The Significance of Villains in Beowulf Essay -- Epic Beowulf essays

The Significance of Villains in Beowulf Ancient, cartridge holderless, and very, very hard to read, Beowulf has plagued comfortably-meaning college students for centuries with its cabalistic passages and vague metaphors. withal at the root it resonates with a sort of muster out allegorical criticism aimed at Scandinavian warrior society. In the story of Beowulf, the violent fiends in the poem were each symbols for the political strife in the system. They create the basic constructs in an allegory against the flawed nature of the warrior society at the time. Grendel, the first monster, makes his appearance directly after the poet references the men in their mead- hall. Yet he is not simply referred to in a natural carry on in the midst of themes he is actually introduced directly after speaking of emerging strife among the family in that hall. Note in the following passage where the poet breaks finish off what began as a paragraph about the merry-making which went on in t he hall known as Heorot. The hall stood tall, high and wide-gabled it would wait for the fierce flames of vindictive fire the time was not yet at hand for sword-hate between son-in-law and father-in-law to awaken after murderous rage. Then the fierce spirit distressingly endured hardship for a time, he who dwelt in the darkness.... The form it takes can basically be described as They celebrated, but all was not well in the future of the hall. Also, Grendel waited outside.... The close proximity of the description of familial traitorousness and Grendels introduction leads to the conclusion that the two are related. As I correspond it, the demon Grendel is a symbol for the terrible problem of succession that the Danes suffered time and again. The unstable nature of the court and th... ...m. New York Chelsea House Publishers, 1987. Shippey, Thomas A.. anatomical structure and Unity. In A Beowulf Handbook, edited by Robert Bjork and John D. Niles. Lincoln, atomic number 10 Uiversity of Nebraska Press, 1997. Sisam, Kenneth. The Structure of Beowulf. In Beowulf The Donaldson Translation, edited by Joseph F. Tuso. New York, W.W.Norton and Co. 1975. Tharaud, Barry. Anglo-Saxon voice communication and Traditions in Beowulf. In Readings on Beowulf, edited by Stephen P. Thompson. San Diego Greenhaven Press,1998. Tolkien, J.R.R.. Beowulf The Monsters and the Critics. In Beowulf forward-looking Critical Interpretations, edited by Harold Bloom. New York Chelsea House Publishers, 1987. Ward & Trent, et al. The Cambridge recital of English and American Literature. New York G.P. Putnams Sons, 190721 New York Bartleby.com, 2000