sword, Hrunting, back to Unferth.

31)  Hrothgar predicts that Beowulf will come back and defend the Danes as their ruler.

32)  Hygd is not like Queen Modthryth because the latter was evil. Anytime a person would look at her, she would have them imprisoned and eventually killed.

33)  Hrothgar hopes that the marriage of his daughter Freawaru to Ingeld will end a blood-feud between the Danes and the Heathobards. Beowulf believes the feud will start all over again. Beowulf thinking the peace can be broken is a new side of him because he always acts on impulse rather than thinks through situations.

34)  Beowulf reports his adventures by storytelling. He stretches the truth and focus on the parts of the stories where he succeeds rather than when he fails.

35)  Beowulf formally presents the treasures that Hrothgar gave him to Hygelac. In return Hygelac gives him a jeweled sword, 7,000 hides, land, a hall, and a throne of his own.

36)  Part 2 takes place 50 years later. King Hygelac dies in battle and his successor Heardred was also killed. A dragon was awakened.

37)  The dragon is awakened because someone stole a goblet from his hoard of treasures. The man took the cup because he was poor and wanted to give it to his master to be reinstated as a slave. The treasure was there in the first place because there was a wealthy man had a stockpile of treasures but he didn’t have any descendants or relatives to give it to. One day the dragon showed up and decided to guard it.

38)  The dragon attacked the people of Geat and destroyed their land.

39)  Beowulf thought his home was burnt because he feels he offended God in some way. He orders a new shield because he wants an all iron one so that the dragon can’t burn it. The author adumbrates Beowulf’s death by fighting the dragon.

40)  Hygelac was killed in battle. Beowulf swam to safety carrying his loot, thirty battle-dresses. Hygd offered Beowulf the throne, but he denied and eventually became king of the Geats.

41)  An exiled group of Swedes murdered Heardred. Beowulf avenged Heardred’s death by killing King Onela.

42)  Eleven warriors and the thief who stole the goblet followed Beowulf to battle the dragon.

43)  Herebeald was killed in a hunting accident by his brother, Haethcyn. King Hrethel couldn’t punish him nor could he forgive him. He fled and left the kingdom to his sons. The Swedes and the Geats continued their feuding. Haethcyn was also killed in battle against the Swedes. Beowulf avenged Hygelac’s death by killing a great Frankish warrior, Dayraven.

44)  Beowulf tells his companions to wait and not enter the dragon’s area. He’d rather they observe than participate.

45)  Beowulf’s sword fails and has to retreat. While he is retreating he is hit by a blast of fire from the dragon. His companions run away but Wiglaf stays and lectures the men saying that they should be helping Beowulf. Beowulf tries to get help and only Wiglaf joins him and encourages him by reminding him of his great feats.

46)  Beowulf’s sword snaps and he is then bitten in the neck by the dragon. Beowulf kills the dragon by stabbing it in the side with his knife.

47)  Beowulf wants Wiglaf to bring the treasure from the barrow to him to see before he dies. Beowulf thanks God for letting him die well endowed with gold. He orders Wiglaf to build a barrow on the coast and for his body to be burned on a funeral pyre.

48)  The warriors come back to watch Wiglaf attempt to revive Beowulf. Wiglaf scorns them for leaving Beowulf when he needed them most. In the future Wiglaf sees that the Geats will be attacked by their neighbors and that their nation will be destroyed.

49)  The messenger tells the city that Beowulf has died. Ongentheow  and his men surrounded the Gaets and made fun of them all night. His men threatened and bullied the Gaets. In the morning, Hygelac came to the Gaets rescue with reinforcements. Ongentheow could not handle the reinforcements and retreated. He was corned by Hygelac but still retaliated and in the process Ongentheow was killed. The messenger warns that the treasure is cursed and those that try to steal it will be cursed. Beowulf won’t be cursed because he never “looked at it with greedy eyes”. The messenger final image is that of the dragon.

50)  Wiglaf tells the crowd of what a great warrior Beowulf was. In a way, he chastised Beowulf for not listening to the people. Beowulf would have lived had he not gone. He was a great warrior that will have the burial of a king.

51)  The dragon was pushed off the cliff and in to the ocean by Wiglaf’s men. The dragon was evil therefore it wasn’t given a burial.

52)  The Geats were mourning and singing because they are sad. The burial took about ten days so the people cried.

53)  The Geats say Beowulf was a kind and beloved man who has left a mark on this earth. Being described as a “kind man” isn’t something you would normally say about a military hero/soldier who would kill for his people. Beowulf killed Grendel and the dragon and he wasn’t very gentle to them.